The weather outside bas been quite hot as the temperature has been reaching and exceeding the 30’s lately. Your electrical bill is probably rising with the temperature as well. Now is the time that many people start visiting stores in search of an air conditioning unit. This is a great way to cool down your home, but if your home’s electrical system is not prepared for the electrical load or you purchase the wrong unit, you could be left sweating more money than you expected.

Window-mounted air conditioning units are quite common to see in bedrooms or living rooms. These can be purchased from any local home appliance store. These units are mounted in the window and secured. These units pump in cold air and exhaust hot air to the outside – great for rooms that are frequented and difficult to keep cool.

The small units can also be purchased from your local appliance store. These smaller units cannot cool the same amount of area as a window-mounted unit, but can do the trick for small areas that you want to keep cool. The advantage of these is that you can move them from room to room quickly with little setup and takedown. One disadvantage of these units is that they tend to be quite noisy.

You may be fortunate enough to have one of these installed in your home. Central air units can be connected by ducts throughout the house and regulate the temperature set in the home. A central air unit is great for getting a consistently cool temperature in any room in the home while also keeping the noise to a minimum. One trick when it comes to central air is to ensure that you get a unit that matches the square footage for your home. If your air conditioning unit is too large for your home it may not properly dehumidify your home and run on short cycles.

When purchasing an A/C unit you want to ensure that you have a timer and energy-saver option. This will help keep your monthly electrical bills down. Energy efficient units will use less electricity and timer options can prevent the units from running when they are not needed. You also want to make sure that the unit is the appropriate size for your room or home. If the unit is too large it will cycle off quickly and can freeze air moisture without removing it, which can lead to a higher electrical bill.

If you are in the market for a new air conditioning unit for your home, make sure you do adequate research to ensure you are purchasing the right unit at the right size. Read the package for the required voltage and wattage. If you are adding an A/C unit in your home you could overload electrical circuits that are no prepared. If you have questions about your home’s electrical efficiency in the summer, call Expert Electric at 604-681-8338.

If you have recently moved into a home and have plans to put your personal touch on it, you are probably considering some renovations. Other reasons to renovate include accommodating a growing family or transforming the family home into one that is more of a retirement home. Maybe your home is old and you want to upgrade it to feel a little better or you are preparing to sell. No matter what your reasons for renovating may be, you will need an electrician in Glendale to help you make it possible. The team at The Electric Connection can assist you in making those renovation dreams a reality.

There are many different ways to renovate a home. Some are a little more labor intensive than others. A renovation may be something as simple as transforming a bedroom into an office. This would only require a Glendale electrician to do some minor changes to the wiring, including bringing in data lines and more outlets for equipment. Maybe you are making an office space into a bedroom and want to change out the fixtures to be a little more suitable for a bedroom. This is a quick fix that can be achieved in a single day when you rely on a certified electrician.

If you are going big and adding a new room or knocking out walls to make a space bigger, you will definitely need the services of an electrician. Glendale homeowners should always leave wiring issues to the professionals. An electrician can ensure the wiring is removed safely and new wiring is installed to compensate if needed. Kitchen upgrades are also going to run into some wiring issues, especially if you are adding more appliances or moving existing appliances. Give The Electric Connection a call today and set up your appointment to talk about your renovation plans.

Throughout the modern age, we have become desensitized to the radical displacement of major products, categories, and even whole industries. It’s amazing how one simple technological innovation can change the way we use a major product or service in our lives; one of today’s largest examples of this is how LED bulbs are rapidly displacing the standard incandescent or CFL bulb.

VCRs, cassette tapes, home phones, movie stores, steam engines, and more have been added to the list of technologies that were once considered revolutionary, but are now just a novelty. The same will soon be said for CFL and, especially, incandescent light bulbs, as LED bulbs seem to outperform their predecessors in nearly every way.

There are really only two ways to point to an LED bulb and find that it has any flaws when compared to a standard light bulb: They don’t last (quite) as long when kept in a closely confined container that is left on for extended periods and they cost more to purchase. The former issue is solved by adjusting the type of fixture you install LED bulbs in (or losing the fixture altogether, as LEDs don’t need them nearly as much) and the latter is an ever-decreasing problem, as LEDs are becoming more-and-more mass produced and affordable. Even now, for a couple extra bucks, your 4-pack of LED bulbs will pay for themselves with a single bulb in about a year, then continue to last far longer – likely years – longer than an incandescent bulb bought on the same day would have.

One of the major criticisms to LED bulbs was once that the light was too pristine, not natural enough, or just generally felt different. Now, however, LED manufacturers have begun to perfect making LED bulbs replicate and exceed the capabilities of standard light bulbs. In fact, LED bulbs can now even be purchased to replicate vintage-style bulbs (often called Edison bulbs), that fully function on a dimmable switch and provide all the exoticl pizzaz of classic bulbs without the abysmal lifespan. It is reasonable to expect that as LED lights continue to replace incandescent bulbs in standard applications that they will take their place in other areas, including colorful, uniquely-shaped, and even more exotic or rare fixture fittings.

You’ve likely heard the claims of savings and safety features associated with LED bulbs; if you’re skeptical, then worry not, most every claim about LED bulbs is true or even understated. LED bulbs are so much more efficient, reliable, stable, and long-lasting than incandescent bulbs in nearly all situations, that there really are almost no reasons to not choose LED over your standard bulbs. In fact, it is likely not worth waiting for your current bulbs to die, but, instead, upgrade your entire household now; the savings is so significant that you’ll likely save money on your electrical bill in under a year.

Whenever you need electrical work done around your Des Moines home, contact the experienced professionals at Electrical Gurus. We are proud to offer the finest licensed local electricians in the area and are always more than happy to help out on your household projects.

A backyard pool provides years of fun for your entire family. Gatherings are so much more exciting when there’s a pool available. The sultry Tampa and St. Petersburg evenings provide a wonderful opportunity for adults to entertain around the pool patio, indulging in a late night dip. There’s no more inviting sight than a sparkling pool, just waiting for you and your family.

One of the best ways to enhance your poolscape after the sun goes down is by installing lighting. Pool lights illuminate the dazzling water and create a safe night time swimming environment. They provide security, especially when there are little ones about. But, when your lights start to act up-dimming, cutting on and off, or going out for no reason, you need to locate the source of the interruption in your pool lighting—and fast.

Once someone has discovered retrofitting as a read that by clicking here.

Let’s get started with the first question on the list, and that is what exactly is a retrofit kit?

What is a retrofit kit anyways? Well, we’ve actually reducing your energy consumption even more. Just make sure you are buying a LED retrofit kit that has the option to be dimmable, otherwise you will NOT be able to dim them.

Retrofit vs full replacement, why should you consider retrofitting with LED?

While a full replacement of an entire is fixture is very valid to do especially when they are outdated or literally falling apart; often times you can avoid that by retrofitting your fixtures. With retrofitting you get to keep your old fixture but just replace the light source in it with a new one. This will allow you to reduce the costs associated with the lighting upgrade tremendously, which will allow you to realize a much larger ROI.

Although there are benefits of both, you need to think about your facility or buildings own situation, and go from there. To recap; retrofitting is great if you can keep your old fixtures but if you can’t (due to reasons like outdated or near falling apart), then a full replacement is probably the better option.

For more info, check out this infographic (

Why should I even switch to LED in the first place?

Very good question, and this not only applies to those retrofitting but for any facility that plans to make a lighting system update. LED technology has vast benefits in almost every area of the definition “quality” for commercial lighting purposes. Here are just a few of the major benefits that more often than not win over businesses to commit to the conversion over to LED technology:

As you can see these are all some pretty big benefits, and that’s only the start. These reasons are why many companies are making the conversion over to LED products from other outdated technologies such as metal halide, HPS, and even fluorescent. Why not convert to LED with a retrofit LED kit and realize all of these benefits and more? It just makes sense!

Is it difficult to retrofit an existing light fixture?

Well, that can depend. To someone who has no knowledge about lighting fixtures and electrical wiring, then yes this will seem like an extremely difficult task. On the other hand for someone who is a professional, this isn’t a difficult task at all.

The process, in theory, is simple because all it consists of (for the most part) is a replacement of all the existing lamps, ballasts, sockets, and brackets with new ones to fit your retrofit kits. If you have no experience doing this, and even if you do, it is always recommended to bring in a licensed electrician if you can to ensure it is done right and to safety standards.

Are LED retrofits that are compatible with existing ballasts a good idea?

You need to consider the age of the ballast that is currently installed. In most cases, it will be nearing the end of it’s life and thus it won’t be the most up-to-date ballast that you could have. This adds for an additional point of failure, which could cost you more down the line in maintenance fees to replace them when they die out.

You have to consider that since you are considering the switch over to LEDs through retrofitting, you most likely haven’t recently upgraded you lighting system or replaced much. This means that the ballasts currently installed are most likely, at best, as old as the lights in your fixtures currently. But more often or not, they are even older than that which can definitely mean they are nearing the end of their lifespan.

Taking this all into account, it’s impossible to tell you if using existing ballasts is a contact us. We will gladly answer any question you may have!