Regardless of whether you’re a burgeoning chef or someone who prefers to keep it simple, you rely on your stove day after day to help you prepare meals for your family or friends. Make sure your home is equipped with the right kind of stove – either gas or electric. If you grew up using only a gas or electric stove, you may be partial to that one. However, it’s important to know the difference between the two so that you can know for sure if you’re missing out on certain qualities you could benefit from.

If you have little ones, you may prefer to use an electric stove, as a gas stove produces visible flames that could harm their tiny hands. On the other hand, if you’re a cooking savant, you may prefer to use a gas stove for its accuracy and versatility. If you’re considering replacing your stove soon, take these factors into consideration.

A stove should last you on average 13 years; therefore, it’s important to invest in one that you will love. After all, you’re going to be stuck with it for quite some time. On average an electric stove will run anywhere from $450 to $2,800, while its gas counterpart will run from $400 to $2,500. The price difference between a gas stove and electric stove is close to negligible. This is why it’s important to take into account the operating costs of each type.

Consider your state’s natural gas cost and compare it to the electricity rate. In most states, natural gas costs less than electricity, which would indicate a lower operating cost.

Before purchasing a new stove, take note of what all you like to cook, as well as how often you cook. An electric stove takes longer to heat up and doesn’t respond as quickly to temperature changes. Further, if you’re a chef, you won’t be able to char, toast, or flambé your food. A gas stove reacts almost instantaneously, allowing for efficiency and accuracy. If you’re the kind of person who prefers take-out then your best option may be an electric stove.

A workshop is a place full of productivity. Filled with tools and devices, this small hub can produce the most amazing and practical creations – but in order to keep it operating, there needs to be a significant amount of electricity. To keep your workshop running smoothly, here are some things to consider when it comes to the electrical setup.

Lighting is extremely important in the workshop. Often our workshops are found in a garage or a dark room off the home. In order to see all the intricate details and get your cuts just right you need to be able to see what you’re doing. Don’t compromise safety by working in a dimly lit room – install proper light fixtures. The most common electrical fixtures are fluorescent overhead, these are easy to install, energy efficient, and provide sufficient lighting. Correctly placing these around your workshop will help brighten up your workspace and allow you to move about freely without adjusting lamps. Another option to consider is track lighting. With track lighting and floodlights you can adjust the lights to cover your workspace and provide vivid lighting to the area that needs it the most. When installing these light fixtures it is important that everything is connected correctly. You don’t want your lights shorting out, flickering, or causing interrupts for your tools.

In addition to the electricity consumed by workspace lighting, you have a number of high-powered tools constantly in use. From table saws to routers, there is always a strain on your electrical system to power these tools. When setting up your workshop, it is a good idea to place the circuits on their own breaker separate from the rest of the house. This will prevent other appliances and electronics in the house from causing trips in the breaker when activated simultaneously while other tools are in use.

Another option to consider is to install a surge protector on the breaker that is being used for your workshop. The last thing you want is to have all your expensive equipment damaged by an electrical surge.

Lastly, ensure that GCFI receptacles are installed in the workshop. These outlets will shut off immediately to prevent the risk of electrical shock if a danger becomes present. These receptacles should be installed correctly for them to work properly. You will also need them placed around your workshop correctly so you do not need to constantly adjust the position of your tools.

Setting up a workshop can be complex and if not done properly, it can also be dangerous. We recommend that if you have a workshop at home or a business, that you have an expert electrician review the electrical setup and bring everything up to code for maximum safety.

Any building, in any industry, in any area of the world, is susceptible to having potentially hazardous and radioactive exit signs installed throughout their building.

This could mean they are in schools, near your office, or anywhere else where a radioactive setting probably isn’t a desired situation to be in.

This is why we thought it was necessary to create this post to help and guide you towards identifying, removing, and finally replacing your radioactive exit signs with new signs that are much safer and even efficient, saving you money over other alternatives.

Firstly before we can remove and replace these seemingly nuclear exit signs, you have to be able to identify if you have them or not. But before that, lets explain what exactly makes these exit signs radioactive.

How are some exit signs radioactive?

Just the same way as some exit signs are safe, it is all in the way they are built. For some reason, whether it be technology of the time or something else, people assumed it was a good idea to create exit signs with Tritium, also known as 3H or H-3. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, causing exit signs made with this to be radioactive by default. The only seemingly positive upside to these exit signs is that they are non-electrical, meaning they won’t rack up anything in electricity bills.

But before you become alarmed with what we have shared with you so far, tritium emits only a low-energy beta radiation, which in turn causes the sealed glass tube it is in to glow (causing the exit sign to give off the illumination it requires). Thankfully, it is rather well known that this type of radiation can hardly (if at all) penetrate a piece of paper or clothing. So while yes it is a very low level (energy wise) type of radiation, the fact that there are alternatives that will remove radiation entirely from your building is all the reason to uninstall your tritium exit signs and replace them with something more safe, like LED exit signs.

Now that you understand the technology and how tritium in exit signs work a little bit more, let’s go over how exactly you can identify whether or not you have these types of exit signs in your building.

Identifying a radioactive exit sign should be fairly easy. All of these signs are required to have some sort of “Caution of Radioactive Material” warning on the fixture.

If you do find such a warning label, it is safe to say your light is made of tritium. Another tell-tale sign is whether or not your signs are connected to an electrical source or not as tritium signs do not require any such connection.

Once you’ve identified if you have a tritium exit sign or not, if you do happen to have one, you may continue on to removing and replacing it with the alternative exit sign, LED.

As with any lighting fixture, we recommend to bring in a professional contractor to do the job. But as a general guideline, you can typically recycle your tritium signs by returning them to the manufacturer or place of purchase.

If you purchased the building with them pre-installed and are unsure of where they came from after inspection of the signs for any brand markings, you can try two things:

1: Try contacting the previous building owner or collect records of where they were manufactured

2: Recycle them with a third party. like these), buying them, then installing them yourself or with a professional (we recommend a professional).

Here are a few things you should remember and keep in mind when dealing with a building that has radioactive exit signs:

The best Allen electrician can tell you that chances are, your air conditioning unit is probably going to be the most frequently used electrical appliance in your home this summer.  Making sure that the a/c unit is running efficiently and safely is the best way to save money and prevent costly and dangerous electrical problems. Still, as the best Allen electrician will also tell you, preventing electrical issues can be difficult for someone who doesn’t recognize electrical problems immediately. After all, most of us who are not professionals probably don’t.

Surprise! It’s NOT Your Unit

As the temperatures rise this summer, keeping up with the maintenance of your air conditioning unit is one of the most important things you should do. However, when customers hear about maintaining their a/c unit, they often think in terms of Freon and condensers. The truth is that, although those are clearly important, one aspect that is often overlooked is the electrical part.

It may surprise you to know that calling an air conditioning guy when your unit is on the fritz isn’t always the right thing to do. In fact, any Allen electrician will confirm that, indeed, half the time the problems aren’t with the a/c unit but with the electrical system. If the problems are electrical, they can result in dangerous blowouts and burnouts that could cost you a fortune—or even your home, if a fire were to start. So, with so many things that could go wrong, how can you be sure that the problem calls for an Allen electrician and not an air conditioning repairman?

Air Conditioning Electrical Safety Tips

For instance, did you know that a lot of electrical problems arise when swapping air conditioning units? Something as deceptively simple as trading your current unit for another one, especially if the new unit is larger, can wreak havoc on your electrical system. The amount of wattage required to power the new unit can result in overloading, overheating and damage to the unit as well as to your home’s electrical system. You can burn the lines quickly. Some who think that they have found the solution in splicing their lines to accommodate a newer unit may also be in for a dangerous wake-up call. Splicing lines is never a good idea. When in doubt, call your local electrician. He understands what should be done.

Another thing that your electrician understands that you may not be aware of is that you need him to come out and inspect your circuit breakers regularly to make sure that no wires are melting, no circuits are going bad, and there are no potential fire hazards looming. Because a/c units consume so much power, many times they are wired directly into a circuit breaker. Loose connections in the circuit breaker can cause many problems, including irreparable damage to the electrical system. Be sure to always have an electrician come check your breaker and wiring to be on the safe side.

The electrical work is not limited to the obvious parts of the unit that may need help. The Forced Air Unit (FAU) part of your air conditioning unit is one of the most prone to electrical failures, and yet it is the one part that is often overlooked because it’s located somewhere in a closet, a spare room, or a utility space inside the home. The blower fan inside the FAU often blows out, causing issues with the overall functioning of the unit. Here’s the best way to prevent this: Make sure your electrician does routine maintenance on every part of your air conditioning unit, including the FAU, to prevent blowouts.

Electric Man: Best Allen Electrician

The best Allen electrician makes no bones about the importance of checking your electrical systems when turning on your air conditioning for the sizzling Texas summer, and how much you can save on your summer electricity bill, repair costs and a/c maintenance and repair. As summer heats up, let the team at Electric Man take a look at your unit and help you save money, time and repairs. For more helpful tips, read ElectricMan’s blog or connect with us on any of our social communities. If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 972-792-7270, or use the Contact form on our website!