“Smart” technology is all the rage right now. However, it’s a bit of a disservice to call the Nest a smart thermostat. A learning thermostat suits the bill better. The Nest system learns your heating and cooling habits, and is able to incorporate the information that it gathers, and the data that it compiles, in order to help you live comfortably in a far more convenient manner. With Nest Sense, the Nest thermostat is able to learn about how long it takes your house to warm up and to cool back down, as well as how it can utilize your existing HVAC equipment in a more efficient manner. You will get monthly energy reports from your Nest, but the truth is that this system is able to help you make your home a more efficient place, without you even having to think about it.

With technology as advanced as the Nest thermostat, you may be wondering what its applications are beyond simply heating and cooling your home in an incredibly convenient and efficient manner. Well, there are many different products which are actually being designed to work with the Nest, as denoted by the “works with Nest” logo. When you see this logo, you’ll know that the products it appears on, from washing machines to lights, are Nest-ready. Contact us today to learn more, or to bring your household further into line with the technology of the future.

How do tripped circuit breakers happen in the first place? An overloaded circuit is the most common reason for a breaker tripping and usually happens when a circuit has more electrical load connected to it than it really should have. Let’s say you have a 15 Amp circuit breaker that is protecting a 15 Amp circuit. If 20 Amps of current start flowing through it because a toaster, TV, radio and space heater were all connected to the same circuit and were on at the same time, then what you’re left with are tripped circuit breakers aimed to prevent overheating of the circuit.

Allow Kolb Electric, one of the premier electricians in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax and all of Northern VA, to guide you through the process of resetting tripped circuit breakers, which is actually quite easy.

If your breaker continues to trip immediately after you’ve reset it, this is indicative of a direct short. Do not try to reset your breakers at this point. If these steps don’t help you resolve your tripped circuit breaker problem, it’s time for you to contact a quality electrician in Virginia who can uncover the source of the problem, which could be due to one of the following:

Generally speaking, home and business owners in Rockville are told to avoid the use of technology to accrue higher monthly/yearly energy savings. But what if we told you there is tech out there that is specifically meant to aid in saving electricity and reducing your usage? It’s true, and the certified electricians at Kolb Electric are here to talk about them!

We’ve been supplying top-tier electrical services in Rockville for years. Nothing is more important than your satisfaction and happiness, and whether you need installation, repair, or just a bit of fun information, we’re more than happy to provide!

There is actually a staggering number of tools and equipment out there for saving you energy and providing environmentally-friendly advantages in Rockville. Our favorites include:

When you need high-quality, dependable service from certified electricians in Maryland, DC, or Virginia, you can always count on the team at Kolb! We make your needs a priority, and for electrical services in Rockville, there’s simply none better!

Visitors, potential customers, and employees shouldn’t have to be in fear while going shopping, parking for an event, going to the beach, or even going to work. For this reason, we find that the parking lot can lead to many potential hazards.. if the parking lot owner allows for such vulnerabilities.

The number one cause of crime in a parking lot is caused by low security, and unlit areas contribute heavily to this. A dark parking lot doesn’t allow for cameras to pick up all the activity as clearly as it should, and criminnals know this. Additionally, unintentional accidents can occur simply by not being able to see everything that is going on. Thus, we think it is up to the parking lot owner and manager to prevent accidents (both intentional and non-intentional) from occurring and the first part of the equation to doing so is by ensuring the parking lot is properly illuminated.

As we briefly described above, here are all of the potential dangerous that a dark parking lot can potentially cause:

1. Car accidents. Whether it be with another car, an object, or a human; the odds of crashing are much more likely if you are unable to properly see. For obvious reasons, this is not a desirable outcome for a parking lot; especially if it could potentially bring the lot owner liable to the accident.

2. Crime. Think about it, if you are unable to detect movement due to lack of light; it is much easier for people to hide and move around without you, or even the security team, to know about it. For this reason, having adequate light in every corner of your property that visitors will be in is paramount to the safety and security to all of your visitors. Additionally, car thefts and break-ins can be higher when underlit areas are an issue. To resolve this, you need to improve your parking lot lighting design which will, if done right, will allow you to meet the lighting requirements for parking lots.

3. Personal injury incidents. Not only are other people a potential hazard to your visitors, but your property may be of hazard to them as well. By maintaining proper parking lot lighting levels, you can cross this one potential liability off of your list.

For those of you reading this who own a parking lot, here we will explain a little bit about some benefits you will gain, along with how to start the process of getting proper parking lot light fixtures in your car lot. (Note: If you aren’t an owner of property with a parking lot, don’t forget to share this with someone who does!).

For starters, we recommended a lighting technology that will provide proper lumen output throughout its entire lifespan. For this, LED is the technology to go with. Reason being? It maintains high lumen output throughout its life, unlike other technologies such as metal halide which output much less light near the end of their lifespan. So while LED does slowly depreciate in light output too, it is much slower and overall less. Here are some other main benefits that you will realize by converting to LED parking lot lights.

1. Less energy usage. LEDs are known to be virtually the most efficient lighting technology around. And since parking lot lights typically use a lot of lumens, and thus wattage, by converting to LED you will be able to use much less wattage to achieve the same (if not better) light output. In fact, you can realize a reduction in energy by up to 75% in some cases.

2. Longer lifespan. Since parking lot lights are typically high up in the air, it can get expensive to change them out every time they burn out. With LED you will be able to realize 2-3 times longer lifespans, which will allow you to stop buying so many replacement lights. In addition, you will be able to stop paying someone to change them out as often, which is another commonly overlooked benefit of LEDs.

3. Lower lumen depreciation. Like we discussed earlier, lumen depreciation is an especially important topic in regards to parking lot lighting more-so than with any many benefits of LED car lot lights, but these are certainly the main ones that most parking lot owners have told us were the biggest benefit that made them make the switch.

While the physical conversion process is out of the scopes for this post, we hope you take a look at more information regarding over on our blog!