Congratulations! You’ve just purchased a new home. It’s the biggest investment you’ll ever make, but buying a new home without a proper electrical inspection could be the biggest mistake you’ll ever make.
A standard home inspection briefly checks the electrical aspects of your new home, but only a residential electrician in Trumbull, CT will take an in-depth look at your home and identify any potential electricity issues that will end up costing you a lot of time and money if not fixed immediately.
Professionals always recommend having an electrical inspection before you buy a home, but in cases where the home is over 40 years old or has had major renovations, a thorough electrical inspection is an absolute necessity for a variety of reasons.
Inspect for your own safety
Electrical failure is one of the top causes for house fires in the US. Between 2007 and 2011, the National Fire Protection Agency estimates that faulty electrics were to blame for 144,000 house fires. Don’t let your house become another statistic! A residential electrician in Trumbull, CT will be able to easily identify any wiring problems that they believe could cause a fire. Faulty electrics can also shock you. Minor shocks are only an annoyance but a big shock can cause serious health issues.
Inspect to save money
A simple electrical inspection before you purchase a home will end up saving you a ton of money in the long run. If an electrician walks through your potential home and spots a problem, you’ll either a) reconsider buying the house, or b) have the current homeowner fix the problem before you buy. If you’ve already bought the house and need to have the wiring fixed, that’s going to be a very costly repair.
A house that hasn’t had its wiring inspected could actually end up being very electrically inefficient, which will lead to a higher electric bill each month. By calling an electrician to inspect before you buy the house, you can save money each month.
Inspect to avoid electrical inconveniences
We all expect our electricity to work all of the time. And rightfully so, it’s 2016 after all! However, if you’ve purchased a house that has preexisting electrical problems you may notice that your appliances don’t always work. Old circuit boards can become overloaded when too many appliances are running at once and can blow a fuse. If that happens, your appliance might break, your electricity could go out, or both.
Faulty switches are also very annoying. If the previous homeowner tried to rewire a switch him or herself, they could have really messed it up. Your light switch might turn on the fan, or might not even work at all! Just another hassle that we shouldn’t have to deal with anymore.
Before you buy your next home, call us at 203-656-1800 to schedule a home inspection. Our highly trained electricians will do an exhaustive walk through of your potential home and alert you of any foreseeable electrical vulnerabilities.
As a homeowner, you probably have the skills to fix pretty much anything that goes wrong around your house. From a leaky pipe all the way to a faulty electrical system, you don’t need to call a professional to help you with anything. Or so you think… You may very well have some skills, but electrical work in Trumbull, CT should be left to professional electricians for a variety of reasons.
You could seriously injure yourself: Without proper training, the probability of hurting or even killing yourself during a DYI electrical repair is very high. Each year over 30,000 people are treated at the hospital for non-fatal shocking accidents. Getting shocked is not a fun experience. Leave the electrical work to a professional! We’re sorry to say that there are worse consequences to doing electrical work by yourself than just a minor shock. 50,900 house fires are caused by electrical failure each year. These fires kill about 490 people and injure 1,440. Don’t put your life in danger, hire an electrician for all electrical work in Trumbull, CT.
Your work likely isn’t up to code: If you manage to do some electrical work by yourself without getting hurt or burning down your house, congratulations! But, is your work up to code? We’re willing to bet it’s not. Living in a house that’s not up to code is a problem for a couple of reasons. First off, it’s unsafe, which leads back to the point about burning your house down. Secondly, when you try to sell your home and the inspector finds out your house is in violation of the National Electrical Code, you’re going to be facing major fines. The good news is that all of our electricians are well versed in the NEC and will ensure your house meets and exceeds all necessary qualifications.
Your work is probably shoddy: No offense, but you’re no electrician. Any DIY job can result in poor quality work and the stakes are even higher when messing with electricity. Poor workmanship leads to a sub-par job. When it’s all said and done you’ll likely realize that you didn’t do so well. A bad wiring job leads to the above outcomes. Your house won’t be up to code and it’s more prone to electrical fires.
You might cause more problems than you set out to solve: When the job is finally complete, and you’ve managed to avoid being shocked, and your house hasn’t burnt down; you may realize that you did so poorly that you need to call an electrician to undo all of the bad work you did. You could have saved yourself from multiple headaches and trips to the hardware store by just calling an electrician in the first place!
Next time your home needs some electrical work in Trumbull, CT, don’t be afraid to swallow your pride and call an electrician. Our professionals are more than happy to assist you with anything you need. They’ll make sure the job is completed in a timely manner, and everything is up to code.
There are two types of electrical jobs: those that just about anyone can do and those that only trained professionals can and should attempt—you’ll either fall at one end of the extreme or the other. This is because electrical work in Trumbull, CT can be tremendously dangerous if approached by an inexperienced person, resulting in shock, fire or even death.
Usually, the electrical jobs that can be accomplished by a savvy DIY professional are simple enough: replacing light fixtures, installing switches, etc. When you mention something like replacing a broken circuit breaker, however, people tend to lump this in with high-end electrical work. In fact, however, this is something that anyone can do with the right tools and precautions in place.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started on this project if you’re comfortable enough with basic electrical work in Trumbull, CT:
Flathead screwdriver
Voltage checker
Needle-nose pliers
As a precaution, make sure all of the tools you’re using have a rubber handle or are insulated against electrical shocks.
Once you have your tools, locate your main circuit breaker panel and open it up. You should be looking at a number of breakers, with wiring hidden under the faceplate. Go ahead and unscrew the faceplate, take it off and behold the central core of your home’s electrical system! When you’re done looking it over, here’s what you’ll need to do to replace the breaker(s) in question:
Turn the breaker off by flipping the switch from the on position to the off one. After you do this, check the voltage of the circuit via your voltage checker—it should read zero or dead. Check it again just to make sure!
Once you’ve verified that there is no power flowing into the breaker, go ahead and unscrew the wire clamp that’s securing the load wire. When it’s loose, remove it from the breaker with the needle-nose pliers, being sure not to bump any other load wires.
For the breaker itself, you’ll need to remove it by pulling it up at an angle—it’s snapped into the panel and can be released by pulling up the top end first.
Once the old breaker is out, discard it appropriately. Do not touch the exposed bar in the breaker panel—it’s always hot, unless you kill power to the entire breaker!
Snap in a new breaker in the opposite motion that you removed the old one, so that the front of the breaker clips into the panel.
When the new breaker is in place, slide the wiring into the breaker clamp with the needle-nose pliers and tighten the screw to secure the load wire.
Flip the breaker back on once everything is in place and test the voltage. You should get a reading that indicates the breaker is doing its job.
Carefully put the faceplate back in place and secure it to hide the wires, then close the access panel to your circuit breaker. You’re all done!
It used to be that homeowners who installed surveillance cameras on their residential properties were looked at incredulously. Why would anyone need to have cameras where they live? Is your neighborhood really that unsafe?
Today, however, not only are IP cameras and constant video feeds common, they’re useful far beyond just serving as a security measure! In fact, today’s homeowners are investing in surveillance camera installations in Trumbull, CT because they offer a tremendous number of luxurious benefits, including:
Pet monitoring: If you work all day and like to go out at night, you might have some regrets when it comes to keeping your pet all cooped up all day long. Many homeowners return home after a long day to find things ripped to shreds, accidents on the carpet and more unsavory situations. By having a surveillance camera installed, you can check in on your pets to make sure they’re behaving and to see what habits they’re forming that might make them misbehave.
Vacation check-ins: Going out of town for a while? Checking into your home via an IP surveillance camera is a great way to make sure things are as they should be while you’re away. Motion sensitive cameras can even alert you to movement in your empty home, which can alert you to any wrongdoing that might occur.
Solicitor and guest evaluation: Positioning a surveillance camera at your front door or looking down your driveway is a great way to get the scoop on who’s approaching your home. If you’re expecting company, it’s a great way for you to know when they’ve arrived. If you’re not fond of solicitors, it’s easy to pretend you’re not home when you can see them waiting for you to answer.
Communication: Many modern surveillance cameras have a communication speaker built into them, which allows you to communicate based on what you’re seeing. If you’re asking someone to grab something for you and they can’t find it, it’s easy to walk them through what you need via the speaker as you watch over the camera! This is just one of the many solutions a camera provides.
Deterrents: At the end of the day, a surveillance camera installation in Trumbull, CT is still going to be a major deterrent for wrongdoers when it comes to invading your property. When someone sees a camera on high, capturing their every move, they’ll think twice about breaking and entering or vandalizing your property.
When you consider all of the above benefits of a surveillance camera installation in Trumbull, CT, it makes a lot of sense to invest in one or two for your home! If the idea is appealing to you, contact the professionals at New England Electrical Contracting, Inc. today to learn more about your options. No longer are surveillance cameras just for those fearing crime—today, they’re just one cornerstone of convenience in modern smart homes!
Is there anything as relaxing as dipping into a hot tub or sliding into a spa and turning on the jets? If you work hard every day and live for the weekends, probably not! That’s why it’s so important to make sure that as soon as the summer season is here, your hot tub or spa is ready to serve you.
If you’re just now making the investment in a new hot tub or spa, congratulations—you’re about to own a great amenity that will provide you with years and years of luxury and comfort! But, before you can dip into the water and kick on the jets, you’re going to need to make sure it’s set up properly and functioning appropriately.
Quality wiring is essential
Sound marine wiring in Trumbull, CT is at the root of any good hot tub. Why? Because without a sound electrical connection and proper load, your hot tub or spa isn’t going to provide you with the level of quality that it should! From the tub temperature controls, to the jets, to mood lighting and beyond, all of these things require an appropriate electrical connection.
If you envision coming home after a long day at work and slipping into your hot tub, with the temperature cranked up, the jets going full blast and the lighting set to a relaxing setting, you had better make sure the electrical components of your spa are wired in properly from the get-go!
Complexities in wiring
Your hot tub isn’t like any other amenity in your home—you can’t just plug it in and use it! In fact, there’s a pretty significant process in hooking up your hot tub or spa to make sure it’s a) completely safe for you to use and b) fully operational to your highest standards.
There are three real assemblies that are used in most hot tub hookups: the home circuit breaker panel, a GFCI load center or disconnect panel for the spa, and the control system of the spa itself. Interlinking these three things properly is the key to getting your hot tub set up and ready for summertime use.
Again, marine wiring in Trumbull, CT is more difficult than it seems. It takes the keen expertise of an electrician to make sure wiring jobs are done right and without fault. For example, using an improper wire gauge can result in surges to the tub, eventually collapsing the circuit and leaving you with a non-functional spa! It’s better to make sure every detail is done appropriately from the onset of the tub’s installation, rather than as an invasive service call later on.
Get your tub wired today!
Summer is just around the corner and already people are starting to dust off their hot tubs and spas. If you’ll be joining them this year and are planning on installing a new tub or spa of your own, make sure you’re choosing New England Electrical Contracting, Inc. to assist you with the wiring needed to get it up and running perfectly!
