Lighting typically accounts for as much as 44% of a monthly energy bill.   By installing energy-efficient lighting and controls, you can reduce energy use by 30% or more!   You can further cut electricity costs by setting up occupancy sensors, timers or dimmers.  Additionally, as the upgraded fixtures emit less heat, you can often expect decreased air conditioning costs.

In addition to energy savings, businesses can also benefit from:

• Less maintenance as they last longer
• Increased employee productivity by reducing eyestrain and glare
• Increased building attractiveness to customers and tenants

Cash in on limited-time discounts and rebates!

Available for existing facilities of any size, Horizon Electric will help you capitalize on Excel Energy’s one-to-one retrofit rebates that offset the cost of installing new, more efficient lighting, including up to 50% off installation and equipment.

Just this month, I completed a retrofit project for a local business upgrading 73 light fixtures to the T8 system.  With the rebate covering over 40% of the cost and the $2,150 per year savings on their electricity bill, their payback period is only 20 months!

Now is the time to act!  This window of opportunity is limited through March 2012, after which the rebate values drop significantly.

How do I get started?

Contact Mike Peterson at Horizon Electric to discuss how your business can save now by lowering energy bills and capitalizing on limited-time discounts and rebates!

1. Make sure your lights are labeled by a recognized safety testing agency.
2. Ensure lights are suitable for their intended use (i.e. indoors, outdoors, etc.).
3. Replace burned-out bulbs promptly with the same wattage bulbs.
4. Inspect each string of lights, new and old, for broken sockets, frayed wires, or loose connections, and throw out damaged sets.
5. Use one single extension cord for no more than three standard-size sets of lights.
6. Remember to turn off lighting displays before going to bed. The lights could short out and start a fire.
7. Secure outdoor lights tightly to trees, house walls, or other firm supports to protect the lights from wind damage. Opt for insulated staples instead of nails or tacks.
8. Avoid placing temporary festive lighting around or above pools.
9. Outdoor electric lights and decorations should be plugged into circuits protected by ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs). GFCIs can be installed permanently to household circuits by a qualified electrician.

Be safe this holiday season.  If you have any questions about lighting safety or need an expert electrician, please contact Horizon Electric Company, licensed professionals serving Minnesota for over 30 years!

For more tips this Winter, visit the US Consumer Product Safety Commission

All helpful tips, but one in particular is not entirely accurate.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) does recommend replacing the batteries at least once a year.  But more importantly, they recommend replacing the entire unit every 8-10 years.  Only then can you ensure fire safety.

Minnesota homeowners may have 3-4 smoke detectors, others have 10-15.  Minnesota regulations require you install a smoke alarm on every floor, including the basement, as well as within 10 feet from each bedroom door.  This should be a smoke detector and carbon monoxide combination.

To ensure compliance with state code, hiring an electrical professional is often the safest route.  Horizon Electric Company is happy to help with initial installment, as well as replacements every 8-10 years, as recommended by the USFA.  Please call us at 952-985-8088 if you would like our professional help.

Sources: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/citizens/home_fire_prev/alarms/

As stated in an earlier post, the MN government shutdown is impacting homeowners, builders and contractors alike.  Without state electrical inspectors, many new construction and remodel projects have come to a halt.

Read the Fox 9 News story for more details:  http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/mn-shutdown-inspections-july-8-2011

Last Friday’s thunderstorm left many east central Minnesotans without power.  The East Central Energy (ECE) cooperative acted quickly, but many homeowners will need an electrician to first repair their meter sockets before they can take advantage of ECE’s services.

Repairing a meter socket isn’t overly complex, but if you’re inexperienced with handling electricity, it can be dangerous.  It’s usually best to leave the fixing to the professionals to ensure it’s done correctly and safely.

If you feel comfortable looking into the issue yourself, here are a few tips:

1. Confirm the problem is with the socket.  It could actually be the electrical current, so check that the wires are connected.  Then see if the problem is isolated to one area or is an issue throughout your whole house by trying the outlets in different rooms.

2. Check the flow of electricity. The circuit breaker is there for protection, shutting off the flow of electricity when there is a sudden surge in power, often caused by storms.  If the circuit breaker is “tripped,” no power is being sent to the meter.  In this case, you may have to replace the circuit breaker.

3. Identify any loose connections.  A voltage tester can help identify whether there are any loose connections with the wires.  It may be a matter of simply refastening the wires.

Again, I urge you to call a professional.  If not Horizon Electric, then another qualified, licensed electrician to ensure safety and that the job is done right.

But those aren’t the only implications.

The government shut-down also impacts state electrical inspections. MPR News got it right – construction will come to a screeching halt if builders and contractors can’t secure the necessary inspections.  While some cities have their own inspectors, many projects require one, or even two, inspections by one of the 75 state inspectors.

State inspectors have been given instruction to limit their activity to only “critical core functions” during the government shutdown.  So for those homeowners with new construction or remodels underway, you may have to wait  for an agreed-upon state budget before you can complete your project!

Unless the government comes to an agreement quickly, contractors and homeowners alike are bound to face issues.  Let’s all hope for a speedy agreement so we can all get on with our summer projects!

In fact, poor wiring is responsible for 33% of all urban residential home fires in the United States, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.  Each year, those fires take the lives of 485 American and injure 2,305 more.

There are many common errors, but the main ones include:

• When hanging a new fixture, unknowing DIYers will splice the new wire into the closest existing wire, tape them together and that’s it. However, if they’re not properly encased, and they spark, they could start a fire.
• Outdoor lighting also poses a risk, usually due to the wrong type of wiring or not burying the wires deep enough.  If ever those wires are hit, say while gardening, and water is present, the ground becomes a shock waiting to happen, dangerous to both humans and animals.
• Using a higher wattage bulb than fixtures are built to accommodate means it will burn too hot and damage the wiring.

For most homeowners, thinking to call a professional electrician only happens if they experience an emergency or if they are building/remodeling.  There is another, equally important reason to contact an electrical contractor – maintenance.  Much like seasonal services, like sprinkler systems or air conditioner inspections, it is a good idea to also schedule an annual or bi-annual electrical audit to ensure everything from smoke detectors to breaker panels are in safe, working order.

Horizon Electric Company has provided Minnesota homeowners with professional electrical services since 1981.  We work with safety and customer satisfaction in mind, always.  Contact us at 952-985-8088 to see how we can help with your electrical needs… no need to wait till the wires are sparking!

Additional resources:

• Damage from Bad Wiring - IndyStar.com

1. Contrast Ratio – Winner Plasma
2. Viewing Angle – Winner Plasma
3. Color – Tie / slight edge to LED
4. Motion – Winner Plasma
5. Power consumption  — Winner LED
6. Glare & Image Burn In   — Winner LCD and LED
7. Price Point – Winner Plasma

Contrast Ratio:  Contrast ratio is a TV’s ability to reproduce dark and light areas on the screen.  Most people are looking for a TV that can reproduce multiple shades of black thereby getting around a dark scene where all shades of black blend together. It is a generally accepted fact that plasma TV’s have better contract ratios than LCD or LED TVs.  This is because Plasma TVs have individual plasma cells, which automatically turn themselves off on the darker parts of the screen.  LCD TVs on the other hand have CCFL back-lighting that can only dim itself. LED TV’s are slightly better than LCD TVs in this category but still don’t compare to Plasma.

Viewing Angle:  The primary viewing angle for watching any TV is directly in front of the screen.  However, since not all viewers can sit right in front of the screen we need to look at which technology allows us to move left and right of center without sacrificing picture quality. The image of the plasma TV remains almost unaffected for viewers at almost any angle. LED TVs come in second place and LCD coming in last.  Although Plasma does provide the best viewing angles in my experience I have not been able to notice a dramatic difference between Plasma, LCD and LED.  Therefore don’t get too worried about this category when choosing your next TV.

Color:  Plasma, LCD and LED can all produce bright, clear, and true colors.  There is no clear winner here as the difference you see on the screen may exist due too different manufactures not because of the specific technology.  So you may have to get a visual of the screen in action to notice the differences in models of the same type or two different brands.  I give all three a tie or a slight edge to LED in this category.  From my experience, the colors on LED TVs are very bright but often create an unrealistic appearance.

Motion: The clear winner in this category is the Plasma.  You want each pixel on your TV to refresh at a fast rate or simply put change color as quickly as possible.  The faster the refresh rate the less chance the human eye will detect blurring on the screen.  TV manufactures measure refresh rate in “hz” count.  Plasma TVs come in 600 hz were as LCD and LED TVs only come in 120 or 240 hz.  Plasma is a clear winner for people who watch fast moving sports or action movies.

Power consumption:  Up to this point it appears that Plasma is the clear choice, until now.  LED is the clear winner in this category followed by LCD and then Plasma.  LED back lighting is dramatically more efficient than plasma and better than LCD.  Plasma TVs consume a lot of power because every sub-pixel on the screen needs to be lit.

Glare and Image Burn In:  The first misconception that I must get out of the way concerns lifespan.  Plasma, LCD and LED TV’s are in all likelihood going to be working about as well on the day of purchase as on the day you are replacing it with some technology that doesn’t even exist today.  With that said, there is still consumer fear over image burn-in on plasma TVs.  I believe this fear is over analyzed in the purchasing decision.  I still have never seen a plasma TV that has been destroyed by burn-in.  However, if you plan on using your TV as a computer monitor or in any application were still or stagnant images will appear on the screen for extended periods of time you should choose an LCD or LED TV.  Finally, LCD and LED technology tends to put of less glare from natural lighting.  Again, don’t overanalyze this factor; the glass fronts on all TV’s produce some glare.  I personally do not see that much of a glare difference between plasma, LCD, and LED TV’s.

Price Point:  Plasma TVs are typically lower in price to LCD TVs and significantly lower in price to LED TVs.  The price on a large flat panel TV 50-60” is going to be roughly 35% to 50% lower on a Plasma in comparison to a similarly sized LCD or LED TV.

­­Federal Pacific Electric (FPE):  In a class action lawsuit, a New Jersey State Court ruled that the Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) Company “violated the Consumer Fraud Act because FPE knowingly and purposefully distributed circuit breakers which were not tested to meet UL standards…”  An investigation concluded that FPE circuit breakers fail to trip at a much higher rate than standard panels.  When a breaker fails to trip, an extreme amount of power from the outside electrical supply surges into a home’s panel and circuits. Once that happens, it cannot be stopped or shut off manually. Electricity will burn until it runs out of fuel or the wires melt. The panel could overheat and catch fire, causing serious harm to a home and its occupants.

Zinsco Panels: Zinsco panels have been known to work properly for years, but as homes have increased energy demands, these panels may overheat and portions of it melt.  The reoccurring problem with the Zinsco circuit breaker is that it can melt to the bus bar of the panel and can no longer adequately trip in case of an over current or short circuit.  In this situation an extreme amount of power from the outside electrical supply surges into a home’s panel and circuits. Once that happens, it cannot be stopped or shut off manually. Electricity will burn until it runs out of fuel or the wires melt. The panel could overheat and catch fire, causing serious harm to a home and its occupants.

If you suspect that you may have a Federal Pacific Electric, Zinsco, or an outdated circuit breaker panel you should contact a licensed electrical contractor for an inspection.  Horizon Electric Company has changed out numerous outdated panels in Minnesota and the greater Twin Cities area.  We can professionally replace your potential hazard with a safe, modern, UL listed Electrical Load Center.

As of April 22, 2010, a Federal Regulation called the “Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule” will require contractors who work in pre-1978 housing and who might disturb painted surfaces to become Lead Certified Renovators by taking a one-day course about using “Lead Safe Work Practices” on the job.

Accourding to the Minnesota Department of Health, at least 66% of the homes built between 1940 and 1960 contain lead-based paint. For those built before 1940, around 90% contain lead-based paint.

Lead exposure, even the smallest amount, can cause serious damage to nearly every organ in the body, and is especially dangerous for children, whose bodies are still developing.

Horizon Electric Company is adament about protecting its employees and customers from exposure to lead by taking simple precaustions and implementing work site best practices. Call us now to learn how we can assist you with you next remodeling project!