Have you ever received a nasty shock when your electric bill arrived? Maybe the amount you owed skyrocketed when you turned on the air conditioning for the summer, or the refrigerator started breaking down and consumed an excess of electricity. No matter what the cause of your sky-high electric bill, once you use the electricity, you have to pay for it. One way you can get a heads-up on any unusually high consumption is to keep an eye on your electric meter. Read on to learn how to read the meter so you are prepared when the bill shows up at your door.

Is Your Meter Digital or Dialed?

If you're lucky, you have a newer electric meter with a digital display, making it a cinch to see how much current is coming in. Simply compare your consumption from one month to another and you'll quickly be able to figure out if you're using up more energy than normal.

Traditional electric meters are a bit trickier to read, but you don't have to be an electrician to decipher them. These older meters have dials instead of a digital display, and they don't all spin in the same direction. With a little practice, however, you can figure out how much power you are using and get a ballpark idea about what the bill will be.

Spinning Clockwise, Spinning Counterclockwise

On a traditional electric meter, there are five dials that go between 0 and 9. To read the meter, follow these steps:

There's one more twist -- if the dial is pointing exactly to a number, and the next dial to the right points to a nine, you should subtract one from the dial that points to the exact number.

Now you've got your reading, and you can simply track how much it changes from month to month to get a handle on your energy use.

Getting Smart About Your Meter

If your utility has already implemented smart electric meters, it's even easier to follow your consumption. Not only is the display in easy-to-read digital form, but the meter can provide updates on how much you're using as often as every fifteen minutes. That way, you can get an alert in real-time if your usage spikes so you can track down the culprit before you have to shell out a fortune in bills.

In addition to monitoring your own consumption, it's a good idea to watch the meter so you will know if the utility company accidentally overcharges you. If you need any help figuring out how to read your meter, contact a trusted electrician today.

You have been tossing around the idea for years, and now the idea of remodeling your home is finally a reality. What an exciting time for you! Whether you are getting a brand new kitchen, complete with the latest and greatest appliances, or adding on that bedroom your expanding family so desperately needs, you will need an electrician. Burbank homeowners who are the DIY kind of person will need to think twice before trying to tackle such a big, technical job.

Why You Need a Professional

There are several reasons you may decide to do most of the remodeling work on your own, with cost typically being the biggest motivating factor. There is certainly nothing wrong with saving a few dollars on a remodeling job, but there are some things that need to be left to the professionals. Electrical wiring is one of those things.

Most building codes require a permit be obtained for any rewiring. Inspections will also be performed. A person who has no real knowledge of electrical wiring will likely be unable to perform the work up to code. You could end up costing yourself more money in the long run if an electrician in Burbank has to remove everything you did and start over. You are looking at money wasted in material that will need to be replaced.

There are certainly some minor jobs that you could do, as long as you have an idea of how to go about it safely. Replacing outlets or light fixtures is easy enough if you understand basic electricity work. However, adding outlets or the wires needed to put in light fixtures is best left to the trained professionals.

Although you may think you are saving yourself money, you are risking your safety and the safety of your family by trying to do a job that requires a professional. The Electric Connection has the experience to take care of these things for you.

In general, you don’t want anything in your home’s electrical system to create sparks. It’s usually a major warning sign that the system requires repairs. You should immediately stop using the sparking appliance and call for professional electricians.

However, sparks from outlets are something that homeowners often ignore. Its commonplace for a slight blue spark to appear when you plug an electrical appliance, like a vacuum cleaner or a toaster into a wall outlet: this is a visible effect from the start of the flow of electrons. However, larger sparks might begin to occur. When this happens, you need to call for professional electrical repairs as soon as possible. Under no circumstances should you attempt to open up the outlet cover and investigate the sparking on your own—this is potentially very hazardous.

There are a number of possible causes for an outlet to develop the dangerous sparking that might lead to electrical fires. One of the common reasons is that the outlet has overheated and melted the insulation around the wires. (This is why you should never use an octopus plug to connect too many appliances into a single outlet at the same time; it’s easy for the outlet to overheat.) When the wires are exposed because of melted insulation, it can cause electrons to leap from the wire to the metal case or even the opposite wire. This is known as a short circuit. Short circuits are potentially very dangerous as sources of electrical fires. Most of the time, a short will cause the circuit breaker panel to trip and cut off the circuit to prevent further damage. Frequently tripped breakers are a major warning sign that your have trouble with an outlet.

However, if there are other problems with the wiring your home, a short circuit in an outlet could start a fire behind the walls. If you ignore major sparking from an outlet, this is one of the risks that you’ll take.

Fortunately, professional electricians are experienced with fixing and replacing faulty outlets to prevent the dangers of short circuits. You should watch out not only for sparking from outlets, but also outlets that feel hot to the touch or show signs of discoloration and charring on their surface. An outlet that continually trips circuit breakers also needs an electrician to investigate it.

From movies candle-lit dinners, lighting is one of the most important factors in everything we do.  Science and technology teams around the world have put an amazing amount of effort into developing the sturdiest, longest-lasting lights for any application you can think of.  Color, saturation, brightness, and even beam shape are all important when it comes to picking the right light for the situation.  The best part?  Mood lighting is a careful art that’s pretty easy to pull off once you know which settings work best.  Romantic lighting is especially simple and can set the stage so long as you have the right room and the right lights.

It could be our culture that has led us to see certain settings as romantic.  But there are also a few scientific aspects of lighting that genuinely make a setting more romantic.  While it may be that decades of amber-colored lights or the flicker of candlelight have fashioned our notions of what makes for romantic lighting, there’s also the effect of the light itself to consider.

Light with a low color temperature (below 3000K, or ‘yellow’ light) produces a very interesting effect on surfaces.  These lights, which are standard for most incandescent lamps, soften features and improve appearances.  If you want to look good, use an incandescent lamp.  While not ideal for getting ready in the morning, a standard light gives that warm and cozy feeling we all enjoy from standard incandescent bulbs.

The next step is to keep the lights dimmer than normal.  Dimmer lighting creates a closer, more intimate feeling to any room.  But there is a trick to this.  Don’t simply remove a few light bulbs from the dining room, you need to use an actual dimmer.  Uneven lighting is jarring and distracting.  Removing lamps or relying on recessed lights that have been dimmed can ruin the effect.  Recessed lighting that’s been dimmed can create cave-lighting (when there are unintended dark corners along the upper part of the wall).  Uneven lighting isn’t cozy, it’s distracting.  Use a dimmer switch.  Just be sure to match your dimmer to the type of lights you’re using.  If you plan to use LED lamps, make sure the dimmer is compatible with your brand of LEDs.

When we say to keep lighting even, we don’t mean equal throughout the room.  Even lighting in this case is designed to highlight focus areas.  Think about how restaurants stagger their lighting, with islands of light at each table and muted lights everywhere else.  If you want the greatest effect, use a fixture that focuses a soft light where you’ll be spending your time while ambient lighting casts a light glow everywhere else.

A romantic setting demands more than just the right lighting.  Pair the lighting with a favorite meal or entertainment.  Some background music will set things off nicely, but only if you select something that matches the mood.  You may enjoy electronic dubstep, but when the lights are lower something quiet and soothing is the way to go.

For the best in quality electrical repair work and installations, contact the professionals at Custom Electric!  Be sure to check back here each week for helpful advice, news, and guides or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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A home battery can solve a lot of problems. With enough storage, you can buy electricity when it's cheapest, then dole it out when you need it. Plus, you'll be protected in case of a blackout. Until very recently, the technology for a practical home battery system wasn’t powerful enough to keep the average home humming. However, several companies are now producing or developing home batteries that can change the way we power our residential electrical work.

High Generating Costs at the Margins

Many areas of the country are shifting toward variable time-of-day pricing models for utilities, in which electricity typically costs more during the day and less at night. Utilities want to incentivize daytime conservation because they need to meet the demand at any given time or risk brownouts. Since demand is much higher during the day, utility companies needs to bring on extra generating equipment, which is expensive. The more they can smooth out demand so they can produce similar amounts of electricity around the clock, the lower the overall costs will be.

That's where batteries come in. There's no way around consuming more power during the day – that's when Americans typically use their electrical work to power air conditioning, televisions, computers and other appliances. However, with enough home storage capacity, you can purchase electricity at night and store it in your home battery until you need it. That way, you pay less, the utility can ameliorate its variable demand problem, and everybody wins.

Competition Hits the Market

Tesla Motors was one of the first companies in the home battery field with its Powerwall, but now other competitors are swiftly preparing to hit the market. Currently, LG Chem and Samsung SDI are working on their own battery models, with LG Chem's product projected to be available in North America before the end of the year.

Globally, the home battery market could grow nearly tenfold, from $388 million today to $3.2 billion by 2020, according to Business Korea. The home battery field is poised to grow hand-in-hand with that of batteries for electric cars, since the technologies have a lot of overlap – in fact, some experts project that electric cars themselves will soon serve a second function as an energy storage unit for your home. They won't be as practical as stand-alone batteries for many families, since the cars are liable to be away from home during the day when the electricity is needed, but they can add capacity in an emergency.

A Helping Hand for Your Storage Capacity

We're just at the start of what promises to be a revolution in home energy storage options. For more information about what home batteries are available in your area, or if you need any other residential electrical work, contact an expert electrician today.