American’s across the nation will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day next weekend.  Green banners, drinks, shirts, and decorations of all kinds will be out in full force as we celebrate heritage and friends.  Then again, why limit being green to just one weekend?  Why limit it to outer colors and anti-pinching shirts?  This weekend is a great time to start planning for how to improve the energy footprint of your home and start the path towards a greener life.  The best news?  While some methods for turning your home green require a little bit of upfront cost, most don’t!

Cleaning – Strange isn’t it?  A clean home, free of dust, actually improves energy efficiency.  Dust clogs air ducts and coats heating elements and pipes.  If the back of your refrigerator is dusty it will cool less efficiently since it can’t release heat properly.  Dusting and cleaning your home will help reduce stress on your appliances and improve their energy efficiency.

Regulate Heat – You can reduce how often your central air runs during the day and night by regulating and preserving the heat within your home.  While you may need to improve insulation to prevent heat transfer, you can reduce it by closing your curtains and opening them.  Just remember that heat always travels to where it’s coldest, so use curtains to block heat from travelling where it shouldn’t.

Turn Off Lights and Appliances – Yes, we use many smart systems today, but turning off lights and leaving power—hungry devices unplugged is still one of the best ways to prevent energy loss each month.

Water Heaters – These units expend a great deal of energy to keep water hot for your home.  Insulate the tank and the pipes around it to keep water warm for longer.  If you haven’t ever had the unit maintained, call a plumber to drain and clean out the tank.  Sediment reduces heating efficiency in the unit.

Expensive but Effective Energy Solutions

If you’re willing to spend a little money you can get even greater increase on home energy efficiency.  The first step is to replace your lighting.  Upgrading to CFL or LED lamps is an excellent way to reduce both your light bill and your cooling costs during the summer.  We recommend swapping out lights as needed to reduce startup costs.  Though it’s best to purchase LEDs in packs from the same manufacturer to make sure that they have the same color temperature.

Upgrades and replacements are ideal for energy efficiency.  Replacing an inefficient appliance, whether it’s a dish washer, water heater, or furnace, is going to have huge benefits when it comes time to pay your monthly bill.  And you’ll find that many of these appliances are eligible for an energy rebate credit to help with the initial costs.

Finally, upgrading your home with solar panels is one of the best ways to turn your home into the greenest building on the block.  They’re expensive, but solar panels can replace the costs for heating, cooling, and light in your home completely.

For the best in quality electrical repair work and installations, contact the professionals at Custom Electric!  Be sure to check back here each week for helpful advice, news, and guides or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Categories: Residential« Extension Cord Safety  |  

Since 1980, the GFCI building code requirements have expanded. Previously only used on construction sites, GFCI’s are now required in many different rooms of your home, especially those with moisture – washrooms, kitchens, pool areas, etc.

The GFCI monitors the input and output levels being passed through an outlet. If there is a slight difference in the current being transferred from the hot outlet to the neutral outlet, then the device will quickly cut off the power supply to prevent damage or injury. A GFCI can detect changes in current supply as minor as a few millamps. GFCI’s are a simply advancement in technology that could potentially save lives or prevent injury to your family.

If you need assistance installing a GFCI or determining the appropriate rooms to upgrade your outlet to a GFCI outlet, please contact Expert Electric. 604-681-8338

By Clarissa Allison | December 11th, 2015

If you are lucky enough to have a large family room or “great room”, you may encounter some exciting challenges when choosing home decor and lighting that complements and balances your space. A great room is a large room typically found in modern homes that combines the features of a living room with those of a dining room or family room.

Large, open spaces are very common to find in floorplans these days. The dining room incorporates the kitchen, which is part of the living room and leads into the den, etc.  This trend sees walls to separate activity spaces removed. You’ll find that the kitchen is no longer segregated from the rest of the home but may easily become a main focal point. As you’ll see, the key to lighting these types of spaces is variety. You’ll want to utilize ambient, task, wall, and spot lighting to eliminate a “cave-like” atmosphere and maintain a feeling of spaciousness and height.

Read on for tips on how to set up the perfect lighting scheme for functionality, elegance and entertaining.

Update Your Kitchen Island As An Activity Space

Here’s a familiar household scenario. You put a can of catfood into the electric can opener hoping to see the can spin around and make whirring noises, but instead nothing happens. No spinning, no noise. What to do?

Is the can opener broken or is it just not getting electricity? Finding this out is the first step of troubleshooting the problem.

Step 1: Plug the can opener into a socket that is delivering power to an appliance or lamp that works. Let’s say the can now spins and whirs. You know the can opener is fine. After you’ve fed Kitty, you can turn to the electrical issue to see if it’s something that you can handle or if you need to call an electrician.

Step 2: Look at the kitchen outlet that you originally plugged into. Does it have two little buttons on it that say “Test” and “Re-set”? If so, it’s a safety outlet (GFI) for kitchens and other places where water might be nearby. Push the re-set button and see if the can opener works now. If so, the problem may be solved.

However, if you frequently have to push re-set to get this outlet to work, there’s an electrical problem that an electrician should handle. If re-set doesn’t fix it, go on to Step 3.

Step 3: Is the outlet controlled by a wall switch? If so, flip the wall switch. Does the can opener work now? If not, go on to Step 4.

Step 4: Has the circuit breaker that controls the outlet flipped off? As a first step, turn off any computers and other electronic devices that might lose data if they lose power suddenly. Next, look in the circuit breaker box for any flipped switches. Even if you don’t see one, it’s possible that one has flipped off internally without moving to the off position. Firmly flip off each circuit breaker in turn and flip it on again. Now, plug the can opener into the kitchen outlet and see if it works. If the can opener works, you’re done.

But as a note, if a particular circuit breaker repeatedly flips off, your electrical system may need to be enlarged to meet your power needs or there may be an intermittent short circuit. An electrician can tell you which it is. A short circuit is a fire hazard and should be addressed as soon as possible.

Step 5: If after these steps, the kitchen outlet still doesn’t work, it’s time to call an electrician.

If you follow these steps whenever an electric outlet or wall switch is giving you trouble, you can save on unnecessary electrical service calls.  But if it turns out that you need an electrician and you’re in L.A., give us a call at (800) 990-9490.  We’ll be happy to discuss any electrical issues with you.

Kim Hopkins

CEO, The Electric Connection

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