McCurdy Electrical Advisor

What’s Your Backup Plan?

August 19th, 2010

As the saying goes, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a minute.” Or, as Mark Twain put it, “…one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.”

I think you get my point.

We New Englanders should always be prepared for whatever Mother Nature may throw at us. I hope that you weren’t one of over a half-million people who were without power back in that ice storm in 2008. This “unprecedented” event left more than half of New Hampshire residents without power for well over a week!

At the time of writing this we’re in the “dog days of summer” – but there’s no better time to prepare yourself. We don’t need a massive ice storm to lose power!

McCurdy Electric is excited to announce our official dealer status with GE Generator Systems. We are now certified to install and service your backup generator so it will always be ready when you need it.

Finally, there is a new generation of smart, automatic home backup power systems. More compact, more energy efficient and more intelligent. The new Standby Generators by GE are also more affordable because they feature patented controls that efficiently manage the energy demands of your entire home.

A Smarter Backup Power Solution!

Power More For Less

Advanced Symphony power controls allow for a more compact, energy efficient and affordable whole house solution (10-45kW).

Maximum Fuel Economy

Intelligent management of your home’s appliances results in up to 33% less fuel consumption than the leading competitor.

Space-Saving Design

The most compact design in the industry (10kW) allows for a low profile that blends in with your home and landscape.

Whole House Power Management

Finally there is an affordable whole house backup power solution from a brand you know and trust.

Don’t Let Its Size Fool You!

The compact 10kW offers an affordable whole house solution for 73% of all homes in the US!

Please let us know if you have any questions whatsoever about these great new generators! We’ll be glad to come on by and give you a completely free estimate for a custom installation that’s right for you and your home.

Posted in General Interest | No Comments »

A Very Smart Purchase

July 26th, 2010

OK, so everybody’s trying to “go green” these days. You’ve done pretty well yourself haven’t you? You have re-usable fabric bags for your groceries, you refill your refillable water bottle from your faucet water filter, you have a programmable thermostat installed, and you’ve even screwed in a few of those spiral-twist compact fluorescent bulbs.

Or maybe you haven’t.

Even if going “green” is not high on your priority list, I bet you that saving money is. It’s a proven fact that no matter what type of light bulb is used, one that is off always uses less power!

I don’t know about you, but I get very upset with myself when I forget to turn off the lights when I leave a room, wasting electricity and adding to that month’s electric bill. This problem is easily solved with the simple installation of an occupancy sensor (some brands even call it a vacancy sensor).

When I tell you that there is a solution for every situation, there really is. To make things simpler, the world of occupancy sensors can be boiled down to two types: wall-mount sensors, and ceiling-mount sensors.

An existing wall switch can be replaced with a unit that fits right into the existing switch box. There are many different technologies that exist now to avoid nuisance shut-offs when you still might be in that room. The older sensors of years past, with the technology of their day, might have certainly caused these types of annoying shut-offs. We actually have a sensor installed in our home office that will sense slight hand movement from more than 20 feet away, and it always “knows” when someone is or isn’t in that room. Plus, you can change the timer on the unit to shut off in a few seconds or a few hours. That’s pretty impressive.

The other type of occupancy sensor that is available is mounted in or on the ceiling. This version is decidedly more of a “commercial” application, but of course this technology can be used anywhere. The benefits of a ceiling-mounted sensor is that you can really focus on an area where motion will be detected. For instance, where a wall-mounted unit might not recognize movement because of the location of the existing switch box, the ceiling unit can be put directly in a spot where it will guarantee to pick up motion.

A really cool new product that just came out is the best of both worlds:

No Wires, No Batteries, No Limits

The product shown above is truly an innovation. Basically, it’s a solar-powered ceiling sensor unit which never needs batteries. The ceiling sensor unit “talks” to the corresponding wall switch unit that replaces your existing switch. This allows for ultimate flexibility and control, and saves the possibility of having to cut holes in walls and ceilings to run wires. There are no wires!

In our opinion, an occupancy sensor is one of the smartest purchases you can make. Lighting energy is a major portion of an electric bill – it’s sometimes even the largest portion.

Like I said before – no matter what type of light bulb is used, a light bulb that is off always uses less power!

We welcome your comments and questions below.

Posted in Going Green | 1 Comment »

7 Common Electrical Hazards

July 26th, 2010

Many electrical hazards exist, both at home and in the workplace. There are a few easy steps that you can take to significantly decrease your risk of an electrical fire or other hazardous occurrence. Check for these common electrical hazards, and correct them as soon as possible:

1) Check for electrical cords that are pinched behind furniture, such as couches, bureaus, or chairs.

2) Check for overloaded outlets (for example, if there is more than one appliance plugged into an outlet). Be especially careful when plugging in larger-sized appliances, such as hair dryers, space heaters, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and other similar items. You can’t always just plug it in and expect there to be enough power available on that circuit.

3) Check for overloaded power strips. These are only designed to be used for a few low-power items. Also, never plug one power strip into another power strip.

4) Check for lamps and light fixtures that may have bulbs with a higher wattage than recommended. Most lamps and fixtures are designed to use a 60 Watt bulb at most. Bulbs of a higher wattage than what the fixture is designed for using is a leading cause of electrical fires.

5) Check for electrical cords underneath rugs, carpets, and furniture. Relocate the cords if necessary so they are not continually stepped on and worn down, compromising their insulation. Electrical cords should always be protected from physical damage.

6) Check for electrical cords that have frayed wires or cracked insulation. Dispose of them and replace them with a quality cord that bears a certification label of an independent testing laboratory (such as UL).

7) Check the size of your extension cords. Make sure that they are designed to handle the amount power that they are being used for. A tell-tale sign of an under-sized and over-used cord is if the cord is warm to the touch. Never use an extension cord for larger appliances such as your hair dryer, air conditioner, or space heater.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of the items listed above, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here for you 24/7 and electrical hazards should not wait to be addressed fixed. We will be glad to answer any questions you have.

What are some common electrical hazards that you have seen? We welcome your comments!

Posted in General Interest, Safety Tips | 1 Comment »

Preventative Maintenance & Thermal Imaging – Your Weekly Electrical Safety Tip From McCurdy Electric

July 2nd, 2010

The MA State Fire Marshal recommends that you have your electrical system inspected every 10 years. The following is taken directly from a press release from earlier this year:

“Electrical wiring, like all other systems, needs maintenance and inspection. Homeowners should have a qualified electrician examine their electrical system every ten years. A licensed electrician who obtains a permit when required should do all electrical work. The permit process protects the homeowner by requiring that an inspector check that work is done correctly.”

The last part of the statement above is very important too. When getting work done of any kind at your home or business, always be sure that the contractor pulls a permit. This is to make sure that the contractor you’re hiring is licensed and has the proper types of insurance. It is really for your protection.

It is proven that when a preventative maintenance program (referred to as a PM program) is in place, it will save you money in the long run. This is true for both homeowners and business owners alike. Basically, when a piece of equipment breaks down because of neglect, it is more costly to fix the problem at that point than it would have been to prevent the problem in the first place. One way of checking for problems is by utilizing a technology known as Thermal Imaging.

A Thermal Image of a Receptacle Outlet

Using Thermal Imaging tools, we can check for problems on a piece of equipment just by “looking” at it. When looking at an electrical panel, If a spot is unusually hot, there’s an excellent chance of either a loose connection or an overloaded circuit. Connections become loose over time, and that is just one of the reasons preventative maintenance is needed (especially on electrical panels).

The thermal image camera is also a useful tool for energy conservationists to check out cold spots in a home and see where you might need some more insulation. Check out this video from Fluke, a leading manufacturer in the Thermal Imaging industry to learn more.

As added value to you our customer, McCurdy Electric offers a free visual safety inspection with a written report with every service call. We are dedicated to safety!

I welcome any comments or questions you have.

Posted in Safety Tips | No Comments »

It’s Air Conditioner Season! Your Weekly Electrical Safety Tip from McCurdy Electric

June 25th, 2010

Air Conditioner season is upon us once again! Here is a summer safety tip to keep us all staying cool this summer.

An issue that I see frequently, in both homeowners and small business owners, is that they use extension cords for “permanent” or “fixed” installations. That is, an extension cord is plugged in to an outlet, ran behind some furniture or even underneath a rug, and then used to provide power to an electrical appliance such as an air conditioner.

Not to scare anyone, but this is a bad idea on a couple of levels:

1) Did you know that extension cords are only designed for temporary use? That’s right. An extension cord should never be used for a “fixed” installation. The National Electrical Code states that the manufacturer’s installation instructions must be followed – I guarantee you that it tells you in the instruction booklet of your new air conditioner to not use an extension cord with it.

2) The extension cord that you use may be undersized. That is, the physical size of the wire inside the cord may not be large enough to handle the large amount of power that an appliance like an air conditioner needs. If this is the case, the cord may become warm. So warm in fact that there is a very real risk for fire.

3) The cord is more than likely subject to physical damage. If the extension cord is run behind furniture, underneath a rug, or even just lying on the floor, it is subject to physical damage. For obvious reasons this is a potentially dangerous thing. Even a heavy-duty cord will become frayed and worn if subjected to enough abuse over time. A frayed or damaged cord should always be destroyed and disposed of, so that no one is able to use it in the future. No amount of electrical tape can satisfactorily repair an extension cord. A good rule of thumb is that if the cord doesn’t look like it originally did from the factory, it’s probably not good anymore.

4) It’s always best to have a dedicated circuit for large appliances such as your air conditioner. If you don’t have a receptacle outlet near your window-mounted air conditioner, or if the circuit breaker keeps tripping when you turn your AC on, you may want to have one installed.

McCurdy Electric offers a free visual safety inspection, with a written report, on every service call that we do. If you have any immediate questions about safety, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Please offer your comments below, and stay cool!

Posted in Safety Tips | No Comments »

A Homeowner’s Guide to Knob and Tube Wiring

June 11th, 2010

Back in the late 1800s, a new craze was sweeping homeowners across the nation: electricity.

Electricity was made available in homes through a method called “knob and tube” wiring. For the era, this was great stuff. Nowadays it’s just plain old, and has a potential to be very real fire hazard – it should always be replaced whenever possible. Most insurance companies will not insure your home if it contains knob and tube wiring (or a fuse panel for that matter).

There are some key points that should be known:

What is this stuff anyway? Knob and Tube wiring, sometimes abbreviated K&T, was a standard wiring method that was implemented as far back as the 1880s, and was used up until the 1940s and 50s. It is called Knob and Tube, because the single-conductor wires are supported by cylindrical ceramic nailed-down knobs, and passed through studs or joists via ceramic tubes which helped to insulate the wires. Splices were usually made by soldering the wires together and then just wrapped up with cloth tape. These were left in “open air” without the splice being contained in an electrical box (a requirement today). Where conductors would enter a switch or outlet box, the wire would be protected with a cotton cloth covering saturated with asphalt, called “loom”.

- As I mentioned above, many insurance companies will not insure a house that contains this type of wiring method (or even a fuse panel).
- The National Electrical Code prohibits the use of insulation of any sort installed in walls or ceilings where Knob and Tube wiring exists. This is because of a potential fire hazard. If any sort of insulation comes into contact with the conductors, they can’t disperse heat properly as they were originally designed to.
- The cloth-like or rubber insulation breaks down after time. This may cause the conductor to be bare and unprotected – a real shocker!
- This old style of wiring was mainly used to power things such as electric lamps, not modern equipment such as air conditioners, refrigerators, computers, space heaters, etc.
- A lot of times the “neutral” wire was switched instead of the “hot” wire. This dangerous practice is against modern electrical code, but was a common practice in the era of K&T.
- There is no equipment grounding conductor with this type of wiring system. Grounding is arguably the most important part of a sound electrical system. A tell-tale sign that an electrical outlet might be fed with Knob & Tube is that the receptacle is only a “2-prong” version, missing the 3rd prong on the bottom which is for the grounding conductor.

The problems…

A bad situation: I have heard of a report of someone hanging a metal clothes hanger on an exposed piece of knob and tube wiring located in the ceiling in the basement. Then, when they went to grab the metal hanger while doing some laundry in their bare feet, they literally got quite a shock. Fortunately, the person was OK and just shaken up a bit. In the right set of circumstances, this could be a deadly situation.

What can be done? We are always glad to come out and consult with you about your options. Your expert team at McCurdy Electric can quickly diagnose, and if necessary, upgrade the antiquated wiring system to current safe code standards. The wiring method that we install will more than likely be installed for the next 100 years or more, just like the Knob & Tube has been. We have many years of experience working in the older New England homes that are still utilizing the old wiring methods, therefore, we already know what to look for.

This is a typical example of some Knob and Tube wiring I found in a basement.

Please feel free to ask us any questions you might have by either calling us or by leaving a comment below!

Posted in Knob and Tube Wiring | 2 Comments »

The 6 Benefits of Staying Connected

June 9th, 2010

“Where were you the other night? I couldn’t get a hold of you – every time I tried to call you I just got disconnected after a few broken words…”

These days, it’s more important than ever to stay connected. Are you forced to move near a window or even step outside to place a call or retrieve voice mail on your mobile phone? Just imagine if you had to make that phone call in an emergency situation and couldn’t.

McCurdy Electric is a dealer for Wilson Electronics, a leading manufacturer of In-Building Wireless Amplifier systems. Check out this video from a news station in Pittsburgh – it focuses on just one Wilson Electronics product, but the principle is the same for their entire line of great products:

The benefits:

You are able to stay connected anywhere in your building. Without any direct connection to your phone, you will have no more dead zones. This system is truly “wire-less.”

Works with all major carriers. Whatever company you have your cell phone contract with, Wilson makes a system for you. You’re not just stuck with one company either – if you decide to switch carriers, the system will still continue to work for you.

Save money by cutting costs! We have a simple Wilson Electronics system installed at our office, like the one shown in the above video. We truly could not operate our business without it. In the past, our Electricians out in the field used to call the office land line when they had to contact us. That ate up valuable “minutes” very quickly, which our cell phone bill reflected. Now, we have a perfect signal everywhere in our office and they call us on our company cell phones, utilizing the phone-to-phone unlimited minutes included in our mobile contract.

Increased bandwidth and completely 3G and 4G compatible. You may not have the need for a wireless router once you have one of these systems installed. You can easily stream music, retrieve large files, and perform many other actions with ease. At our office, we can use our laptop anywhere in the building and the USB wireless adapter stays perfectly connected all the time.
Increased battery life. When your phone is struggling to stay connected to a cell tower, it eats up the battery. With up to 20 times the power of the cell phone alone, this system will certainly save you from plugging in your phone as frequently.

When we design and install the system, it’s guaranteed to work. We offer a free site analysis and design of the system, customized for your unique application.

This is one of those products that when you have it, you couldn’t imagine life without it.

I welcome your comments and questions below!

Posted in In-building Wireless Amplifiers | No Comments »