Confused or overwhelmed about the benefits and drawbacks of making your home a little more green? Your friendly neighborhood Mr. Electric® professionals are here, helping you understand the bigger picture in your quest for a greener life.

Energy consumption has more to do with having a green home than age. Newer homes with added square footage, vaulted ceilings and an array of high-tech electronics often consume a great deal of energy. Rather than upgrading, consider the size home that adequately fits your needs. With the help of an energy audit, air sealing and insulation, and efficient appliances, you’ll be well on your way to a green home, regardless of age.  

Simply plugging gaps, holes and other air leaks in your home and beneath insulation in your attic can reduce your demand for nonrenewable energy by up to 40 percent. Thinking about investing in a little new insulation? Don’t sweat it if the top-of-the-line insulation is out of your price range – all insulation is green. Go with what’s in your price range today and get those heating and cooling bills down tomorrow. There’s nothing greener than reducing energy consumption.

Don’t become brainwashed by greenwashing companies who put more thought into labeling their products to gain your purchase than into sustainability practices. Avoid deceitful marketing tactics by getting to know which labels are truly green in your local hardware store:

Replacing those old incandescents with CFLs or LEDs pays for itself over the lifespan of the bulbs, which not only use a fraction of the energy, but last far longer as well. Aren’t you tired of repeatedly replacing burnt out bulbs?

Huh? You heard right. Incandescents and halogens should ALWAYS be turned off when you leave the room. Why? They are less efficient. CFLs, however, are a bit more complicated. They cost 75 percent less to operate than an incandescent. However, turning them on and off reduces their operating life, which can cost you more in bulb replacements. The Department of Energy’s advice: If you’ll be out of the room for 15 minutes or less, leave it on.

Items with a power adapter, indicator light, standby function, or clock can suck up energy even when they’re turned off, draining you to the tune of 5 percent or more of your power bill. The typical cable box alone uses half the electricity of an Energy Star fridge. Multiply that times the number of these items in your house (TVs, computers, microwaves, cell phone chargers). To take a big bite out of your electric bill, plug these items into a power strip so they can be turned off when not in use. In addition, have wiring inspected to ensure poor connections and undersized wiring aren’t contributing to additional energy loss and higher bills.

Adjusting your thermostat 10 to 15 degrees for 8 hours a day can save you 5-15 percent per year on heating and cooling costs – 1 percent for each degree it’s set back. Make the savings hassle-free with the installation of an inexpensive programmable or Wi-Fi home thermostat.

Smoke detectors are very crucial pieces of safety equipment in your home and it is now also mandatory in NSW that residential properties have at least one smoke alarm on every storey. Not many people are aware of this, but a large percentage of fires in homes cause massive destruction because the smoke detectors didn’t function the way they should have.

The unfortunate fact is that we almost always take these fixtures for granted; we get them installed and rarely even notice they are there on the ceiling until they get set off accidently or when their batteries go dead. Improperly installed smoke detectors or even poorly-maintained ones will only end up letting you down exactly when you need them.

It’s important that you make smoke detector maintenance a part and parcel of your regular home maintenance routine. There two main types of smoke alarms used on residential properties:

These have minuscule quantities of radioactive material that reacts to the particles that are emitted when a fire breaks out, and that sets-off the alarm. These alarms are extremely effective in the detection of fast-flaming fires in which there isn’t too much of visible smoke.

These have photocells with a light beam that shines away from the cell. If smoke enters its test chamber, the smoke particles scatter some of the light; this hits the cell and triggers the alarm. These types of smoke detectors are ideal for detecting smouldering/smoky fires, which is how residential fires typically are.

Regardless of the types of alarms installed on your property, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes annually to ensure that these devices are in a working order at all times. The few steps you should take are:

Aside from the regular maintenance, it’s also very important that you consider how many smoke detectors you have and how they are powered. The best way to increase the effectiveness and safety of these devices is to upgrade your home’s smoke detection setup. The things to focus on are:

We can install and maintain smoke detectors on your residential or commercial premises. For more information, contact the Allround Electricals team at this number – 1300 169 263. Alternatively, you can also write to us at this email address.

Thanks for reading,1300 169 263

If you live in an older home, you probably have wiring that was designed to support far less voltage than the demands of today’s modern equipment, like computers and home entertainment centers. The wiring might also be starting to decay, leading not only to potential power losses, but fire hazards as well. In many cases, you should invest in at least partial—if not whole-house—rewiring to upgrade your home so it can handle the electrical load and prevent hazards.

Here are a few signs to look for that may warn you it’s time for wiring replacement.

When you think of caring for your home, you don’t often think about the electrical system unless something is going wrong. With an electrical system, when things go wrong, they often go very wrong. You don’t want to lose your home to an electrical fire or even a life due to not having the knowledge you need to safely complete an electrical project or upgrade. That’s why you need your local electrician in Gladewater for any electrical projects you have around the house. But we truly cannot stress it enough that electrical work is not a do-it-yourself project, and to prove our point (and to keep you safe), keep reading in order to to learn the top five reasons that residential electrical work is not a do-it-yourself project.

While changing out things like light switches may seem like simple tasks around the house, and arguably they are, you’re still exposing yourself to bare wires that carry an electrical current. The average American home runs on 120 volts AC. While a quick zap from accidentally touching a bare wire will probably not be enough to kill you, you could easily be gravely injured. Low amperages can easily kill someone and amps vary widely. Additionally, if you accidentally hold onto a wire with a normal voltage, for any number of reasons, this could also kill you. The number one most important thing when dealing with electricity is safety. A professional electrician knows many of the proper techniques and processes in order to perform a variety of electrical services safely.

Like any other home project, there are some electrical projects that you can easily completed with a screwdriver or hammer, and there are others that require very specialized tools in order to complete the job properly. In fact, buying the tools to do the job may cost you substantially more than hiring a local electrician in order to complete it. Tools like a multimeter, insulated hand tools, wire striping or crimping tools, and fish poles or tapes are all essential tools for most electrical services. The costs can easily add up, especially if you just have a small project or two that you need completed.

Along with saving yourself the money associated with buying specialized tools you may only attempt to use once or twice, there are several other factors that can save you both time and money. You could spend hours trying to solve and repair a problem that would take a trained electrician a fraction of the time. Also, you may incorrectly estimate the amount of materials you need to complete the project, which can cause additional incurred costs. Lastly, you can’t get the same prices on materials that contractors can, which just increases your overall costs.

You may be great at following a manual, step-by-step guide, or YouTube video for a standard electrical repair or upgrade, but in older homes, standard is rarely the case. In fact, many older homes have wiring layouts that are anything but standard. Trying to find where wiring runs for an outlet that connects to a lightswitch may not be as easy as it sounds. This creative wiring will be tackled the quickest by a professional with the right level of experience, not by yourself when you don’t know what to expect.

Electrical work also involves keeping your home up to code for safety and for resale value. Most everyday individuals don’t have a clue what building codes are and what is required in order to keep home wiring adherent to code. That’s where your local, licensed electrician comes in. They are educated in how to keep your home up to code and the most affordable, safe ways in which to do so. If you own an older home, you may run into a situation where you need to upgrade the wiring to keep your home up to code. This can easily get expensive and complicated, but is well worth the hassle in order to protect your home, family, and investment.

If you are in need of an electrician in the Los Angeles area, you have probably picked up the yellow pages or headed to your favorite search engine to wade through the listings. It is hard to pick the right one. How do you know which Los Angeles electrician to choose? At The Electric Connection, you won’t have to worry about what you are going to get when you make that first phone call. Here are some things every homeowner or business owner should look for when they are trying to hire the right electrician.

Reputation

A solid reputation is important. Past customers will be able to tell the real story about a company. Look for reviews online and verify the business with the Better Business Bureau. Angie’s List is another great place to check out an electrician’s reputation.

Clean

You take pride in your home and are likely a little picky about who you let in. You want a company who employs people who will respect your home and clean up after themselves. Presentation of an employee is also important and says a lot about the company’s image. Clean, nice-looking uniforms are always a plus. This is especially important if the work is going to be in a business where customers will see the electrician.

Honest

When dealing with any Los Angeles electrical work you want to ensure you are dealing with somebody who is being honest and up front with you. You don’t want to be paying for work that is not completely necessary. An honest electrician will tell you what needs to be fixed and what is optional but recommended. This gives you the option to decide what is best for you or your business.

At The Electric Connection, we pride ourselves on all of the above qualities and would love to help you with your electrical needs.