Many people in the Alpharetta area have barns without pole barn lighting. It is still fairly common to see pole barns with no artificial lighting or traditional sodium lights installed. Both options can lead to unsafe situations.

Pole barns have many dark nooks and crannies and often have sharp objects stored in them. Sharp objects plus dark areas is a recipe for injury. To prevent potentially dangerous conditions, you should have a lighting system installed. It is especially important to get these lights installed before winter, as the days are shorter and nights are longer. The pole barn will be left through those long nights without natural or artificial lighting unless you have an electrician install illumination now.

Here are the options:

● Fluorescent Lights. Fluorescent lights are a good option for a relatively small space, especially if the ceilings are low. Fluorescent lights are cheap to buy and run. They are also fairly energy efficient, which means your electrical bill will be lower.

● Halide Lights. While fluorescent lights have long been popular for many residential and commercial applications, halide lights are relatively new. They have been around a few years but are not as common as fluorescent lights due to their more specialized nature. Though halide lights are stronger than fluorescent lights, they do have a few drawbacks. They are more expensive to buy and operate, and they take a while to reach full power after being turned on. Nonetheless, they’re likely the best option for large pole barns because of their power.

Overlamping is when a lamp-holder socket has a bulb with a higher wattage than the socket is designed for. Not every lamp-holder socket in your home is rated for the commonly used 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. This is a code violation and a highly dangerous fire hazard.

For instance, if you connect a100-watt light bulb into a 75-watt lamp-holder socket, the intense heat coming from the bulb can melt or scorch the socket, potentially exposing the electrical wires underneath. This is a possible fire hazard as it increases the risk of arcing. Arcing is when sparks jump through the air from one wire to another, and research has shown that it is one of the most common causes of electrical fires.

The United States system of safety standards requires that electrical equipment be listed. Listing is a tool used to facilitate acceptance of electrical equipment. Most lamp holders are listed up to a particular wattage depending on the type of fixture used. This rating is derived from things such as the types of materials used in the construction of the fitting as well as where it will be placed. This causes varying levels of wattage, although most common lamp holder sockets are rated 75 watt.

You may find that some sockets in and around your home are listed at 40 watts or even 25 watts. An electrician can test the sockets in your home and confirm the maximum wattage for each one.

Most experts agree that using a bulb with a maximum wattage of 75 watts is the safest option, but you can always ask your electrician for help to be certain. Modern high-efficiency lamps are much safer because the majority do not exceed 75 watts of energy consumption. For older and unmarked fixtures, it is best to use a 60-watt bulb instead.

If you notice a lamp-holder socket in or around your home that looks as if it is scorched or melted, it is best to ask a professional for help before using it. If you would rather not seek an electrician’s assistance and choose to do the repairs yourself, ensure that you have switched off the electricity at the mains and that you have the correct tools for the job.

Competition is a wonderful thing. It makes us want to strive to be better, and keeps us working hard.  But competition isn’t perfect; there’s always another option, and you can’t always tell right away what option is the best deal or the highest quality. It is easy to determine the quality when it comes to something inexpensive; if you don’t like a brand of motor oil or breakfast cereal, you can always buy something different next time. But what happens if you pick a bad electrician?  Failing to spot bad electrical contractors, could mean you’ll wind up paying way too much for your service. Paying too much might actually be the best-case scenario; shoddy electrical work done by “electricians” is a safety hazard, and one you might not even know about until it’s too late.

So how do you find quality electricians? As a Dallas electrician myself, I’ve learned over the years how to make sure the electrician you use is knowledgeable and high-quality: