Scherer Electric Blog: Archive for the ‘Electrical’ Category

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?

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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 But our electricians in Orchard Park, NY have a special safety focus, which is replacing outdated electrical panels.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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Gas, Diesel, And LP: Fuel Sources for Generators

Monday, January 6th, 2020
emergency-home-generator

We strongly recommend our customers in Western New York invest in a whole-house generator. Long-term power losses due to bad weather or stress on the electrical grid are becoming more common, and the best defense against being trapped for hours or even days without power is to have a back-up power source.

A whole-house generator in Buffalo, NY is the best way to provide back-up power. Portable generators aren’t powerful enough to handle the needs of an entire house, and they can also create dangerous fumes inside the living spaces.

So whole-house generators are great for back-up energy. But you’ll need to make a choice about the source of energy for a whole-house generator. There are multiple options, but the three most common are natural gas, diesel, and liquid petroleum (LP).

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Warning Signs You Need Electrical Rewiring for Your House

Monday, December 23rd, 2019
electric-house-rewire

One of the most important jobs we perform for our customers is rewiring older houses to keep them up to code and handle modern electrical loads. There are many vintage homes in Western New York that have outdated wiring that can lead to numerous power failures and even safety hazards. If your home is one of these, you’ll need the assistance of a professional electrician in Clarence, NY to take care of the rewiring—and that means calling us!

But how will you know your home needs professional rewiring? Age alone isn’t the best indicator, since a previous owner may have done upgrades. We’ve put together a list below of the major warning signs that you should call us to rewire all or part of your house.

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Common Electrical Repairs You May Need

Monday, November 25th, 2019
electric-house-rewire

The electrical system in a house is something most of us take for granted. Flip a switch, the lights come on. Plug in the toaster and it works. Put your phone in a recharging station and its battery powers up.

But nothing as complex and important as a residential system can ever be dismissed. At some point, the electrical system may malfunction and need repairs. Only certified electricians can perform the repairs since amateur work can create safety risks. For professional electricians, like ours, customer safety is always the top priority.

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What Does It Mean for My Electrical System to Be “Up to Code”?

Monday, November 11th, 2019
electrical-panel-repairs

You’ve heard the term “up to code” before and have a general sense of what it means when it comes to electrical systems: they have to meet certain guidelines in order to be considered safe. But what does that mean in practice? What is this nebulous code, and how can you know if your home is in violation of some kind? And if your home isn’t “up to code,” what needs to be done to fix the problem?

That’s plenty of questions, but we’ll address these concerns briefly below. As with any serious electrical system question, it’s best to ask an electrician in Amherst, NY directly. You’ll get the best information as well as the service you require.

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I Have Power Strips, Do I Really Need a Surge Protector Installed?

Monday, October 28th, 2019

Yes, you do.

Before we discuss further how important a surge protector is for a residential electrical system, we want to emphasize that there is nothing wrong with using power strips at the various outlets in your home. In fact, we encourage it. Multiple layers of defense against electrical surges are beneficial. You never want to overload an outlet in your house with an octopus plug: power strips allow you to plug in multiple items at a single outlet without the concern of tripping a circuit breaker because of a voltage spike.

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