The Electric Connection’s Blog

Electricity is dangerous and a lot of precaution is necessary when you work around it all the time. This raises the concern for electricians and how they manage to not get electrocuted. We know there are many things they know that everyone else doesn’t, but is that all?

Could there be other things electricians do to protect themselves from getting electrocuted? Let’s find out:

Appropriate Tools

An electrician makes sure to always use appropriate tools while doing electrical work, in order to stay protected. There are many protective tools and equipment available for electrical work, they include:

• Insulated Screwdrivers to protect you while working on an energized circuit during installation of light fixtures, or wall plate and mounting outlet box removal.
• Wire strippers for correctly stripping wires. They can remove insulation without causing damage to the conductor beneath. These strippers have graduated holes along its jaw length, and you can match the hole sizes to the wire size you intend to strip.
• A protective eyewear is a necessary tool to avoid having vision damaged.
• Side-cutting pliers are highly versatile, and can be useful for anything from snipping through cable and wire, to pulling cables through walls. The protective ones have insulated handles to avoid electrocution.
• A voltage sniffer is a tool that helps confirm that electricity is not present. This is one of the most important tools as it protects you from making moves on a live circuit that may be dangerous and lead to a hazard. These tools do not necessarily make contact with outlet prongs or wires, they can still detect when there’s live power.
• Insulating rubber and leather gloves protect electricians from both high and low voltage.
• Safety boots are a necessity, and come with soles that are non-conductive, making sure that electricity does not get through.
• Arm sleeves made of rubber are worn in situations of high voltage to avoid electrocution
• Mats that are rubber insulating are useful when electricians have to lean or stand
• The corona suits are not worn for fancy. They are necessary for transmission line work, to keep the electrician safe from high voltage electricity.

Precautions

Electricians are also conscious about precautions when it comes to their line of work. There are ground rules designed to keep you safe while working with electricity and a compromise of these rules can become dangerous.

These are some of the precautions every electrician knows and is conscious of:

• Avoiding water and making sure there is no water around the electrical work site. This means no working with wet hands or wet clothes because of how much electrical conductivity increases.
• Watching out for broken plugs, frayed cords and damaged insulation in equipment and not using such equipment.
• Making sure the mains are turned off while working.
• Avoiding energized equipment repairs until they are de-energized.
• Never making use of a steel or aluminum ladder because of the high conductivity. A wooden or bamboo wire is always a safer option.
• Being familiar with the country’s wire code.

These are some of the ways electricians are kept safe at our company, The Electric Connection, and we’ve done a good job of making sure our electricians are properly trained against electrical hazards.

As a homeowner, every spring, there are certain aspects of your property that are crucial to maintain along with your daily tasks. A main aspect of springtime preparedness is to maintain your electricity and safety standards to keep your family safe. Use these three spring electrical tips from the Electric Connection specifically for Southern California homeowners.

Maintain Your Outlets

One of the most important parts of keeping your home safe from electrical issues is to protect your outlets from overload. It’s essential to keep your wires organized and uncrossed when you can. This can be difficult depending on your home, but focus on where you’re utilizing a lot of power strips, extension cords and outlets. In order to ensure electrical safety, store cords away when they’re not in use and don’t overload each outlet or power strip. If you realize that you don’t have enough places to plug in the appliances you want to use, the best solution is to increase the amount of outlets and power strips throughout your home. This is a reliable way to avoid the danger of extension cord hazards.

When an item is not in use anymore, unplug it from the outlet and tuck it away when possible. This will help organize your cables while avoiding your wires from getting tugged on, or being exposed to potential damage from a vacuum or another outside source. If an electrical item is frayed or the cord is damaged, it’s time to replace it rather than risk an electrical fire or electrocution. Keeping your cords hidden is critical when you have pets, as you don’t want them to chew on the accessible cords or vulnerable wiring.

Protect Your Appliances

In order to keep your electrical systems in great working condition, you’ll want to ensure that you are protecting your home appliances. As a Southern California homeowner, be mindful of the temperature of your appliances along with any wiring or flammable exposure. If your appliances are overused, they can go into overdrive. Another beneficial way to protect your appliances from electrical failure is by using surge protectors. Electrical surges can occur more often than you think. Be prepared by consistently checking your appliances for any electrical vulnerabilities.

It’s smart to invest in a home warranty policy. This plan can successfully protect your systems against deterioration and destruction. Since your electrical system is integral to your home, you’ll feel at ease knowing you’re covered in case anything goes awry. Do additional research accordingly to determine what policy fits your needs and what gives you the rapid response you’ll need. Another benefit to having a home warranty policy in place is that it will cover any repairs or replacements to your HVAC system, so you won’t have to worry about trying to fix it yourself.

Prepare For Spring Storms

In Southern California, the weather changes in the spring months rapidly, exposing your home’s electrical system to a variety of storms. During a large storm, you’ll want to ensure that you unplug any appliances and other electrical items to avoid damage during a voltage surge caused by lightning striking or a storm surge. Keeping them plugged in during a surge can cause wear and tear over time, which you’ll want to avoid to guarantee longevity of your appliances. Similar to your home appliances, clear all of your electrical items away from potential water damage exposure. It’s vital to unplug them and store them in safer places around your home, especially those big ticket items you don’t want to replace.

If you’re planning on working outside, make sure that the surrounding area has had time to dry off and you’re not in danger of electrocuting yourself while performing any routine home maintenance. At the end of your work outdoors, bring your tools back inside to a dry storage space like a tool bench or tool shed to keep them out of the elements. You’ll want to avoid using a tool that’s been left out in the rain at all costs to ensure safety during your work.

Conclusion

With these spring electrical tips in mind. you can ensure your safety while performing work on your home and stay comfortable when relaxing. Now is the time to put these tips to good use and keep your property in pristine condition.

With fall upon us and winter on the horizon, you need to make sure your home and yard are ready. Taking care of maintenance items around your home now will prevent major issues down the road. Best of all, most projects are simple enough to DIY, even with little or no experience. So, if you want to get your home in top shape, make sure you read through these simple tips from The Electric Connection.

Get Help From Pros for Major Projects and Repairs

Knowing how to DIY home maintenance jobs can save homeowners a lot of time and money. For the projects you’re not completely comfortable completing, however, it’s best to hire a pro to help you out.

Professional services are also great resources for taking care of those tasks you just don’t want to do on your own or feel uncomfortable handling yourself, like electrical work. For example, a deep cleaning can take up most of your weekend, and you need to be sure to get all those often-missed areas, like the tops of cabinets and your baseboards. If you want to save yourself some time, you can use a maid service to take care of the cleaning so you can spend your time on more pleasant tasks.

Pick Up Some New Tools

You can’t complete your work without the right tools, so why not renew your toolbox with a few essentials that will make those home maintenance tasks easier? A quality cordless drill, like this one from Black & Decker, is always a must for DIY-focused homeowners and can help out with projects all around your home. You can use a cordless drill as a handy screwdriver, to sand wood surfaces, and of course, to drill holes of all sizes in all sorts of materials.

Feeling handy and want to give your outdoor areas a bit of a makeover? You can put your new drill to work on some of these DIY patio projects that you can complete in no time. Add some custom seating or build a beautiful potting bench to make your updates more comfortable. Consider also installing a decorative windmill ceiling fan on your covered porch.

An all-purpose drill is a good tool to keep around your home, but if you’re new to DIY maintenance, make sure you have these essentials in your toolkit as well.

Plan Out Your DIY Maintenance and Refresh Projects

You’ve got the pros taking care of some heavy lifting and some new tools to help you take care of the rest. Now, you just need to figure out which maintenance projects you need to DIY first. Start with a tour around your home so you can check your gutters for any damages and ensure your roof is still in good shape ahead of winter storms. If you spot any leaves or debris in those areas, you will want to get out your ladder and clean them up. This is also a good time to check out the weather-stripping around your doors and windows.

Also take a look at your exterior paint. Freshening up any trouble areas will give your home an immediate facelift (which is especially important if you plan on putting your home on the market any time soon). Minor spots can be DIYed, but turn to a pro if there are large areas that need a new coat of paint.

After you’ve taken care of projects inside and outside your home, move on to your yard and garden so you can make sure your trees, grass, and plants are in good health and will fare well through the fall and winter months.

For your home’s interior, look at upgrades you can make to your kitchen. Add a new wall-mounted range hood to pair with new appliances, or spend some time repainting and refacing your cabinets. Kitchen upgrades always get noticed.

Keep in mind that when it comes to improvement projects, especially any that contribute to your home’s value or that are in relation to a home-based business, it’s important to take before and after photos, and to keep receipts. This information will come in handy when the time comes to reappraise your home and when tax season rolls around and you’re looking for extra deductions.

Now is a great time to refresh your home, especially when you can DIY to check those tasks off your to-do lists. Using pros can help make good use of your time and budget too. Either way, you can get your home ready for anything the seasons throw your way.

This article is brought to you by The Electric Connection, fully licensed, bonded, and insured to protect you, your home or business, and our crews. We believe in quality work at an honest price and in treating our customers the way that we would want to be treated. For more information, please contact us today!