A power surge is an increase in voltage flowing through your electrical units that rise above the standard voltage levels (120 Volts). These surges can be caused by lightning, high-powered electrical devices (elevators, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc), faulty wiring or even problems with your utility company’s equipment. Inevitably, these are all occurrences that we cannot prevent ourselves, so how can you protect your home and equipment from these damaging power surges?

Surge Protector

A simple solution is plugging in your electronics into a surge protector. A surge protector is a device used to protect your electronics from damaging power surges. However, many people use this tool for a much more obvious function, to plug in multiple components into one outlet, not knowing its protective capabilities. You most likely use at least one surge protector in your home already. But how does it work? How do you know that you are providing the top quality protection for your important devices?

How it Works

As you know, your surge protector pulls electrical currents from one outlet and passes them through all the electrical devices plugged into the surge protector. This aside, the more important feature of this device is its metal oxide varistor (MOV) component, which diverts extra voltage and preventing it from damaging your electronics. This MOV acts in different ways depending on the voltage flow to provide your devices consistent access to adequate levels of power. If the MOV indicates high levels of voltage, it will reduce the resistance and if the voltages are low it will create a higher resistance. However, it is important to be aware that these MOV’s can also burn out. By investing in a power surge with an indicator light you will always be able to determine whether or not it’s functioning appropriately.

In our next blog, Power Surge Protection: What to Look For, we will be discussing how and where to use your surge protector and purchasing tips for finding a quality protector. For more information on power surges and how to protect your equipment, contact the experts at Expert Electric. 604-681-8338

Home owners routinely call us with questions regarding attic fans. Do they really work? What is the difference between an attic fan and a whole house fan? Prior to home air conditioning and even after, home builders generally installed attic fans for the comfort of the residents. If you are a home owner who manages to get the first floor comfortable and then when you go upstairs for the evening it is stifling, an attic fan may be the answer for you.

Having an attic fan allows you to open one or more windows and the fan will suck in the cooler outside air and blow out the warmer interior air. When you have the proper fan, those times when you would be extremely warm and increase the output of your whole house A/C system, you may be surprised you need a light blanket with an attic fan.

Attic Fan vs. Whole House Fan

Are you confused? There is no reason to be. When you speak of a whole house fan it is a unit that is installed in the ceiling. It is designed to extract the hot air from your entire home and redirect it into the attic. The positive pressure in the attic will drive the warm air through roof vents. Then the negative pressure will bring in the cooler outside air.

A single attic fan is installed at the roof level and its purpose is to draw all the warm air out of the house. If you want fresh or cool air to be brought into the home, additional vents need to be installed.

Obviously there are many more advantages to a whole house fan, but the choice is yours. Many times you can use your whole house fan instead of your expensive air conditioning. Generally, an attic fan will run during the warmest time of the day hours to pump all the hot air out of your attic. However, a whole house fan will run in the coolest times like morning, evening and overnight to bring the fresh, cool air in.

Other benefits

While you may enjoy fishing and bringing your catch back for a family feast, you can still smell the fish fry the next morning and evening. An attic fan or whole house fan can rid your home of unwanted temporary odors in a heartbeat.

We will size your home and suggest a unit that will be able to cool within a three minute period. This is so much more efficient than turning down the A/C. You will see a huge reduction in your electric bill because these fans help your A/C run more efficiently and in some instances you do not need to run you’re A/C at all.

When you make the investment, a whole house fan is quiet and can last as long as 30 years. This is vastly difference from air conditioners. It does not pull damp, rainy air into your home.

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The price of electricity seems to be inexorably going up and so I want to present some money saving electrical tips, because statistics from the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA.gov) indicate that the average cost of electricity has risen again in 2011 to 11.47 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), from 11.2 in 2010 with an average monthly consumption per American family of 908 kWh. That means that the average family in the United States is spending $107.14 a month, or $1285.68 a year on electricity.

This is clearly a very large amount, and so it is important to consider ways that a family (or a business) can save money by conserving energy and being more energy efficient.

By far the biggest percentage of electricity use in the average home is for air cooling, with 17.9% on average of all the electricity in the average US home being spent on air conditioning.

The way that you would check for this is with the SEER Rating (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) which is now printed on virtually all air conditioners. A unit that is only rated as an 8 on this scale uses TWICE as much electricity as a 16 SEER unit, for the exact same cooling level. So potentially there are big savings to be made without even impacting on how often you use the units, simply by actually implementing these electrical tips in your home.

The second biggest consumer of electricity in the home is lighting at 15.3%, so also consider:

Between air conditioning and lighting these cover about a third of all the electricity used in your home every year, and so by making changes in these areas, and implementing the changes I have described in these money saving electrical tips, it is possible to make big savings on the $419 you are currently spending (a third of the total yearly spend of $1258).

Holidays are a known time for seeing friends and family, some of whom you may not be able to see often throughout the rest of the year. A hobby some people love during the holidays is to add decorative lighting to add a warm welcoming appeal to their homes. Whether your lighting is serious and somber to show your religious beliefs or fun and playful to reflect your personality, there are a few things to be aware of with the extra power draw your decorations put on your house.

Tech Specs and Electrical Engineering

When the public electric line reaches your house, it runs to a circuit breaker (or fuse box in older homes) to prevent dangerous levels of overload which could cause a shock, and the breaker is designed to automatically shut off if a dangerous level of electricity is reached with a surge or if too many appliances are run. There are exceptions, but most circuit breakers are designed to handle 15 amps, or a little over 1600 watts of power which is plenty for modern appliances.

The Simple Terms: When You Run Too Much Power

When you overload a circuit breaker, it becomes a nuisance as everything running on that line shuts down. It's not normally a daily occurrence, but usually only happens when something exceptional occurs. Running too many kitchen appliances at once, for example, can overload a circuit breaker, as can running a space heater or power tool on a line already being used. A common cause of circuit failure is when you've never had a problem running a hairdryer and curling iron until a guest in the guest bath turns on a second hairdryer. Holiday lighting usually runs on a low power supply but adds up when layered and can cause problems with a line which is already near its maximum usage levels.

The Layman's and the Professional's Solutions

What does CAN Bus mean?

CAN Bus means Controller Area Network Bus. This system monitors your vehicle and reports operating conditions. CAN Bus systems are commonly found in European vehicles such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsche, and in many American vehicles. While most late model American vehicles have CAN Bus systems, it is always good to check with your vehicle dealer to see which system your vehicle has before purchasing electrical products.

Will CAN Bus LED Bulbs Prevent “Bulb-Out” Indication?

Each vehicle has different requirements that the CAN Bus system is looking for, but in most cases CAN Bus LED bulbs should prevent a “bulb out” indication in areas such as tail, brake, and running lights. If you use a standard LED bulb that is not a CAN Bus application, you would consistently get a “bulb out” dashboard indicator because your system can’t communicate with a standard LED bulb.

Will CAN Bus LED Bulbs Prevent Hyper-Flashing?

CAN Bus bulbs will not prevent hyper-flashing of turn signals. These bulbs are communicating with the CAN Bus system, but the relay still needs an appropriate amount of load to operate correctly. Your electrical system could require load resistors or an electronic flashing relay to stop hyper-flashing. The factory relay causes the hyper-flash when it thinks there is not a bulb working. For more information, see our blog post here.