Electrical

Electrical
Thanks to Thomas Edison who invented electricity, our lives have become much easier then it was a hundred years ago. Today without electricity you are basically shut down because almost everything in your home depends on it. Electricity is your home central nerve system, nothing will work in your home without power. Lights, heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fans, garage door, appliances, computers, and your security system everything that you can imagine needs electricity. You need to have a good understanding of how your system operates. Electricity moves through wires from the power plant to the substations and through distribution wires to the service entrance head through a service entrance conduit to your meter. The meter measures the consumption in kilowatt-hour(KWH). Then it moves to your main home service panel box which is grounded to a water pipe or a ground rod. In the service panel box you have all your home wiring connected to circuit breakers and a main shutoff breaker which controls the main power to entire home.
If you go to your panel box you will see breakers and fuses with names written on them as to which circuit they control. The measurement of the breakers is in Amperes (or amps) which is the measurement of current that flows through a wire per second. You will see breakers with numbers written on them like 15, 20 30, 40, 50, and 60 amps. Sometimes you might overload your circuit and the breaker might pop, so you go to your panel box and check to see if any breakers are switched off . Then you just click them back on. (Continue below)

Prior to attempting to do any repair you should always make sure you check with the NEC code or your local building department before you begin to do any work yourself. Then you kill (or disconnect) the circuit you are working on, you can accomplish this by going to your panel box and clicking the breaker off. After you are done with your repair turn the breaker back on. If it keeps popping off you need to click here for a professional electrician from The Homevision network to check and inspect your circuit. In a newer home you should have a GFCI ( Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) which protects you against electrical shock. You will see these type of receptacles around bathrooms, kitchens, garages and outdoor locations. They are also moisture sensitive and whenever the amount of incoming and outgoing current are unequal it opens up and cuts off the power. You will also see GFCI breakers in sub panels for hut tubs, to monitor the amount of current going to and coming out of an entire circuit.
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If it happens again, you need to have a electrician check out your lines and your breakers. A Volt (v) is a measurement for electrical pressure, a Watt(w) is a measurement of electrical power, one watt of power equals one volt of pressure times one ampere current. For example in everyday life you may see appliances that are 120v or light bulbs that are 60w or 100w. The National Electrical Code (NEC) requires that every circuit in new construction has a grounding system. Most of your lights and receptacles and switches in your home are grounded, otherwise you will get shocked if you touch it.

Safety
Working with electricity is one of the most dangerous and riskiest activities you can get yourself involved in. Due to high voltage and current in the lines, you put yourself at risk if you don't understand the wiring diagram, wiring colors, and whether they are live ( carrying electricity) or dead( not carrying electricity) you could get seriously injured. (Continue top right)

Tools & Materials
If you visit your local electrical supply store or hardware store, you will notice there are so many different wires, conduits, pipes, receptacles, boxes and connectors to choose from. You have a choice of thin wall metal conduit (EMT), flexible metal conduit or some are plastic (PVC). You choose the type of conduit and wires based on your required project, whether you are wiring indoor or outdoor, exposed or covered.When ever you run wires you need a variety of tools, to just mention a few you need: lineman's pliers, a wire stripper, long nose pliers,rib-joint pliers, a stepladder, screwdrivers, a utility knife, a hacksaw, a reciprocating saw, a circuit analyzer, fish tape, a wallboard saw, a metal pipe cutter, a continuity tester, a neon tester, black wire tape, wire nuts, a stud finder and a hammer.

Hiring a pro
When it comes to electricians, they are all licensed, bonded and insured. Electricians can help you with a variety of task such as, routing cables, working with wires, changing your panel box, checking fuses, replace breakers, working with conduit , wiring receptacles, replacing switches (single pole or double pole), installing light fixtures, recess lighting, track lighting, fluorescent fixtures, all indoor wiring, outdoor wiring, diagnose electrical problems, replacing doorbells, installing fans or kitchen hoods. As you can see there are quit a lot of areas that a professional electrician from The Homevision can help you out with. Simply tell us what you need.