Anderson Electric Corp. Blog

Should I Be Worried About Flickering Lights?

June 17th, 2019

incandescent-lightsThe answer to the above question is: “Sometimes no and sometimes yes.” Lights in your house that start to flicker can indicate minor issues you can correct yourself or which an electrician can fix, but aren’t a source of major worry—except for losing light in a few bulbs.

On the other hand, flickering lights can warn that there are bigger electrical faults in the house, some potentially dangerous. These problems absolutely require a professional electrician to repair. Never attempt to do any wiring or panel repair on your own, since it can create larger fire hazards and a high danger of electrical shocks.

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The Difference Between a Fuse Box and a Breaker Panel

June 3rd, 2019

wires-and-breakersThere are homes of many different ages in Northern New Jersey, ranging from the newest in residential construction to vintage homes more than a hundred years old. This means there’s also a range of residential electrical systems. One of the major jobs we handle as electricians in Nutley, NJ is helping to upgrade antiquated electrical systems like knob-and-tube wiring to modern standards, as well as putting in the newest in safe outlets (GFCI and AFCI).

This brings us to the central hub of a home’s electrical system. The fuse box. Or the breaker panel. We see both in homes and we want to go into more detail about the differences—and why we recommend upgrading to a breaker panel if you have a fuse box.

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Why Are My Light Bulbs Burning Out So Fast?

May 20th, 2019

electrician-house-rewire

You can expect to change the standard incandescent light bulbs in your house every 2–3 years depending on how often they’re used. Most of these bulbs can burn for around 900 hours. LED light bulbs can last for much longer, sometimes only needing to be changed every 8–11 years. But no light bulb will last forever.

But what if the light bulbs in your house are burning out far sooner than they should? Such as maybe less than a year, or lasting only a few months. You might have problems with the bulbs, the fixtures, or even your home’s electrical system. We’ll go over some of the reasons for short-living light bulbs below and what you can do about them.

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Different Child-Proof Outlets

May 6th, 2019

father-son-ukuleleIn our last post, we wrote about the importance of making the upgrade from old two-prong outlets in (ungrounded outlets) to three-prong outlets in your home. We also offered suggestions about the best types of outlets to have installed to improve safety.

Today, we’re looking at a specific reason for improving the outlets in your house—to make your house safer for young children. Standard open outlets can present serious hazards to children who may attempt to place objects or their fingers into the slots, and they can also create fire dangers. Most outlets are at ground level, making them easy for children to access. If you have infants and toddlers in your home, or you have a child on the way, we recommend you work with electricians in Livingston, NJ to have the safest types of outlets installed.

Below are some of safety options available.

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What’s Wrong With My Old Two-Prong Outlets?

April 22nd, 2019

outletWe urge all our customers to investigate ways to update their household electrical systems. This isn’t only about making sure you’ve got enough power for all your new appliances and the increasing number of charging stations. It’s also about safety. We specialize in updating old homes with modern wiring, electrical panels, and outlets.

One of the upgrades we recommend is replacing standard three-prong outlets with GFCI and AFCI outlets, which improve safety. But let’s go one step lower and take a look at two-prong outlets, which many homes in the area still have. (Two-prong is standard for homes built before 1960.) You can stick adaptors onto them so they work for three-prong plugs, but we don’t recommend this. We’ll explain why it’s best to change out those old two-prongers.

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LED Lights—Are They Really Worth It?

April 8th, 2019

recessed-LED-lightsHomeowners are always looking for ways they can save on their utility bills. Upgrading to LED lights is frequently recommended as one of the best ways to do this.

LED (light-emitting diode) lights do cost more to have installed than standard incandescent lights, however. This causes some people to balk at making the upgrade. Are LED lights actually worth the initial cost of the upgrade?

The simple answer is “Yes!” Although LED lights may not be the ultimate solution for lowering your energy bills, they have many benefits to offer and will pay back their increased costs many times over. Below we’ve listed some of the reasons why working with an electrician in Nutley, NJ to switch to LED lights is worthwhile.

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How We Can Help Lower Your Electric Bills

March 25th, 2019

lightbulb-LED-100-dollar-billsThere are many ways you can put an electrician in Wayne, NJ to work for you. Sure, an electrician is indispensable for handling repairs, inspections, and installations of vital electrical components like electric panels and whole-house generators. But your electrician can help you take an active approach toward lowering your electric bills.

Almost any homeowner wants to cut down on how much they pay for electricity each month. All the simple methods, like remembering to turn off lights in unused rooms and unplugging appliances that aren’t in use, can help. But they can only help so far. Our electricians can help you take larger steps toward saving electricity in your home.

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Some of the Best Reasons to Consider a Whole-House Generator

March 11th, 2019

generator-residentialWe offer service to install automatic standby generators capable of powering some or all of the electrical appliances and lights inside a home. We consider this one of the most important jobs we do, because power losses are not only inconvenient, they can be downright dangerous. We recommend most homeowners consider having a whole-house generator installed as an important power backup in case of an extended blackout.

Okay, easy enough to say—but what about the specifics? What are the best reasons to have an automatic standby generator installed?

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The Surge Protector vs. The Power Strip

February 25th, 2019

lightning-boltThe title of this post may make it sound like there’s a competition between a surge protector and a power strip. “It’s one or the other!” We want to be clear right at the start that we encourage homeowners to have both. But we also want homeowners to know what’s different about the two, because often power strip is talked about as if it were a synonym for a surge protector. But it’s not. We’ll explain what the differences are as well as give you pointers toward the type of electrical protections your home may need.

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A Knob-and-Tube Wiring Refresher: Why It Should Be Replaced

February 11th, 2019

knob-and-tube-wiringThere are many old homes in New Jersey, some built in the nineteenth century. A vintage home can still be a wonderful place to live if it’s had upgrades and repairs. But if you live in a home built before the 1940s, you may have a type of wiring in the walls and attics called knob-and-tube wiring. This is an extremely out-of-date wiring set-up, and we strongly recommend you call us to eliminate it and replace it. This is one of our specialties as local electricians, and we’ve helped many homes make the change to modern, safer wiring that is up to code.

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