Scherer Electric Blog: Archive for the ‘Electrical’ Category

Does My Home Need Grounding Services?

Monday, June 22nd, 2020
electrical-outlet-wall

What does it mean to have your house grounded? We could go into some lengthy engineering explanations about how electricity works, but we can provide a simpler discussion of the electrical flow in your house. Electricity is always trying to “ground,” which means it gets rid of all its negative energy so it can get back to being balanced. In your home, the way the electrical systems allow electricity to return to ground is through the neutral wires. The “hot” wires carry the negative half of the polarized charge of electricity, and the neutral wires contain the positive half. These wires run next to each other through your electrical system.

For an example of this standard grounding at work, look at an outlet. One slot is the “hot” side, and the other is the “neutral.” The current flows through the hot side and then into the neutral side to eliminate the negative energy.

Continue Reading

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Does My Home Need Grounding Services?

Why a New Electrical Panel May Be Necessary

Monday, June 8th, 2020
electric-tools

An important job we often focus on here at Scherer Electric is making upgrades to electrical panels for homes. In our long history as a top Amherst, NY electrician, and as Western New York’s Favorite Electrician, we’ve seen plenty of outdated panels in homes that needed to be replaced many years ago. There are also specific panel types that are hazardous, such as Federal Pacific panels that we advise all homeowners have replaced as soon as they can.

Continue Reading

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Why a New Electrical Panel May Be Necessary

Can I Install My Own Electrical Panel?

Monday, April 27th, 2020
hand-holding-wrench

If you’re asking this question, it’s because you either have a suspicion that your current electrical panel is out of date, or you know it’s out of date because it’s failed on you. Perhaps you have an old fuse box, and now realize that this antiquated technology isn’t viable anymore as you keep putting larger and larger fuses on it. Maybe you’ve found out about the danger of the Federal Electric panel installed in your house and want this fire hazard eliminated.

Great—replacing your electrical panel is almost certainly beneficial, and could even prevent a house fire. But if you came here looking for advice on how to install the panel yourself … well, we hope we stopped you before you wandered over to any hazardous recommendations on how you can do it yourself. Because even if you could, you shouldn’t.

Continue Reading

Tags: , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Can I Install My Own Electrical Panel?

Why Do the Circuit Breakers Keep Tripping?

Monday, April 13th, 2020
surge-protector-power-strip

The electrical panel in your house, a.k.a. the circuit breaker panel, is the main “switching station” for the electrical system. This is where the incoming electrical current from the grid divides up into the circuits for the rest of the house. The breakers are in place to prevent an overload on a circuit from damaging the electrical system and causing problems like electrical fires.

When a circuit breaker trips, it means there was too much draw on that circuit. The switch temporarily shuts off the circuit, and you’ll lose power to part of the house. When this happens, we recommend you shut off all appliances in the area and unplug the outlets. Then go to the panel and find which breaker has tripped. Reset it, and then go back to plug in the appliances and turn them back on.

In most cases, this will solve the problem. But what if the circuit breaker keeps tripping? This indicates a larger problem, and you’ll probably need professional electricians in Clarence, NY to help you solve it.

Continue Reading

Tags: , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Why Do the Circuit Breakers Keep Tripping?

How LED Lights Work (And Why They’re a Good Investment)

Monday, March 30th, 2020
lightbulb-LED-100-dollar-bills

You’ve heard about LED lights, and may already have some in your home. LED lights are making larger strides each year as they start to overtake the use of standard incandescent and fluorescent lighting, offering a number of major benefits compared to older light sources.

We’re the Clarence, NY electrician company that can help you receive the greatest benefit from LED technology. We work extensively with both indoor and outdoor lighting and handling retrofits, and we back up our work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Consult with us and we’ll help you make the best investments in electrical upgrades for your home.

Continue Reading

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on How LED Lights Work (And Why They’re a Good Investment)

Are Three-Pronged Adapters Safe?

Monday, March 16th, 2020
electrical-outlet

The standard for major electrical appliances since 1969 is to have three-pronged plugs. Soon after this standard was introduced, the household outlets started to change over to three-prongs. A three-pronged outlet is a grounded outlet. The third prong, the one below the “hot” and “neutral” slots, is the “ground.” The ground slot is there to protect a person from receiving an electrical shock from the metal casing of an appliance because the electricity from the hot wire side is sent into the ground in case there is excess. You’ll notice that some appliances still use two-prong plugs because they don’t have large metal cases in them that can create this problem.

This lengthy explanation about grounded outlets and three-pronged plugs is necessary to get to the big question, “Is it okay to use a three-pronged adapter?” The cheater plugs allow you to plug a three-pronged plug into a two-pronged outlet, which you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. If you live in an older home with two-pronged outlets, you may have plenty of these cheater plugs around. Is this a good idea?

Continue Reading

Tags: , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Are Three-Pronged Adapters Safe?

Watch Out for Federal Pacific Electrical Panels and Have Them Replaced!

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020
electrical-panel-repairs

We watch out for the safety of our customers. Keeping electrical systems running without hazards for a house is an essential part of the job of any professional electrician. But our electricians in Orchard Park, NY have a special safety focus, which is replacing outdated electrical panels.

There are many older homes in Western New York which still have their original wiring and electrical panels. Those panels may have been fine decades ago, but they aren’t right for modern electrical demands. And then there’s the Federal Pacific electrical panel, which presents a significant fire danger for homes—and is found in far too many of them!

If you have a Federal Pacific electrical panel in your house, please schedule service with us as soon as possible to have it replaced.

Continue Reading

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Watch Out for Federal Pacific Electrical Panels and Have Them Replaced!

When Is an Electrical Noise in the House a Reason to Worry?

Monday, February 17th, 2020
woman-covering-ears

“Do you hear a buzzing sound? I could swear I hear a buzzing sound. Anyone else hear that?”

Have you said something like this before in your home? It may have been nothing—an “audio illusion,” it happens. It may have been minor trouble. Or it could have indicated a serious electrical concern. We’re going to look at household electrical noises and when you should call an Amherst, NY electrician to find out if there’s a repair problem that needs to be taken care of.

Continue Reading

Tags: ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on When Is an Electrical Noise in the House a Reason to Worry?

Electrical Emergencies in Your Home and What to Do About Them

Monday, February 3rd, 2020

You know electricity can be dangerous since you’ve almost certainly sustained at least a small electric shock before (aside from static electricity). But since you deal with electricity every day in your home, your work, most leisure activities, almost everywhere, you don’t think often about electrical dangers.

For your safety, you need to know about the electrical dangers that can occur in your home and what to do to prevent harm to your family and property. Please don’t attempt to handle any of these problems on your own: call our electricians in Amherst, NY so any electrical issues are fixed and fixed safely.

Continue Reading

Tags: , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Electrical Emergencies in Your Home and What to Do About Them

Important Electrical Safety Tips for Your Home

Monday, January 20th, 2020
electrical-outlet-wall

Perhaps the most important job of a professional electrician is creating electrical safety in buildings. This is part of basic code compliance, but it’s also common sense. Electrical systems with poor installation or amateur repairs can create fires and dangerous electrical shocks.

You can trust our licensed electricians to help with the repairs and replacements to improve electrical safety in your home. There are also some basic electrical safety tips to follow that will help you and your family remain safe. We’ve listed the important ones below.

Continue Reading

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Electrical | Comments Off on Important Electrical Safety Tips for Your Home