Every year, there are nearly 50,000 home fires caused by poor home electrical safety. Between 2007 and 2011, house fires caused $1.5 billion in property damages and claimed 455 civilian lives. About half of these fires were caused by lighting equipment and outlet failures. The other half of home electrical fires involved major appliances, like washers and dryers, fans, and space heaters.

To keep your property and family protected at all times, follow these important home electrical safety tips from Kolb Electric.

At Kolb Electric, we want our Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC customers to exercise home electrical safety. No matter what electrical services you need, rely on Kolb Electric to deliver! Contact us today to schedule an appointment.

Common Residential Wiring Problems

There are many wiring problems that your home can encounter throughout the years. Any residential wiring problems in Chester County, PA require immediate attention. While there are a variety of problems your home can experience, here are some of the more common code violations that could result in worse problems later on.

Junction Box Uncovered

Wires connect to one another at the splices which are housed in the junction box. Without a cover, wires could accidentally be damaged or someone could be shocked. This is a code violation and is a danger if wires are within reach. A new cover for the box is inexpensive.

Flickering Lights

If you notice your electrical lights flickering when it is windy outside, your home probably has frayed wiring in the weather-head which causes a short when the cables move. The weather-head is the fitting where overhead cables from the power line enter the house. This is a major danger, as it can arc and result in a fire. This is a problem that needs to be addressed by your electric utility provider.

Lack of Electrical Outlets

If your home has too few outlets, you are relying on power strips and extension cords. This results in minimal risks as long as you use extension cords that are 14-gauge or more, meaning they are heavy duty. Undersized cords can overheat and cause a fire, so it is wise to go ahead and have a professional electrician install additional electrical outlets.

Failing to have GFCIs

Ground-fault circuit interrupters (GCFIs) can shut down a circuit fast, within 4 milliseconds. While this is grandfathered in and is not a code violation. Codes for newer homes require GFCIs on all outdoor outlets, basement and garage outlets and within four feet of any sink. If your home does not have any GFCIs, you should add them to ensure safety.

When you flick on the light switch, what happens? If you’re thinking “the room lights up… hopefully,” then you’re probably missing out on an opportunity for breathtaking lighting to do so much more than just let you see in the dark.

Your home should look intentional and deliberate, not just functional. Lighting is one of the best, easiest, and most easily ignored ways to make your home go from “nice place,” to “oh wow.” Seriously! Think back to the first time you saw under-cabinet lighting, for instance. Wow, talk about a way to get the most out of a space, while still showing off the best aspects out of the kitchen. That is exactly the effect that an inspired electrician can create, simply by optimizing your layout to handle some really nifty things with lighting. Even if you don’t decide to pull the trigger on the uplighting for your soon-to-come artwork, having the ability to add that in with little effort later thanks to a box hidden in the wall (just in case) takes almost no effort on our part, but can make a tremendous difference in your home’s perception, and value, down the road.

Light doesn’t just shine from one direction. Even sunlight is seen in the form of reflection, direct contact, and general ambient lighting. These simple principles are the same that should be used and recreated in your home. Your home should mirror that breathtaking view you saw on your favorite vacation, when the sunlight shone just so; conjure up that image, then imagine the architecture of your home and how it could be better illuminated. If you’re drawing a blank, don’t worry, that’s what our experienced electricians are here for. We’ll happily handle the up lighting, room lighting, and ambient lighting to create the effect that you’re looking for, even if you don’t really know how to explain it or where the circuits need to run. While all of this sounds expensive, creating a couple of extra lighting lines is simple when you’re already committing to work on your home, but becomes much more difficult later; always take advantage of the opportunity to bring an electrician and find out what is possible – 9 times out of 10, we find that homeowners who do this thank themselves for it later.

One of the biggest mistakes that builders and general contractors make is doing the bare minimum for lighting, leaving the home with nothing but a few can lights either dimly lighting the room or blinding everyone inside. Don’t let your lights let you down, or you’ll find that all your painting and furniture efforts just seem to fall flat of that wow factor you’re looking for.

Contact Electrical Gurus in Des Moines for the inspired, experienced service you need to create artistically inspired lighting for your home. When done right, you’ll find an incredible amount of value in a couple of lighting changes.

Programmable logic controllers provide automatic control of processes so that very little human intervention is required. Yet, this results in a well-coordinated, repetitive process.

These systems automatically start and shut down critical equipment in large and complex manufacturing processes. When in operation, programmable logic controllers ensure that all conditions are met before starting up a certain machine or process. In addition, the PLC continues monitoring the entire system using a variety of sensors.

Consequently, this ensures that everything runs as programmed. The PLC will trip if it detects a malfunction or abnormality in any of the monitored parameters.

The operating environment, size of the processes, ease of access by operators and maintenance personnel influence the choice of PLC.

A harsh environment with dust or small particles will require a PLC system with an appropriately IP rated enclosure. This prevents ingress of foreign particles into the system. The available space and layout also influence the choice. Therefore, most users require easy access for reprogramming, maintenance, or troubleshooting.

The simplest form of a PLC, all the basic components of a PLC include the I/O points, CPU, and software program. It is typically housed in a single enclosure. These PLCs are attached directly to the equipment being controlled.

Modular PLCs consists of several components on a common bus within a base unit to allow extending of the input and output. These units work on an expandable base unit. Therefore, it provides all the basic components of a PLC, i.e., a power supply, I/O points, memory and the CPU, and slots for additional cards.  These modules, which may be from the same or different manufacturers, are plugged together into a base unit.

This follows the same modular concept, but each of the modules plugs into a rack. The add-on modules are contained in racks which are then linked together through a network of connections. Since the rack mounting PLC is highly scalable, it allows very large systems to be assembled.

In energy management, the PLC monitors and controls equipment such as boiler systems. It helps the organization increase energy efficiency and safety. PLCs are also used in numerous everyday activities. They are found in factories, homes, commercial buildings, airports, unmanned car parks, and more.

Finally, some practical applications include: