Even though they won’t be able to provide full power to your home in the event of an extended power outage, there are many practical uses for a portable generator. Depending on what you do in your free time, you may be surprised at how many parts of the country do not have electricity that is easily accessed. A portable generator can help ensure that you have access to electricity, even when you want to spend time outdoors. If you need to take electricity to an area that has no electrical outlets, then a portable generator is one of the best routes to go. Here are a few ways to use your portable generator:

Tailgating – Many tailgating locations do not have electrical outlets that are easy to access. To solve this problem, just bring your own generator along. You can place your generator in the back of your truck so that you have all the power that you need to keep your television, satellite dish and any other electrical devices going for the entire game.

Camping – Even if you like to rough it for most of your trip, having access to electricity while camping can be very handy. This way, you can charge your phone and use any electrical devices that you may not have brought if you did not have access to electricity.

Emergency Backup Power – Though portable generators are not designed to provide long-term emergency power, they can be great to have around when power is lost. You will need to keep your portable generator outside of your home so that you do not vent combustible gases into your home. You can still, however, bring lines of power into your home to keep essentials such as lighting and refrigeration going for a short period of time.

Portable generators are good to have, because you can take them with you to provide power wherever you need it. They are not stationary, and do not require the assistance of an electrician in Santa Monica such as The Electric Connection to set up and start using. Give us a call if you have any questions about standalone or portable generators.

If you own an RV, you are probably always looking for ways to make life easier. One of the areas you may struggle with is providing consistent electricity to an RV. When you are staying in an RV park, there is often a power source—however, if you want to use your RV’s power system at home (to utilize it as a guest house, for instance) you may feel at loss as to what you need to do. Follow this advice from an electrician in Los Angeles and see what you need to do to “borrow” electricity from your home for your RV.

First, you must realize it is not as simple as just plugging your RV into your home’s electrical system. This will overload your power system, trip the circuit breaker and leave you scratching your head. If you see this as something you may do very often, you want to get in touch with Electric Connection—the electrician Los Angeles residents turn to—and let these experts set you up with an RV to home connection.

There are adaptors available but they will not provide enough electricity to do much other than operate the lighting in your home. You will need to install a long term solution. This is a project that can be done yourself; however, it is strongly recommended that you turn to a professional. It requires extensive wiring work that is not recommended for those not skilled in working with electricity. Essentially, you need a specific circuit that is dedicated to powering your RV.

If you are interested in powering your RV from the electricity in your home, contact Electric Connection today and let us work with you on this project. You will appreciate the experience, expertise and top-notch customer service you receive every time you call Electric Connection.

Breaker boxes or commonly called electrical panels are the modern day replacements for fuses boxes.  Breakers are the electrical devices that go into a panel or breaker box.  Breakers can easily be reset by flipping there switch versus having to unscrew and completely replace a fuse.  A circuit breaker can automatically open or trip upon an overload or a short circuit protecting the circuit and the appliances plugged into the circuit from possible damage.  For larger equipment such as those used in commercial or industrial applications switchgear is commonly used to protect and control equipment.

There is a lot of brands of breaker boxes or electrical panels on the market with some better than others.  Most breakers boxes on the market have been proven to be reliable and operate correctly and safely.  Brands such as Seimens, Square D, and Cutler-Hammer offer superior products and can provide the best protection possible with installed correctly.

Most brands that we currently know have safety and fire hazards have been pulled off the market.  However a lot of these brands that have been pulled off the market are in thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands of homes across the nation.  One of the worst brands of electrical panels we see in the Des Moines market is Federal Pacific brand breaker boxes.  Federal Pacific panels were most commonly uses from 1960’s to the 1980’s.  These panels have circuit breakers that simply do not trip or open the circuit properly to provide the necessary protection.  Federal Pacific panels have been linked to countless fires and have even resulted in death.  If you have a Federal Pacific breaker box in your home we highly recommend it be replaced by a licensed electrician as soon as possible.  Another brand we advise immediate replacement on is Zinsco panels.  Certain types of Zinsco panels have been linked to several fires.  If you own a Zinsco panel we recommend it be replaced by an licensed electrician.

During a lightning storm, the safest place to be is indoors. However, there are still several safety precautions one needs to take to stay safe in your own home. The three most common ways lightning can enter your home are through a direct strike, through inner/outer wires and pipes, and through the ground.

To know how at risk your home is during a storm, you can use a guideline that meteorologists call “The 30-30 Rule.” If you see lightning and then hear thunder within 30 seconds, move indoors and take necessary safety precautions. This typically indicates that a storm is fewer than 6 miles away, which is close enough for a lightning strike. Then, stay indoors for at least 30 minutes after you hear the last clap of thunder at the end of the storm.

The following guidelines can give you additional protection against electrical injuries during harsh, stormy weather:

Injuries caused by lightning strikes are more common than most people realize, but the above considerations and safety guidelines can help secure both you and your home during inclement weather.