Thursday, May 29, 2014

Programmable Thermostats Save Money and Creates Peace Of Mind



With energy prices rising all the time, it is important to save money on your energy bills, and one of the best ways to achieve this is to install programmable thermostats in to your home. These useful additions to your heating and air conditioning system allow you to alter the temperature of your home at specific times of the day, or on each day of the week etc. By reducing the temperature in your home at the times of day when you are either out or asleep, you can significantly reduce your heating bills. In this article, we will look at the advantages of installing a controllable thermostat in to your home.
 
Installing a Programmable Thermostat
The best advice when it comes to installing this device in your home is to make sure that you are confident in dealing with electric installation. If you are not, it is a good idea to make use of the services of an experienced electrician. Most thermostats of this type are fairly quick and easy to install, so it should not cost you too much in charges, if you wish to employ a professional electrical contractor. 

Programming the Thermostat
As soon as the thermostat has been successfully installed, it is time to begin programming it. Most models of this kind have a system where you can set the thermostat for weekdays and weekends separately. As a rule of thumb, most models allow you to adjust the temperature at 4 intervals each day. Therefore, you can set the temperature to be higher early in the morning, so that your home is nice and warm when you awake, and then set it to be cooler when you are at work. Then you can set the temperature to rise again in the evening, so that you come home from work to a nice warm home. It can then be set to go down again late at night when you are asleep etc. At weekends when you are more likely to spend much more time at home, you can set the temperature to remain much more constant throughout the day, giving you a constant and pleasant level of heat.

Finally
As you can see, installing a thermostat that you can program, offers so much more flexibility when it comes to heating or cooling your home, and this is something that will reflect itself when you receive your future energy bills, which should be significantly lower. Plus you’ll have a peace of mind knowing that you’re not wasting energy. This little home addition can be done easily be your local Electrician Austin.

Using Ceiling Fans To Save Money This Summer



A lot of people understand that ceiling fans are the perfect solution to beating the heat of the summer months. However, a large percentage of people do not realize that they can be used in partnership with an air conditioning system. Throughout the summer months, a ceiling fan can be set to rotate the blades counterclockwise, which will help to circulate cooling air through your room, and for no extra cost than running a 100 watt light bulb, thus lowering your dependency on air conditioning.

Installing Yours

Before you go out and buy one, it is important to understand what needs to be done to complete the task of Ceiling Fan Installation. Although the task of installation can be done by anyone with intermediate DIY skills, if you are not comfortable dealing with electricity, it is advisable to employ the services of a local electrician, especially if your property has high ceilings.

How a Ceiling Fan can lower your Energy Costs

Using your fan in this way will help you to reduce the amount of usage you need from your air conditioning unit, thereby helping you to reduce the amount of energy you use each month. This is something that is definitely going to be good for your energy bills, while at the same time, helping to reduce your carbon footprint.

In fact, installing a ceiling fan can assist you with reducing the overall running costs of your home, and a large number of people have found that they can lower the costs of operating their air conditioning by as much as 50%. This is due to the fact that operating it can help to reduce the overall temperature in a room by around 6%, depending on the size of the room, and the local climate.

Useful in the Cooler Months Too

Not only are ceiling fans great for the summer months, but you may not know that they can actually be useful during the cooler parts of the year. By switching your unit’s blades to operate in a clockwise rotation, you will be creating an updraft that will help to send the warmer air up to the ceiling and back down again in to your room. 

This straightforward change can help to lower your winter heating costs by as much a 15%, by allowing you to lower the thermostat on your heating system. Your home improvement can be done easily by a local Electrician Austin, and pair with programmable thermostats for your home or business, you’ll be on your way to cooling your property a lot more efficiently.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Why Should You Inspect & Make Electrical Circuit Breaker Changes Proactively

Almost every homeowner has a natural tendency of attending to a problem when it becomes severe. We tend to look at problems when the symptoms are too grave or when an unforeseen incident has already occurred. Hardly anyone is proactive with any aspect of our home’s electrical systems. It is extremely necessary that you inspect your breaker box, this will help to prevent situations that could have been avoided by proper maintenance.
You should inspect and make electrical circuit breaker changes proactively. You shouldn’t wait for a tripped breaker or a major danger to take the right corrective and preventive measures. Old ones are at an immediate risk. If you haven’t changed them out in your home for two decades or more, you should inspect them immediately and perhaps change them if such is the requirement.

There are many reasons why you should inspect and make electrical circuit breaker changes proactively. First, if the breakers are old then chances are very high that the breakers were not designed to regulate the amount of electricity that you use now. We use more electricity today than what we used to do about two decades back or even about a decade back. Our reliance or overreliance on electronics and electrical appliances has increased our energy consumption and the amount of energy we use at any one point in time. 

Circuit breakers can only manage what they were designed to regulate. Any more electricity passing through the breaker would cause them to trip. You can always call in an Electrician Austin TX to fix tripped breakers but when they trip, your electrical and electronic appliances may be damaged. You may have burnt wires and switchboards. There is also a huge possibility of a fire. The fire would not only damage your electrical fixtures and meters but would have the potential to spread and cause property damage. There are numerous unfortunate incidents of fire caused by faulty devices leading to fatalities.

Circuit breakers may not always trip due to manmade reasons or due to the fault of the property owner. Fluctuating voltage, lightning and faulty wiring and other such factors can also lead to a major problem. Checking and making electrical circuit breaker changes in a timely manner and proactively is the only way to counter all challenges and to make the potential dangers nonexistent. If you cannot inspect the circuit breakers and make changes yourself, you must call in an Electrician Austin and get it done.