Christmas is upon us again and more than any other time of year, it’s the time of year where people put strain on their electrical system.  The lights on your house and the beautiful decorations you’ve been storing in your attic finally are brought out and plugged in for your friends and neighbors to view and appreciate.  And, of course, the vast majority of homes you visit have at least one Christmas tree.  Since most of these things are electrical, it’s probably not a surprise to you that, as a top Dallas electrician, I start getting a lot of calls this time of year.  Though it’s always nice to have the business with Christmas so close, I thought it’d be great to share with ways to avoid wiring problems with your Christmas decorations this year:

             In general, there are a few important tips that can help you avoid wiring problems.  If your lights look frayed or dangerous, they should always be replaced or repaired before using them, frayed wiring are hazardous.  You should take care that your electrical source is safe before you even begin the installation process.  To avoid the potential for overloads, you should have dedicated circuits installed for your holiday decorations.

Most importantly, you should never try to supply power for your lights without contacting a top Dallas electrician to help you install the necessary equipment and make the necessary safety precautions.  Short cuts are potentially dangerous. I can remember one example where a customer had supplied power to their lights by splicing an extension cord directly into their circuit breaker box!  Even worse, they’d shut the breaker box door, pinching the cabling!  Left unchecked, even if this hadn’t started a fire, damage from a power surge or overload could have easily destroyed their whole breaker, meaning they’d have to spend thousands to repair the damage at the absolute worst time of year!

If you are doing work on your yard over the weekend, you can now get away with doing everything using only electricity. Lawnmowers, pressure washers, and other tools that commonly used gas can now be purchased in models powered by electricity. If you are using these electrical powered tools you need to ensure that you have electrical coverage around your home to plug them in. Here are some tips for having outdoor GFCI outlets installed in your home’s exterior.

Most homes come standard with a couple of outdoors outlets. Sometimes this is not enough and you will be restricted because the cable for your lawnmower or pressure washer can’t reach around the side of the home or to the back of your yard. When preparing to have an outdoor GFCI outlet installed, measure the length of your cables and the maximum distance you will need to go. You can then create the radius of coverage you will need and pin point the correct locations for the outlets. If you do not choose the optimal location you could end up installing more outlets then you need and will have to unplug during tasks to move outlets. This is inconvenient, so lets do it efficiently!

With a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), the outlet can detect if there a problem in the circuit such as contact with water or a person, and then the circuit will shut off. This is especially important outside, as the outlet is more susceptible to water, from rain and snow, car washing, and interaction from animals and children. It is also wise to have covers installed overtop of the outlet as well. This adds an extra layer of protection. The covers will need to be manually opened by yourself before use and prevent unwanted interaction.

As we usually recommend, double check that your existing wires and circuits can handle the additional outlets. The tools and equipment that make use of these outlets can demand a lot of power and if the outlet is installed on circuit that is already heavily loaded, you will be experiencing trips and electrical hazards to your home. An Expert Electrician will be able to identify the proper circuits to have the outlets installed on.

Using electricity offers convenience and efficiency. Make the most of it and be safe by having a professional, certified electrician install outdoor GFCI outlets on your home.

Around the world, every city offers something different. Though they all have hustle and bustle, lots of buildings, and usually traffic, when you’re on their streets you would never mistake San Francisco for Cairo, Toronto for Tokyo, or Berlin for Rio de Janeiro. But what about from space? During the day, these cities tend to blend in with their surrounding countryside. However, when lit up at night, it’s easy to see how varied these cities can be.

Is it possible to tell anything about the life and culture of our cities when viewing their lights from above? You might be surprised at how much.

Landmarks

Can you guess which cultural icon jumps out of this landscape?

Now, take a look at this photograph of Denver, a much newer city. The streets are mapped out in a much more orderly, grid-like way, aligned North-South and East-West.

The majority of urban areas in Tokyo use green mercury vapor lamps. Only the most newly built areas glow the standard orange.

Development

When examining a city’s lights from above, you can also learn about development, community growth, and infrastructure. Check out this unique photo of two cities from two countries side-by-side – the border towns Cuidad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas.

We’re finally through another summer in Texas. Our air conditioners are being turned off for the first time in months, and we’re all looking forward to watching that power bill drop. Now that your electrical system is under less stress, it’s the perfect time to make sure that the system is working the way it should.

Nobody should go years without performing maintenance on their vehicle. It just makes no sense to throw away the investment you made on a vehicle. And yet, people regularly go years and years without having their electrical system inspected on their home. Typically you spend a lot more on your home than a vehicle, yet both can be dangerous if you don’t do regular maintenance!

With this in mind, I wanted to share some important Electrical System Maintenance with you that can help keep you safe and even keep your power bill low! Keep in mind that the things I’m going to share with you aren’t really things you can do on your own; you should always contact a Licensed Dallas Electrician to implement any of these tips.

With that in mind:

Last month, I wrote via www.bet.com

2) A Dwarf Makes Giant News

Astronomers are given the spotlight as they announce that Pluto, the dwarf planet with a changing orbit, has passed Neptune to become the ninth planet from the Sun. It had been the eighth farthest since 1979. Of course, we now know that Pluto is not a planet at all but some kind of ball of rock and ice. 

 4) Re-imagining Literary History

Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman win the Writers Guild Award for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Also nominated were Robert Rodat for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and Andrew Niccol for THE TRUMAN SHOW.

6) You’re Still the One

Shania Twain wins a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “You’re Still the One,” in which the Twain passionately announces, “We’re still together, still going strong.”

9) Run to the Hills

Gloriously, and to the headbanging delight of metal heads across the globe, Iron Maiden announces that singer Bruce Dickinson has rejoined the band. 

11) The Tumultuous Days Continue for Kid Dynamite

Early in the month, Mike Tyson is sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting two motorists after a traffic accident in 1998. The judge gives him only one year of jail time, followed by two years of probation and a $5000 fine. Days after he begins his sentence at the Montgomery County Detention Center, he is put in solitary confinement for throwing a TV in the general direction of some guards. He is released from solitary after about six days.

13) Return Mail

TLC releases their third album, FANMAIL, after a five year hiatus. The new album sells 318,000 copies in its first week, and it becomes clear to the world that TLC “don’t want no scrubs.”

15) The Dawning of the Age of the File Share

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince makes headlines a second time as he files a lawsuit against nine websites for copyright and trademark infringement. He accuses websites of selling bootlegged recordings and offering unauthorized song downloads.