No matter how you choose to celebrate, there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks! But while fun and friends are great, and we are really looking forward to some holiday eats, our experts would like to take a moment to point out some critically important details regarding the holidays. Namely, electrical safety.

At Hoffman Electrical, the safety of our patrons in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida is of the utmost importance. And while the holidays are pretty awesome, they also open up some opportunities for unique dangers that you’d do best to avoid. Follow along to learn our quick tips for a safe and happy holiday season!

The Living Room If you have a larger living room with high ceilings, you may want to choose an attractive lighting fixture, such as a chandelier to serve as the room’s focal point. Ceiling fans are also a popular choice for living rooms, but extra mood lighting may be necessary to ensure the room is well lit.

If you are wanting to have accents to the room, consider adding some attractive wall sconces. These play a major role in the aesthetics. Adding table lamps or floor lamps can play a major role in the overall mood of the room.

The Dining Room In the dining area, you want to put an emphasis on the table. To add to the appearance, add a chandelier or a pendant light that hangs low directly above the table. It is easier to light the dining room because the table is always the focal point of the room.

The Kitchen You want to ensure your kitchen is well lit. Because it requires a lot of lighting, you may want to incorporate more than one kind of lighting fixture into the room. One popular combination involves chandeliers and pendant lamps. Accent key areas by adding in track lighting or spotlights.

Bedroom You want a relaxing mood in the bedroom, so you may want to include task lighting such as reading lamps. You can create an attractive backdrop by throwing in some accent lighting. Lamps are always popular in bedrooms, of course, but if you add pendant lighting you can make the room have a different and interesting appearance.

Call the leading residential electrician in Chester County, PA to take care of your light fixture installations.

We often forget how important it can be to call an electrician if a problem arises with a home’s electrical system. In fact, most homeowners are complacent that their wiring system is just fine and needs no care or maintenance. More often than not, the only time a licensed electrician is called to a house when something is going wrong. It’s important to understand how to recognize when you may need to be preemptive about electrical problems and subtle signs that your electrical system needs maintenance or repairs. Keep an eye out for the following issues that could arise, indicating a bigger electrical problem in your home.

If you’re a fan of power strips, that’s not necessarily a problem right away. The problem happens when you start to overload a specific circuit in your home. Attaching a power strip and then packing it full of energy-heavy devices can quickly cause circuit breakers to flip. In addition to that risk, they can quickly become a fire risk when used inappropriately. Opt for power strips with surge protectors and be careful concerning how much you plug into them. If you need more outlet availability in a space, that’s when you need to call a local electrician.

While the rugs themselves aren’t a sign of electrical problems, the wires and cords run under them are. More and more people are adapting older homes to their current needs, leaving exposed cords and cables throughout the house. You don’t need to run them under carpet and rugs. In fact, that can be a tripping hazard. An electrician can quickly run wires and cables through the walls to get the cables out of sight and out of mind.

If you own an older home, you may have noticed how your outlets don’t look quite like outlets in newer homes. For a long time, two prong outlets were the standard. No many appliances use a three prong plug style in order to provide a ground for the electricity. Don’t be someone who just cuts the third prong off of their appliances or bends it back to make it fit in the two prong outlet; upgrade your outlets instead. Properly grounded outlets can reduce the risk of electrical fires and other risks due to electricity.

It’s important to regularly check your home’s main service panel. Regular visual checks and professional checks by an electrician can help to prolong the life of the panel and help avert any problems from improper care. When you visually inspect the panel, check for any signs of problems, including potential rust. If your panel is rusting, it’s time to have an electrician install a new one for safety and performance.

If you’ve ever turned on a light switch and found that the plate was warm to the touch, then you should call an electrician. Points where power is utilized in the wall should never be warm, and definitely not hot. It’s a sign of a bigger electrical problem that could be a safety hazard.

Other parts of the country may be warming up and getting ready to use our air conditioners, but we’re still relying on our heaters to get us through more than a few chilly nights. So if yours begins to malfunction, you may start to panic. This is understandable, but know that if you’ve had your system maintained before the heating season began, it may likely not even be an issue with the system itself.

Instead, you may be in need of Newton, MA electrical wiring services for some component of your heater. Keep reading to learn more about how your heater can be impacted by electrical issues.

This applies to both electrical furnaces as well as boilers. Both of these systems use heating elements—a set of coils that burn hot as a current passes through them—in order to raise the temperature of the air (furnaces) or water (boilers).

Both of these systems contain more than one heating element. Therefore, if you one fails you likely won’t lose your heat entirely, but your heater won’t be able to work as efficiently as it otherwise would.

If you’re utilizing a heat pump, then this is the most common electrical problem you might run into. Capacitors are cylindrical devices about the size of a soda can, responsible for sending electrical charges to the motors to start and keep them running.

Capacitors can burn out after years of use, or suffer from wiring issues, causing the heat pump to “hard start” (draining power) or quit functioning all together. You’ll need a professional to replace the damaged electrical capacitors.

Even if you have a heater that runs off of natural gas, oil, propane, or geothermal power, it’s going to have an electrical thermostat controlling it. Thermostats with failing wiring will begin to malfunction, often incorrectly registering your home’s temperature or failing to accurately set the heater. If your heater is failing to reach its target temperature with no other signs of a problem, your thermostat wiring could certainly be to blame.

It’s no secret that incandescent, fluorescent, and equivalent LED fixture. In California, Pacific Gas and Electric gives a $250 rebate for a 321- to 500-watt LED replacement for a high-bay fixture. Other utility companies will offer energy-savings-based rebates by each watt reduced or custom rebates, which require an energy audit. Products must be listed in DLC’s QPL to qualify for rebates. Contact your local utility company to verify participation in the rebate program or for a complete list of incentives and qualified products.

Purchasing an LED product on DLC’s QPL is rewarding in more ways than one; immediate energy savings and increased longevity are the most widely known benefits. DLC rebates are offered as an extra push toward quality lighting technologies. Incentives such as this one can be helpful in establishing a more sustainable, energy-conscious society.

A comprehensive list of rebates per state/province can be found for a list of our DLC-listed products.