Hot tub wiring and circuits are a big request this time of year.  Summer specials such as those going on at the Iowa State Fair dramatically increase sales.  With many hot tub brands to choose from such as Hot Springs Spas, Maax Spas, California Cooperage, Jacuzzi, Caldera Spas, and Thermo Spas the choices are numerous.  Hot tub installers typically do not wire your hot tub unless there is a specific and properly wired disconnect in place.  The hot tub circuit with disconnect must be installed by a licensed electrician.  The hot tub or pool disconnect has certain requirements pertaining to the type and distance required from your pool or hot tub.  In addition to this the circuit must be the required ampacity and voltage intended for your hot tub in order to insure the safe and reliable operation for you and your family.  Never trust someone that is not an electrician trained in proper hot tub wiring.  

Installing the proper hot tub wiring is not a project for that handy family member or the guy down the street.  Hot tub wiring must be done properly and to state and local building codes.  In addition the wiring must be done to strict National Electrical Codes.  All of our electricians that are trained in hot tub wiring follow the code to ensure you and your family are as safe as possible.

Just like hot tub wiring, pool wiring must only be done by a trained and trusted professional.  Pool wiring has strict guidelines set in place for your safety.  Bonding, grounding, and GFCI protection are all major concerns when installing wiring for your pool.  Pool wiring is not a do it yourself project and should only be done by a licensed electrician.  We work with several of Des Moines top pool installers to insure your next pool project is done to the highest of standards.  The code is in place and should be followed closely with no exceptions.

Recessed lighting is commonly used in rooms where ceiling height is an issue. These fixtures are essentially placed flush into your ceiling and project light from a hole or an opening on an otherwise clear plane.

Often you'll find this kind of lighting in an area that utilizes dropped ceilings with removable panels. Ceilings like these are usually implemented because they are concealing pipes or wiring that is exposed beneath the original ceiling - this practice can commonly be seen in basements and industrial spaces where aesthetics weren't initially taken into consideration.

Since recessed lighting is usually exposed to the underside of sensitive wiring or pipes, there are a number of potential dangers that present themselves when these fixtures are used.

A common mistake is using recessed lighting that produces too much heat for the amount of space left between the dropped ceiling and the original. Be sure when you're installing these devices that a qualified electrician, like the kind employed by John C. Flood, verifies there is enough ventilation and room between objects that excess heat won't make the area a fire hazard.

If you notice that you have a recessed lighting fixture which is dim and periodically flickers back to full brightness, this may be a sign that the wattage of the light bulb is too powerful for the lamp. Most recessed models will have heating sensors built in that automatically dim the light to avoid flames. One solution might be to lower the strength of the bulbs that you use in these features, although the bigger problem may be that your lighting instruments themselves were installed in too close quarters.

Solar energy is becoming more widely depended on for residential and business owners. Recently, there has been a huge push by governments all around the world to encourage more manufacturers to get into the manufacturing of solar equipment, which will make going green much more affordable for everybody. There are plenty of reasons why you should consider switching or at least supplementing your home’s electricity needs with solar power. An electrician in Beverly Hills, like those at The Electric Connection is here to help you understand why solar power truly is the way of the future.

• Energy from the sun is completely free! You will need to pay an initial investment cost to have the solar panels and converters installed, but any electricity collected from the sun is free. • Solar panels add value to your home. With such a huge push to rely on solar energy, potential homebuyers are looking for homes that are already equipped with the technology and will be willing to pay more for a home that has it.

You will be amazed to learn how easy it is to switch to solar power. It is the responsible thing to do and it can ultimately save you a great deal of money every month on your electric bill. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your solar panel installation.

What’s all the buzz about? Through smart-tech and general technology improvements, modern homes are getting safer and safer every year, which we can all be happy about. But that doesn’t mean we as homeowners should let our guard down! Electrical safety is still a big, big deal, and tons of fires are reported every year due to electrical failures or misuse. Some of the causes are even really odd, or something you might not expect. Do you know all of the dangers potentially lurking in your home?

At Kolb Electric, your safety and the electrical safety of your home is our absolute priority in all cases. Superior electrical service may be our pride, but safety will always come first and foremost! Today we’re here to talk about some hidden home threats, and what you can do to avoid them.

Looking for electrical services for your Bethesda home? Contact Kolb Electric today!

We all know that there are risks with say, outlets, or a damaged appliance. But there are plenty of problems that can come right out of the woodwork (sometimes literally!). Be aware of these potential problems, and prepare your home accordingly:

Need some trustworthy service from a certified electrician to shore up the defenses in your Maryland home? Contact Kolb Electric today! We’ve been putting the needs of our consumers first and foremost for nearly a century, and our experts are always ready to assist!

As there are performance standard. All lights that are DLC Qualified have been tested and meet or exceed these requirements. Most recently, DLC has created a higher performance standard, DLC Premium. With DLC Premium, the LED lights are among the most efficient available. For example, our LED Retrofit Kits are DLC Premium Listed, while many of our competitors’ products are only DLC Standard Qualified.

To you, the consumer, this means a DLC Premium retrofit solution will be 20-30% brighter and / or use 20-30% + less energy. Comparing our units at 165 lumens/watt versus a competitive product at 97 lumens per watt, their product requires 135 watts to produce the same amount of light our product needs barely over 75 watts to create. To you, this saves you thousands of dollars month after month. So while both carry the DLC qualification symbol, ours will save you much more every minute the light is turned on.

One of the benefits of retrofitting is you get to recapture the investment in your existing fixtures. Think of a car dealership. Many are beautiful architecturally designed fixtures and the dealership had spent a lot of money to have them installed. The owners would like to convert to LED, but installing a new fixture is not an ideal solution. First, the finished result would not look as aesthetically pleasing as the current appearance. Second, the investment in the existing fixtures would be ‘throw away’. With a LED retrofitting kit, think of the driver as the ballast replacement and the head as a replacement for the metal halide bulb.

Secondly, most of the times a retrofit kit solution is less expensive than a new fixture solution. So not only are you able to recapture your fixture investment, but converting to LED should be cheaper than replacing the fixture with a new LED fixture.

Being DLC Premium Qualified, each kit must be backed with a 5 year warranty. Since our heads are so designed so thermally efficient, the heads have been upgraded to a 10 year warranty. The drivers come with a standard 5 year warranty, but an optional 10 year warranty on the entire unit is available. This means that you should not have to worry about replacing metal halide bulbs and ballasts for 10+ years. For some of our customers, not replacing bulbs and ballasts is almost as if not more important than energy savings provided by converting over to LED.

Our most powerful kit produces close to 51000 lumens while only consuming 350 watts. We believe we have some of the most, if not the most, efficient retrofit kits on the market today. While others are capable of creating 51000 lumens, they need significantly more watts to be able to do so. This is important, because one of the reasons you are probably considering on converting to LED is to save money. But it would be wrong for you to think that all LED solutions are the same in terms of efficiency. Some of our competitor’s kits are rated at 97 and 110 lumens per watt. Our fifth generation of LED retrofit kits are rated up to 165 lumens per watt. This means our competitors are 50% less efficient than our latest models. Over the life of the LEDs, this means you electrical bills are going to be significantly higher than it needs to be. Yes, it will be lower than the current metal halide or high pressure sodium bulbs you may currently be using, but they will cost you significantly more to operate over our latest ultra-efficient retrofit solutions.

The most important thing to do is to match the correct retrofit kit with your existing lighting. We created 11 retrofit kits as part of our family of LED solutions, from 30 watts all the way to 350 watts. Each unit is designed to fit into your existing fixture without the need for taking down the fixture and sending it to use so we can create a custom plate. Some suppliers provide that as their solution. With our 11 retrofit kits, there is no need to take down a fixture and send it to our offices so that we can design you a retrofit plate. Retrofitting Content by MyLEDLightingGuide