If you’re a homeowner, you’re probably looking for ways to save energy and money. There are so many hidden costs involved in home ownership, and if you’re not careful, your electrical consumption can be a big factor in those costs. However, it’s easier than you might think to save on energy if you just follow a few simple tips.

The National Weather Service is predicting a lighter hurricane season than normal this year, but that doesn’t mean everyone shouldn’t be prepared. As we’ve seen in the very recent past, it only takes one major storm to make landfall and throw everything into chaos. One of the best ways to prepare for a major storm is to make sure you have a properly maintained standby generator. Consumerreports.org has some excellent advice for those who are looking for or who already own standby generators—read on for some great tips!

Depending on what you plan on running in the event of a power outage, you’ll need a different size of generator:

Midsized standby generators (5k – 8.5k watts): standby generators of this size can power the refrigerator and sump pump as well as most lights in your home, a portable heater, computer, and heating system.

Large standby generators (10k to 15k watts): large standby generators can power everything a midsized standby generator can, along with a small water heater, central air conditioner, electric range, clothes washer, or electric dryer (although not all at once).

While we don’t often feel the brunt of major hurricanes around here, we still live in a risky area and it’s important that proper precautions are taken. Here is a list of hurricane preparedness tips from Ready.gov:

Before the hurricane:

When a hurricane is likely in your area:

During the storm:

After the storm:

We don’t often experience major hurricanes in our area, but it’s still important to be prepared! Kolb Electric sells and installs Generac generators, so if you want to be extra prepared this hurricane season, call us today!

Your home may not be safe for you to live in. Wiring is one of the leading causes of home fires every year and in many cases; it is completely preventable. Homes that were built before 1950 were probably built with the common electrical wiring at the time—insulated cloth wiring. Today, we know that method isn’t safe. The cloth frays and deteriorates overtime, which can leave wires bare. Bare wires that touch or touch insulation can create a small spark. A small spark is all it takes to cause major devastation. If you are not sure what kind of wiring you have, give a Glendale electrician, like those at The Electric Connection, a call today.

Just because your home was built before 1950, it does not necessarily mean it has cloth wiring. There may have been wiring upgrades done over the years. The best way to determine whether or not it is the old style wiring is by having an electrical inspection by a qualified electrician. Glendale homeowners will get the full story about the wiring hidden behind their walls. An experienced electrician will know what to look for and be able to tell you what you need to do to make your home safe.

It isn’t only an electric spark you need to be concerned with when dealing with cloth insulated wiring. There is also an increased risk of electric shock. Your appliances and gadgets are also at risk of being damaged with wiring that is not properly insulated. Many of the older, cloth insulated wiring jobs were not properly ground 60 years ago. This is another area of concern for homeowners. All of these issues and concerns will be addressed by the electrician during the inspection. The electrician will outline what needs to happen to bring your home up to today’s standards. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your electric inspection.

Everyone’s aware that the electric companies keep raising the prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh), and we all know, too, that there’s no chance of rates going down and that they’ll just keep going up.   There is a way, however to avoid paying the higher prices, which is to get solar panel installations. This is one sure step that we can take to help make the cost of paying the electric companies prices per kWh less.

Every family wants to pay less for their electricity, and although the cost to install solar panels is an initial investment, it will pay off in the long term for a business or homeowner. Often homeowners can pay in monthly installments for their solar installations, and this helps to reduce the impact of the expense for the cost of solar panels.

With solar panel installations, homeowners will often save up to 1/3 of what their normal electric bill was before their solar panels where installed. With this type of efficient technology,  homeowner will no longer need to worry about spending more money on their utility bills each month, and they will be able to sit back and enjoy the savings.

Let’s face it, we all know there’s nothing better than being able to save money on a regular basis,  and what better way could there be to save than on our electricity bill each and every month. With the money that homeowners save by having solar panels installed, they will be able to save that money in the bank, or put it towards something else that they need for themselves or their family.

To learn more about solar installations, you can do a quick Internet search for “solar panel installations.” Please feel free to call us for more information.