Are you dealing with frequently flickering lights? Do your circuit breakers trip often when you turn on large appliances? Does your home have several two-pronged outlets that do not accommodate today’s three-pronged plugs for most electrical appliances? If you answered yes to any of these questions, your home more than likely needs a heavy up, which is an increase in the power of your main electrical service. For example, we can transition your home from lower amperage to either 200 or 400 amps.

Homes without Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI) outlets in the bathrooms, kitchens, or garages also need to be upgraded. This is a type of outlet that protects against electrical shocks. GFI outlets are required in most states, and homeowners in MD, VA, and DC should change all older version outlets to GFI outlets. A GFI outlet has two buttons, including a test button and a reset button, and the outlets turns the power off before a shock can occur. It is especially important that GFI outlets are installed in any area of your home where water flows—bathrooms, kitchens, outdoor areas. The outlet will sense when there is a potentially dangerous imbalance in the flow of electricity from the outlet to whatever is plugged and will shut off to prevent shocks or electrocution.

Many older homes in the area were constructed with aluminum wiring. When these homes were built, aluminum wiring was considered safe to use and viewed as a cost-saving measure. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) now believes aluminum wiring poses a safety hazard in homes that still have this type of wiring.

The biggest danger associated with aluminum wiring is that unanticipated fire hazards arise from the rusting and deterioration caused at the points where aluminum wiring is connected at outlets, light fixtures, and splices. Call us so an expert electrician can evaluate whether or not this is a problem in your home and take steps to transition your home from aluminum to copper wiring.

If you live in an older MD, VA, or DC home, contact Kolb Electric today. We strongly recommend that you avoid attempting any electrical upgrades or repairs on your own as this can be very dangerous. Electrical upgrades are best left to a professional, licensed electrician.

Why is it you can replace some lights with more ‘advertised’ lumens with a LED light with less lumens. Here are 4 reasons:

1. Focused Lumens:

LED light is directional, conventional light sources are omnidirectional and require reflectors to gather the light and focus it to where it is needed. Any reflection that is over 1 bounce effectively loses the effect of the lumen. It has been proven that you can lose up to 30% of the effective lumens in this process.

The science of scotopic lumens is associated with a factor that allows us to adjust the photopic value to give a true representation of how useful the lumens are. The factor, developed by scientists, is an attempt to level the playing field. The factor is used to adjust the effective value of the lumen, either up or down from the advertised photopic lumen advertised on the package. Some lights, like HPS, have a factor that reduces the lumen amount. LED, on the other hand, typically has a factor > 1.7, which means the lumens it is producing is far more effective to us. Therefore, less lumens is required to do the job.

We have been very successful replacing 400W Metal Halide bulbs with our 18W LED tube, producing 1900 lumens, compared to a 32W 4 ft fluorescent tube, producing close to 2900 lumens. The main reason is all our lumens are coming straight down, where as only a small portion of the fluorescent tube is coming down and the majority of the light is requiring  a reflector to gather it and shine it downwards. After many projects, our customers tell us that it is brighter and feels better than working underneath fluorescent lighting

LED, or light -emitting diode, bulbs are far more energy efficient than incandescent and even CFL bulbs. In fact, whereas the efficacy (in lumens per watt) of CFLs stands around 50-70, that of LEDs is in the 60-90 range. If you think that’s impressive, just consider the fact that  incandescent bulbs are only in the 10-17 lumens per watt range! Clearly, using that much electricity is going to add up when compared to that used by LEDs.

Have you ever noticed how light bulbs always seem to burn out when you don’t have any reserves around? Well, there is no such thing as a light bulb that will last forever. However, LEDs do boast an incredibly long lifespan, offering up at least 30,000 hours of use in most cases. CFLs will only get you around 10,000 hours, with incandescent topping out at a measly 750-1,000 hours. Save your money and time spent running to the hardware store – opt for LEDs for  a longer lighting lifespan.

If outstanding energy efficiency and remarkably long lifespans are not enough to sell you on LED lighting, consider too the fact that LEDs are dimmable, and that they don’t heat up the way that other bulbs do. Ultimately, the way in which you illuminate your home is entirely up to you. Just keep these benefits in mind when deciding if paying for LED lights is the right option for your home.