If you find yourself making that frustrating trip to the circuit breaker often enough to remember, there’s a good chance your electrical panel is overworking itself. An outdated electrical panel is a hassle no homeowner should have to put with. It’s not just an issue of faulty outlets and tripping over extension cords. An outdated electrical panel is a serious fire hazard.

It’s outdated for one, and that can cause a lot of problems, especially for any home improvement projects. An electrical panel’s job is to determine how much electricity is distributed to all appliances, lights, and outlets in your home. If your electrical panel is outdated, not only is it unfit to meet your electrical needs, it puts you and your home at risk. An up-to-date electrical panel has a circuit breaker, which trips or turns off when the wiring is overworked; this prevents your electrical system from overheating and starting a fire. An outdated electrical panel isn’t only a fire hazard; it’s harmful for the following reasons.

If your home needs an electrical upgrade, it can be as simple as replacing a few circuit breakers or replacing the entire electrical panel. It’s best to contact an electrical technician as the wiring in your home is a complicated mess, and a professional knows what to look for. They can inspect your home and provide the best suggestions on how to upgrade your electrical system.

Crystal chandeliers have come a long way from the days as traditional, stately pieces only enjoyed in the most formal of spaces and positioned to impress guests in the dining room or the foyer. Crystal’s are found in various lighting applications of all shapes and sizes and their sparkling, elegant affect is energizing areas of the home from powder room and office to kitchen and bath.

More crystal means more cleaning, but it does not have to be too taxing. A few simple guidelines will help to keep your crystal chandeliers looking their best.

How to clean it

If you do not wish to remove the crystal components from the piece, you can use a spray. After the piece is sprayed, wipe off the solution with white cotton gloves. Crystal chandelier manufacturer Schonbek recommends a solution of one part isopropyl alcohol to three parts distilled water, while Waterford’’s chief lighting designer Billy Canning says hot soapy water will do the trick. Both agree that special cleaning formulas aren’’t needed.

“A real no-no in the area of cleaning chandeliers: …If the chandelier is adorned with a traditional polished gold finish or polished silver finish but it i’s not stainless steel, people will use these sprays that you can buy,” says Eileen Schonbek Beer, Creative Director for Schonbek Worldwide Lighting. “Basically, what the manufacturers say is you spray the chandelier and let the stuff drip off, that cleans the crystal. But in fact what it does is ruin the frames of the chandelier.”

If more aggressive cleaning is needed, the crystal parts will need to be removed from the frame. The crystals can then be hand-washed in soapy water, rinsed clean and dried with a cloth. Schonbek provides trim diagrams that detail reassembly of the chandelier.

For dusting between cleanings, Schonbek recommends using a feather duster, lambswool duster or a make-up brush.

How often to clean it

In general, crystal should be cleaned every two to six months. The frequency of cleaning required depends on where it is used and how easy it is to get to the piece.  According to Canning, extremely large pieces like 20-foot chandeliers can get away with being cleaned only once a year.

Since crystal lighting is being featured in virtually every room of the house these days, some pieces may need more frequent cleanings based on their location. Chandeliers used in kitchens will need more detailed cleaning due to oil and grease buildup, as well as dust sticking to the components due to moisture from sinks and stoves.

“The beauty of crystal, of course, is the prismatic refraction of the light passing through the crystal ornament,” says Beer. “So the minute it’s got any kind of residue of dust or even moisture — like in moist climates in Florida — the humidity will cause dust to adhere to the crystal and the salt in the air will kind of make it cloudy. So you actually have to clean crystal pretty regularly.”

Maintaining a regular cleaning schedule for crystal will always keep it sparkling. Yet if a piece is neglected, all it takes is a little extra effort with the methods listed above to make it shine like new.

“In my personal experience, I have been asked by many auction houses to identify Waterford products many times,” says Canning. “In most cases the difficulty with identification would have been that the chandelier was allowed to get dirty and the crystal would appear dull. But in all cases, when properly cleaned, they can look as good as the day they were bought.”

For the Chore-Challenged

For customers who aren’t ready to get into the nitty gritty of cleaning their crystal by hand, suggest the Da Vinci chandelier from the Geometrix collection by Schonbek. The crystals stay attached to a stainless steel frame that can be placed directly in the dishwasher. The Da Vinci is available in a 10-inch or 36-inch diameter. The only Da Vinci that will not make it to the dishwasher is the dramatic 5-foot model.

There’s no question that LED lights are the best option for fleet vehicles—or any vehicle for that matter. They consume 90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last about 42 times longer. Because fleet vehicles are constantly in motion, long-lasting LED lights can be of extreme benefit to trucking companies. A longer life span means dramatically lower maintenance and replacement costs as well as a reduction in downtime.

We have LED lights for Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Volvo, International, Mack, and Western Star trucks as well as box trucks, tow trucks, dump trucks, and more. Options include LED tail lights, LED brake lights, LED marker lights, LED reverse lights, and LED clearance lights. These truck lights are available in a wide variety of styles, shapes, sizes, intensities, and connector types. Take a look through the categories below to see some of what’s available, and visit the links for complete product lists.

All of our LED truck lights meet DMV FMVSS 108 requirements and are protected by a lifetime warranty to guard against manufacturer defects and malfunctions. Mounting accessories are available under the accessories tab on each product page.

Options include multi-function combo boxes. Rear combination lights can be mounted vertically or horizontally on either side of box trucks, tow trucks, dump trucks, trailers, and flatbed trucks. The all-in-one lamps can be used as tail lights, brake lights, parking lights, turn signals, reverse lights, and running lights. Light heads can be rearranged for customized positioning.

Multi-function combo box lights have red and white LEDs and can be used as rear reflex reflectors, turn signal lights, hazard warning lights, reverse lights or backup lights, brake lights, and tail lights. Separate LEDs are positioned on the bottom of the box for license plate illumination.

In other news, scientists at Syracuse University may have created a new light source that doesn’t need electricity or batteries to produce light. How? The firefly. The scientists found a new way to harness this bioluminescence using nanoscience. Mathew Maye, assistant professor of chemistry at SU explained:

“The nanorods are made of the same materials used in computer chips, solar panels and LED lights. It’s conceivable that someday firefly-coated nanorods could be inserted into LED-type lights that you don’t have to plug in.”