Scherer Electric Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Electrical Panels’

What You Can Do to Help Prevent Electrical Fires

Monday, April 12th, 2021
smoke-detector

One reason we tell our customers to only rely on professional Buffalo, NY electrical service technicians for any electrical need rather than to call an amateur or go “do-it-yourself” is because of the potential hazard of electrical fires. Electrical fires are one of the biggest sources of fires in homes: according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, electrical fires from outlets alone cause more than 5,000 fires per year.

We want you to avoid electrical fires in your house, and there are steps you can take to reduce the chance of them occurring with our help.

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4 Home Electrical Troubles That MUST Have an Electrician

Monday, March 1st, 2021
scorched-outlet

We’re a professional electrical contractor, so it makes sense that we would recommend homeowners only call on Angola, NY electricians with licenses to solve their household electrical troubles. But we don’t do this just because we want more business. We wouldn’t be western New York’s favorite electrician if all we cared about was picking up jobs. As experienced professionals, we understand the importance of the skill of a trained and licensed electrician when it comes to fixing household electrical problems. We’re here to keep the lights on and keep our customers, their families, and their property safe.

For example, below are four electrical troubles you may encounter in your house that must receive service from a licensed electrician to diagnose and/or correct. Don’t risk DIY work or calling an amateur “handyperson” for any of these situations. At best, the problem will remain. At worst … well, imagine whatever electrical disaster you wish, it’s not an exaggeration. 

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A Power Outage! What Do You Do?

Monday, February 15th, 2021
flashlight

Winters in New York can be beautiful as long as you have a home with a good heating system, the right insulation, and a steady supply of electricity. But with our low temperatures, a sudden loss of electrical power to your house can mean a serious emergency. Storms, power plant accidents, power surges, even accidents within the home’s electrical system can leave you trapped without the electricity you need to get by. 

Our first message about power outages is not to panic. There are steps you can take, and in many cases a professional Angola, NY electrician can provide you with the help you need. Below are steps you can take when the power suddenly goes out in the winter.

ONE: Check on your electrical panel

It’s possible the reason that you’ve lost power to the house is that the main breaker in the electrical panel has tripped. Check the panel to see if all the breakers are in the “on” position. If they are, test the main breaker switch to see if this restores power. 

An important note of caution: an older breaker panel may be the source of the electrical failure, and we recommend calling us to investigate if the panel needs to be replaced. 

TWO: See if this is a municipal problem

In other words, go talk to your neighbors to discover if they also have lost electrical power. If this is the case, then you aren’t dealing with a specific problem in your home, but an issue with the municipal power supply. 

THREE: Call the power company

If you determined in step two that the issue is municipal, the next step is to call the power company to see the extent of the problem and how long you can expect for it to continue. In fact, the power company may not even know the problem has occurred, so you’re doing the community as well as your home a service by alerting them to the outage so they can take care of it.

FOUR: Unplug major appliances

Those appliances may not be receiving any power at the moment, but when power is restored it can bring with it a surge that can damage them. This is mainly a problem for precision electrical appliances such as computers, the microwave, and the entertainment system. 

FIVE: Don’t try to do any DIY stuff

If you suspect that you might be able to fix some of the electrical problems that caused the blackout, please resist. Electric services need to remain in the domain of professionals. Once the power is restored, you’ll have an idea of what needs repairs, and you can call our team to handle them. Otherwise, please leave the tools alone. You might make a mistake, and when the power does come back on, it could create a major hazard.

SIX: Think about getting a generator

This isn’t so much a step as it is an important moment for reflection. If you have a whole-house backup generator, you wouldn’t be in this emergency situation right now. We recommend you call us once the power is restored to schedule an installation for a whole-house generator—one of the best “insurance policies” you can have against this problem occurring again. 

Scherer Electric is Western New York’s Favorite Electrician! Call us for 24/7 emergency service when you have electrical problems.

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The Penny in the Fuse Box and Other DIY Electrical Panel Nightmares

Monday, February 1st, 2021
panel-replacement

Many home service contractors discourage customers from attempting “do-it-yourself” work on their home, and often with good reason. Many of these jobs are time-consuming and easy to get wrong without the proper tools and training. 

But the situation is different when it comes to electrical services. We don’t just discourage DIY work—we are adamantly against it because of the immense danger that amateur electrical work can cause. Rudimentary mistakes can mean a house is no longer up-to-code and increase the chance of electrical fires. Only licensed electricians can provide electrical repair in Amherst, NY and throughout Western New York, and you wouldn’t want anybody else to provide service for your home.

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Handyman vs. Electrician: Does It Really Matter? (Yes It Does!)

Monday, January 18th, 2021
electric-tools

We’ll admit that there is something people find attractive about the term handyman (or handyperson). It creates this image of a “jack of all trades” who can whip up solutions when there are problems. You can call on the handyman when things go wrong.

But this is not the case. When it comes to electrical jobs in a house, there’s a massive gulf between bringing in a “handyperson” and calling a licensed electrician (a.k.a. an electrical contractor). It matters who you call, because the consequences when something goes wrong, as well as the likelihood of something going wrong, is far higher with the handyman.

If you read nothing else in this post, just remember this: for any electrical service in your home, only call a licensed electrician. 

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Unsafe Electrical Panels That Might Be in Your House

Monday, December 7th, 2020
electrical-panel-working-on-one

Any Orchard Park, NY electrician can tell you that the secret to having a safe and effective electrical system isn’t much of a secret: it starts with having an updated electrical panel. The panel is the switching station for a residential electrical system, the point where the incoming current divides into separate circuits. The panel protects the rest of the system from suffering damage with breakers that cut off voltage flow in case of overloads. A broken or outdated panel can lead to power outages around a home as well as electrical fires.

One of the important jobs we handle for our customers is installing new panels to replace outdated ones. If you live in a house built before 1990 and you still have the same electrical panel, calling us for an inspection to see if it’s time to upgrade the panel. In fact, you may have something worse than an outdated panel—you might have one that was never safe to begin with! Below are three of these potentially hazardous panels we recommend you have us replace.

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Ways You Can Reduce Your Electric Bill (And How We Can Help)

Monday, November 23rd, 2020
budget-scissors

Do you have to brace yourself each time you receive your monthly electricity bill? The cost of electricity is increasing, but your high bill may be the fault of the ways you use electricity in the home or outdated fixtures and appliances. 

There are several ways you can cut down on your monthly electricity bills. We can help with some of them: call us when you need an electrician in Buffalo, NY to give you advice on the best steps for an energy-saving home.

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Is Whole-House Surge Protection a Good Idea?

Monday, November 9th, 2020
lightning-bolt

When you think of protecting valuable equipment in your home from a high voltage surge, what first comes to mind? If it’s just plugging your computer or your audio equipment into a power strip, then we’ve got news for you—that may not be enough. 

These power strips are often sold to consumers as “surge protectors.” But in most cases, they’re basically just safer versions of antiquated octopus plugs and a way to extend the reach of the electrical equipment that needs to be plugged in. Yes, they’re useful, we won’t argue that. You should use them. But to rely on them to protect all the equipment in your home from a powerful voltage surge is folly.

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The Story of the Vintage Home and The Bad Wiring

Monday, September 14th, 2020
attic-interior-fall

We haven’t written the end of this story yet, and we’re hoping to give it a happy ending. If you live in the vintage house and it’s the one with the bad wiring, you can write the upbeat ending yourself by calling us to help you with vital Clarence, NY electrician services.

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The Buzzing in the Wall—Sinister Forces, Or Electrical Problem?

Monday, August 17th, 2020
electrical-blueprints-sm

We can’t completely discount that the buzzing sound you hear coming from your wall is from supernatural or other-dimensional force. But in our long history as a Buffalo, NY electrician, we can say that most of the times we’ve received calls about buzzing coming from walls, it was an electrical problem—except the occasional wasps’ nest. We’re glad those customers called, because this buzzing sound can indicate serious electrical issues that need certified electricians to investigate and solve. (Sorry, we aren’t equipped for the wasps.)

Now you may not find the buzzing sound “scary,” but it’s irritating. Let’s look into what might be happening to cause it.

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