Tri-City Electric – Home Electrical Safety Quiz

Smoke Detectors Save Lives

The majority of fatal home fires happen at night, when people are asleep. Contrary to popular belief, the smell of smoke may not wake a sleeping person. The poisonous gases and smoke produced by a fire can numb the senses and put you into a deeper sleep.

Facts:

Approximately 33% of the homes in America are not adequately protected with smoke detectors. (NFPA) The death rate in home fires is 45% lower when one working smoke detector is present. (NFPA) In the US, a civilian dies from fire every 156 minutes. (NFPA)

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have working smoke detectors?
• Do you have smoke detectors in every bedroom?
• Are your smoke detectors linked together?
• Are your smoke detectors wired in? If not do your change your batteries like you are suppose to? Really?
• Are your smoke detectors more than 8 years old? That is the average live span of a smoke detector.
• Most homes require a minimum of 4 smoke detectors. How many do you have?
• Now that you have thought about these questions, what is it worth to you? Don’t wait until it is too late!

A GFI is an abbreviation for a Ground Fault Interrupter. It is a specially designed outlet normally used in locations where moisture can accumulate, such as kitchens, baths and laundry areas. They are also required in garages and all areas outside the home to protect you from electrical shock.

A GFI measures the resistance on the "positive" and "negative" loads connected to it, and if there is more resistance in either of the 2 loads, the GFI trips. The GFI has a built-in circuit breaker to reset once the problem has been resolved.

If your home has not been updated with this type of safety electrical outlet in your bathrooms, kitchen or other areas where water is present, call Tri-City Electric today and we can help make your home safe!

Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupter Breakers, or AFCIs are now required in all new construction by the National Electric Code (NEC). However, your town/city may not require them. What are they?

The AFCI breaker performs a different job entirely from GFIs, Ground Fault Interrupter (GFCI) breakers and outlets. A GFI protects you from becoming part of the circtuit and getting a shock. The AFCI breaker protects you and your house from a fire. How?

Well, when a hot wire makes a solid contact with a ground or a neutral, the current draw will be high enough to trip the breaker. But if the contact is intermittent and not a solid contact (due to loose or corroded connections or failing insulation), what develops is an arc. The arc causes heat, which left uncorrected, could eventually wind up causing a fire. The AFCI breaker detects an arc by the characteristic wave an arc causes in the electrical flow. When it sees an arc fault of large enough magnitude, it will trip the breaker.

Do you need them?

They are more expensive than standard, but do a totally different job. Presently the code requires them on all branch circuits except for refrigerators, freezers, and garage circuits (again, required by the NEC, your town/city may or may be different).

But what are the hazards they are protecting you from?

Well, problems in home wiring, like arcing and sparking, are associated with more than 40,000 home fires each year. These fires claim over 350 lives and injure 1,400 victims annually. These are the very fires that the AFCI breaker is intended to prevent from occurring.

Can you install one in your home?

Well, if you never installed a breaker, this isn't necessarily the time to start. Even with the main breaker in your box open, there is live current to the panel, and areas that if you came in contact with would certainly injure or kill you. So, installation should be left to licensed electricians or capable experienced individuals. Call Tri-City Electric today!

Electrical panels or breaker boxes require special safety considerations, including the following:

• Know where your panel box is located.
• Do not tape circuit switches to keep a breaker from tripping.
• Ensure that breaker circuits are accurately labeled within panel boxes.
• Ensure that panel box doors are securely attached.
• Do not block panel boxes. There should be at least 30 inches of clear space in front of a panel box.

Standards generally recognize that the life expectancy of electric panels is about 25 years. With older panels, contact points can become corroded, possibly causing arcing, brownouts and at worst case fires, personal injury and property damage.

If your home is older than 25 years, call Tri-City Electric today and get the peace of mind that comes with our Total Home Electrical Safety Inspection!

Did you see the lights flicker?

Tri City’s electricians can help protect your home from electric surges and prevent costly and destructive power surges. A power surge occurs when the line voltage goes higher than it is rated for and stays there longer than ten milliseconds. In today's high-tech world, computerized appliances and electronics can be damaged or destroyed by surges in electrical lines. Every day appliances are zapped by an average of 20 power surges. These surges are power fluctuations that go unnoticed except by your appliances. The end result can shorten appliance lifespan by as much as 30%. That’s like paying full price for an appliance, then getting to use 2/3 of what you paid for.

Two Kinds of Protection

There are basically two types of electric surge protection: point of use and whole house. Point of use surge protectors are designed to protect sensitive electronic equipment and major appliances in the home at their electric source. Point of use suppressors are usually devices that plug into the wall outlet and can handle surges up to 6,000 volts.

A Whole House surge protector is designed to protect homes again transient surges that enter through the home's electric supply, but does not protect from surges created internally in the home when motors turn on and off. Whole House protectors are devices that are installed at the meter or electrical panel. These devices require the installation by a licensed electrical contractor.

In both cases, the surge protector attempts to regulate the voltage supplied to an electric device by either blocking or by shorting to ground voltages above a safe threshold.

The Need for Surge Protection

There are a number of reasons why power quality has become such an important issue. For one, today's computer chips are far more dense than they were even a few years ago, and subsequently, much more sensitive to even slight surges. Secondly, most homes and offices are using more equipment than ever before. Each time an electric device is turned on, transient voltages may be generated. Additionally, more microprocessor technology is being used than ever before. Microprocessors are showing up in personal computers, TVs, stereos, VCRs, DVRs, refrigerators, washers, dryers, microwave ovens, dishwashers and just about any electrical device manufactured today.

Internal surges occur when devices with motors such as refrigerators and hair dryers shut off.  Suddenly the energy these devices were consuming is redirected elsewhere in the form of excess voltage.  Surges can also occur when the power company switches power from one geographic area of the grid to another to meet their system demand.  And, thunderstorms and lightening are the most dramatic and destructive causes of power line problems and electric surges.

Call Tri-City Electric today and make sure your home and the electronics within are protected!