by aaabishopelectric | Feb 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
If you live in an older home, you might find that your electrical work can’t deliver all the power you need for your modern equipment and devices. TheElectricians at AAA BishopElectric can fix that issue for you. Newer homes have at least 100 amp service, and many are rated at 200 amps, which provides all the electricity that a plugged-in family could want. But there are still older homes with only 60 amp service, which may not be enough to meet your needs. Read on to learn more. How Many Amps Does One Family Need? The first thing for a homeowner to consider is the difference between amperage and voltage. A common analogy is to compare electrical wiring to a garden hose — the amps measure how much electricity can flow at a given time, similar to a hose diameter, while the volts are the equivalent to the water’s pressure. Multiply the two together and you get wattage, which is how the electricity used by appliances is typically measured. If your family has modest electrical needs, 60 amps may be plenty, especially if you are connected to a natural gas line. Homes that have gas furnaces, dryers, stoves and water heaters don’t necessarily need a whole lot of electricity to power their electrical work. However, if you use electricity for your heavy-duty equipment, you’ll soon find that 60 amps isn’t getting the job done, particularly if you have an air conditioner. Fortunately, a skilled electrician can upgrade your service and allow you to tap into the power that you need. Dangerous Electrical Work in Older Homes Take note that while...
by aaabishopelectric | Sep 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
Electricity moves through any metal conductor, such as a wire or the metal contacts and other components inside a switch or receptacle. Electrical current must move in a loop, or circuit. If the circuit is broken at any point, the flow of power stops. From power grid to service panel Power comes to your home through the power company’s transmission and distribution lines, passes through a meter, and enters the service panel. In the service panel, the power energizes two strips of metal called hot bus bars. Circuit breakers or fuses attach to the hot bus bars. Power must pass through a breaker before it leaves the service panel and goes into the house through a branch circuit. Each branch circuit supplies power to a number of outlets. An outlet is any place where power leaves the wires to provide service. Devices (receptacles and switches), ceiling lights and fans, and appliances (such as a dishwasher) are outlets. Circuit wiringPower leaves the service panel via a hot (energized) wire — one with insulation that is black, red, or a color other than green or white — and returns to the panel through a neutral wire — one with white insulation. Another wire, bare or with green insulation, provides the ground. The neutral and ground wires connect to the separate neutral bus bar in the service panel. That bus bar is connected to the neutral line from the power line. The thicker the wire, the more electrical current it can safely carry. If too much current passes through a wire, the wire overheats, the insulation can fail, and a fire or...
by aaabishopelectric | Aug 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
Why Install a Whole House Surge Protector? Spikes and Surges in power happen more often than people think. Power surges are caused by lightning strikes, power outages, and troubles in the electrical grid. Your home is equipped with many electrical sockets to provide various appliances and electrocnics with a consistant power voltage. All it takes is a 3 nanaosecond surge to damage electronics and hurt your wallet. Power surges destroy the circuit boards and wiring of electronics and appliances. Surges do not discriminate between new or old property, it destroys whatever is in its path. Types of Surges A power surge may last for only a few millionths of a second, but at its worst, it carries tens of thousands of volts, enough to fry circuit boards, crash hard drives, and ruin DVD and home-entertainment systems. Lightning-induced surges are the most powerful and most feared: A 200,000-amp jolt crashing through a power line will burn standard 20-amp wiring like a lightbulb filament. But a lightning strike has to be less than a mile from the house to cause harm, and in fact most surge-related damage is not caused by lightning. Far more common, if not as dramatic, are surges caused by downed power lines, sudden changes in electricity use by a nearby factory, or even the cycling on and off of laser printers, electric dryers, air conditioners, refrigerators, and other energy-sucking devices in the home. The damage inflicted by these minor power fluctuations can be instantaneous — but may not show up for some time. Protect Your Home and Appliances With Whole House Surge Protection Point of Use...
by aaabishopelectric | Aug 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
Smoke detectors are designed to make a chirping noise once the battery needs to be changed. Newer smoke alarms keep some errors in the processor. The smoke alarm must clear errors after the battery is changed, but it might continue to chirp even after you change the batteries. This usually occurs in electrical powered smoke alarms with a battery backup. When this happens, the way to stop the chirping noise is to reset the smoke alarm to manually clear the error from the processor. Reasons for Smoke Alarms Chirping: The Battery Pull-tab is Still in the Alarm The battery pull-tab needs to be removed after AC power is provided to the device. The drawer for battery should be totally closed for the battery to make contact with the terminals. Low Battery When the battery in a smoke alarm gets weak, the smoke alarm will “chirp” about once a minute to let you know that the battery needs to be replaced. Note: Only the device with a low battery will chirp. The other interconnected alarms should be silent. Battery is There but Part of the Terminal is Obstructed The battery may not be completely making contact with the terminals in the alarm. Check to ensure the battery pull-tab or any other obstruction is completely removed. Another Device or Appliance Security systems, monitors, carbon monoxide alarms, and other devices have comparable low battery or alert sounds. Its Life has Ended Another reason for a smoke alarm beeping is that it has reached the end of its lifetime. Smoke alarms usually last for between eight and ten years. Take the smoke...
by aaabishopelectric | Jul 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
Why Are Your Bulbs Burning Out So Fast? All light fixtures have a label listing the maximum wattage the fixture will allow. In lamps and open fixtures(where heat can escape), if a higher than recommended wattage bulb is installed then the bulb will heat up and burn out. The bulb will have a shorter life because it is overworked and overheated . If you have a dome style fixture the heat accumulated by the over rated bulb will start to heat, trapping the heat like an oven, burning the wiring and possibly the fixture. Make sure you check all of the dome style, closed style fixtures to make sure the bulbs are the correct wattage. Take the time to go through you home and check all light bulbs to make sure they have the proper wattage. http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/25717/why-do-light-bulbs-all-over-the-house-burn-out-disconcertingly-fast The new LED technology bulb surpasses all older bulbs in shelf life, heat generation and energy consumption. LED Recessed Lights In order to make your house safer and more energy efficient check and change your bulbs. Just a few hours of your time will save on your electrical bill and possibly overheating of your...
by aaabishopelectric | Jul 12, 2015 | Uncategorized
We get many calls from homeowners when their lights go out. The homeowner has checked the breakers and says that the breakers are not tripped. The AFCI Breakers (pictured above) can be off/kicked slightly so to the untrained person they would not see. The AFCI breaker needs to be flipped off, then the button reset(you will hear a click) and then flip the breaker on. Regular breakers when kicked are flipped back on, but the AFCI has to be reset by the button then flipped on. We would rather save you money by teaching you to reset it without having to call an electrician to flip a breaker. Check out our new tip next...
