If you’re looking for something that will yield a good ROI for your home, then why not schedule an electrical safety inspection in Fairfax, VA?

Why Investing in an Electrical Safety Inspection in Fairfax, VA Is Wise

When the subject of investing in your home comes up, a lot of people think about living room makeovers, installing a hot tub, or upgrading to a smart kitchen. However, what too many homeowners overlook is a relatively small investment that can both help keep you and your family safe while simultaneously increasing the value of your home.

Interesting, right?

The investment we’re referring to is an electrical safety inspection. This is a careful, methodical, and comprehensive inspection of your home’s complete electrical system by our Master Electricians. It includes:

Once the entire electrical system has been inspected, we prepare a report for you with our findings. This can include things that need to be upgraded or repaired, as well as recommendations for increasing the capacity of your system to meet the demands of a modern lifestyle.

Of course, you’re probably wondering why all of this is so important? There are a number of reasons:

We’re excited to announce the addition of six new off-road LED light bars to our SBL series product line. The 12″, 30″, 50″ light bars are equipped with two rows of powerful LEDs that emit anywhere from 1,100 to 10,000 lumens depending on the length of the bar.  These heavy-duty light bars can be used for many applications, including off-road driving lights, daytime running lights, or fog lights on trucks, ATVs, or UTVs as well as for work lighting, industrial lighting, marine lighting, and tractor lighting.

LEDs in these light bars emit either a wide flood beam or a combination spot/flood beam pattern for focusing on long- and short-range distances simultaneously.

The warm weather has finally arrived and it looks like we have a good summer ahead of us. This is also the time when the electrical bills start to heat up as well. But keeping your house cool doesn’t need to cost you a fortune. Ceiling fans are an easy way to keep your thermostat up and your electrical bills down. Here are some summer maintenance tips for to get your ceiling fan moving its best.

Overtime a ceiling fan’s blades can collect dust. Once dust has accumulated on the blades, it can become airborne during use. This either spreads the dust through the air, which is not enjoyable for anyone in the room, or it can be sucked into the motor. If to much dust is drawn into the motor it can result in shaking and cause the motor to run hot. This can lead to an expensive repair bills down the road. Dust, vacuum, or use a damp rag to clean the blades every couple of weeks to prevent this build up and keep your fan clean.

Most machines with moving parts require lubrication on a regular basis. Older ceiling fans require lubrication while newer fans are self-lubricating. If you are unsure whether your fan requires lubrication, check the owner’s manual. If your fan is not properly lubricated the motor can become damaged and cause electrical fires.

When starting up your fan for the summer, there are several problems that can generate because of lack of maintenance:

Ceiling fans can be one of the most cost effect ways to keep your home cool this summer.

Electricians have been using copper for electrical wiring since the 1820s. It may surprise you to know that since then, we’ve never found, or needed, a replacement! Copper has numerous properties that make it ideal for electrical wiring. In fact, we can likely expect copper to continue to be used far into the future.

Ductile and Malleable—ductility and malleability are two very useful properties of metals. Something that is ductile can be hammered into a thin wire easily, and something malleable can be manipulated and bent into shapes easily. These properties make copper wires inexpensive to produce and easy to install.

Excellent conductivity—copper’s electrical conductivity is far superior to other types of non-precious metals, which allows it to carry greater amounts of current with a smaller diameter wire.

Non-corrosive—one of the biggest benefits of copper wiring is that it is non-corrosive, able to survive in harsh environments with almost no risk of wear and tear. It’s not uncommon to see copper wires last for 40 years or more!

All of these properties make copper the gold (or should we say copper!) standard in the electrical industry. For both commercial and domestic purposes, copper is considered the go-to material for wiring. In fact, most modern buildings being constructed today are designed to accept copper wiring. The prevalence of copper wiring makes rewiring a lot easier as well.

During the 1960s and 70s, aluminum wiring was used in many homes as a cheaper alternative to copper. Unfortunately, problems were discovered with aluminum wiring. The biggest danger associated with aluminum wiring is that it can react to materials used in outlets, light fixtures, and splices, where it can oxidize, deteriorate, overheat, and catch fire. The CPSC estimates that about 2 million homes were built with aluminum wiring between 1965 and 1973—and many of these homes are located in the MD, VA, and DC area.

The other problem with aluminum wiring is its high electrical resistance, which makes it more difficult for current to flow. As a result, you experience greater losses with aluminum wiring than you would with copper.

More than any other material, copper has stood the test of time for use in residential and commercial applications. If you’ve been thinking about rewiring your home and want to use the best materials possible, call Kolb Electric today!