Electrician Malibu CA, 90263, 90265

 A bond is an insurance policy for which the contractor pays a premium. It guarantees that the contractor will meet his obligations in a satisfactory manner. Failure to do so should result in the payment of compensation by the bonding company. There are three types of bonds, payment bond, performance bond and bid bond.    Being bonded could be like getting an insurance policy that the job 1: will be completed and 2: will be done properly. Larger commercial and almost all government j... Read more...

 I can promise you one thing you will never be bored with this trade. But getting your license is not easy. I know in my state you need to serve 8,000 hrs as an apprentice and have three years of school. The best way to get started is to try to get into a union apprenticeship program. You also might want to check with local electrical contractors in your area. Some industry and electronic plants have training programs. Keep checking the want adds, sometimes just getting in on maintenance is ... Read more...

 Starting January 1, 2002, The National Electrical Code , Section 210-12, requires that all branch circuits supplying 125V, single phase, 15 and 20 ampere outlets installed in dwelling unit bedrooms be protected by an arc-fault Circuit interrupter. Eventually they will be in more areas but the NEC selected to require them on bedroom circuits first because a CPSC study showed many home fire deaths were related to bedroom circuits. The AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter) breaker, will ... Read more...

 With more and more electronic devices being used the term harmonics comes into use. Harmonics should be taken seriously but they are not the only cause of your electrical problems. If you have tried everything and you are still having problems and you have a lot of electronic devices it is something to think about. Any distortions in the voltage or current wave causes harmonics. We can give you a lot of technical explantions on what harmonics are but the intention of this website is t... Read more...

 If your lights dim when an appliance (fridge, air cond, etc.) comes on, check to see if the lights are on the same circuit with the appliance. Most fixed appliances (fridge, air cond, etc.) should be on a dedicated circuit back to the main panel. These devices draw quite a bit of current in the first second or so when they first start up.  If all the lights in your house are dim all the time or periodically, the problem could be at the local utilities substation, transformer or... Read more...

 An electric charge is produced when two pieces of material are rubbed together, such as silk and a glass rod, or when you comb your hair. Did you ever walk across a carpet and get a shock when you touch a metal doorknob. Your shoe soles built up a charge by rubbing on the carpet, and this charge was transferred to you and was discharged on the knob. These charges are called static electricity, and results when one material transfers its electrons to another. Even materials known as in... Read more...

 The National Electric Code is a document sponsored by the National Fire Protection Agency. It is a book electricians will have to learn before obtaining there license. Most electricians can find articles easily because they have spent so much time studying the book. For a person looking thru the book for the first time, it would be easier to use the index in the back of the book. There are so many applications for each wiring job, it would be hard for the NEC. to list all of them. An ... Read more...

   Power factor is the ratio of true power or watts to apparent power or volt amps. They are identical only when current and voltage are in phase than the power factor is 1.0. The power in an ac circuit is very seldom equal to the direct product of the volts and amperes. In order to find the power of a single phase ac circuit the product of volts and amperes must be multiplied by the power factor. Ampmeters and voltmeters indicate the effective value of amps and volts. True power or ... Read more...

 The only proper and most safe way to run a generator is with a transfer switch. These switches should only be installed by an electrician.Transfer switches have three selections. Generator...center off...and utility. It prevents you from having the generator and the utility power on at the same time. Which would mess up the wiring in your home. And when installed properly will prevent a backfeed to the utility lines which could prove fatal to lineman working. The utility transformer i... Read more...

   Generators should be installed by qualified electricians. Most generators are rated in watts. The formula for watts is Watts=Volts x Amps. If you you have a 120 watt bulb at 120 volts you would have one amp. If you were to run 25 100 watt bulbs you would need a 2,500 watt generator. Motor circuits such as circulating motors for heat and compressors for refrigerators must be calculated differently. It takes about three times the current to start a motor. Most motors have the amperage rat... Read more...

   A ground rod is a metal shaft used for grounding. With plastic pipe now being used for water systems these rods are being used for services and other devices to be grounded. These rods are to be driven in the ground at least 8 ft. These rods when made of iron or steel shall be at least 5/8 inches thick. Non ferrous rods should be free of paint or any other non coductive material shoud be listed and not less than 1/2 inches thick.  Most codes call for a ground system of 25 o... Read more...

 The neutral is only bonded to ground at your service panel. At all other points throughout your house, there is no connection between the bare (or green) grounding conductor and the white neutral conductor. Under normal conditions, the grounding conductor carries no current. No current means there is no voltage drop along it, therefore anything "grounded" to this conductor is at the same potential (voltage) as ground. If you bond the neutral and ground at the sub panel, than stray cur... Read more...

There are atoms in the air, these atoms contain electrons. To produce electricity you need a force to move these electrons. There are several ways to produce this force, the most common being magnetism which can be produced by generators. This force is called E.M.F. (ElectroMotive Force) . As conductors are passed through a magnetic field a voltage (emf) will be produced in each conductor. This voltage will produce the necessary pressure to move the electrons. The movement of these electrons ... Read more...

 There are good arguments for both sides of this issue. The reason i chose to take this side is because of having to replace some receptacles because they were shorted out with the ground lug down. That is why i believe you are better off having it up. This way if the plug is not inserted all the way, or becomes loose, it would give some protection against falling metal objects going across the live and neutral blades and shorting them out. They would land on the ground lug of the plug first... Read more...

   The utility transformer feeding your service is 240 volts single phase. In order for you to have 120 volts they need to split the voltage with a center tap at the transformer called the neutral. This is the third wire brought to the neutral buss in your main panel. This wire is also referred to as the grounded conductor. The grounding conductor is the wire attached to the water main or electrode and than to your panel and is used to ground your electrical devices. The neutral or w... Read more...

The most electricity in your home is used by Electric Heat, Air conditioners, Electric Hot Water and your Electric Dryer. You could help by getting an automatic thermostat. Those long showers are nice but there costing you extra money. Do you really need to run that dryer that often? One other thing that could cause a problem would be a bad breaker or loose connections at the breaker. Depending on what part of the country you live in, heating and cooling are the largest contribut... Read more...

 Aluminum wire is still approved by the N.E.C. But this on the assumption that everything will be done perfect. Having said that i would like to give a little advice on using aluminum wire when you are building a new home. For the sake of saving a few dollars, it is not worth the safety hazard you face when using this wire. This is not only my opinion but the opinion of many others in the trade. Many times i have been called to repair corroded connections using this wire. Most of the t... Read more...

 Here is some information on where to install smoke detectors. Some local codes may vary, so check first. Wall-mounted units should be mounted so that the top of the detector is 4 to 12 inches from the ceiling. A ceiling-mounted detector should be attached at least four inches from the nearest wall. In a room with a pitched ceiling, mount the detector at or near the ceiling's highest point. Place the detector near the bedrooms, within 15 feet of sleeping areas. The National Fire... Read more...

 All 15 and 20 receptacles installed within 6 feet of a kitchen sink or wetbar shall have G.F.C.I. protection. Receptacles in a kitchen used to serve counter tops should be supplied with at least two 20 amp branch circuits, for small appliances. Each fixed appliance (refrigerator, stove, dish washer) shall have its own dedicated circuit. On counter tops 12 inches or wider a receptacle shall be installed so that there is no more than 24 inches between outlets. Receptacles outlets instal... Read more...

   This will not make me very popular but it is the truth. Without a license, not very much. At The present time most states allow you to do whatever you want in your own home. But doing electrical work yourself is a gamble. How much are you willing to risk to save money. There is a reason why it takes so much training to become an electrician. Do not make a mistake by taking electricity lightly, even the smallest job could be a safety hazard. Why take a chance. Get a professional to... Read more...

 The N.E.C. allows a G.F.C.I. to be used in an outlet with a two wire ungrounded cable, but this might not be that great an idea for several reasons. First: The ground lug on a G.F.C.I. receptacle might give the false impression that the outlet has a grounding wire. Second: The surge surpressors used for computers and other electronic equipment require a properly installed grounding wire to work correctly. There are several other ways to ground outlets. Here is a c... Read more...

 Any bathroom or garage outlet within 6' of a sink must be GFCI protected. The code also requires all kitchen outlets for countertop use to be GFCI protected. GFCI outlets must be installed in any area where electricity and water may come into contact, including basements, pools, spas, utility rooms, attached garages and outdoors. At least one GFCI outlet is required in an unfinished basement and for most outdoor outlets. The are two types of GFCIs in homes, the GFCI outlet and the GF... Read more...

 In every kitchen, family room, dining room, living room, parlor, library, den, bedroom, or similar room or area of dwelling units, receptacle outlets shall be installed so that no point along the floor line in any wall space there is more than six feet, from an outlet in that space. This is to prevent the use of extension cords. Outlets are usually placed about 18 inches above floor level. Switches usually go about 48 inches from floor level. For convenience outlets each single recept... Read more...

Most states call for 100 amps minimum, but with all the new electronic devices, air conditioning and electric heat, I would suggest 200 amps especially in new homes. This also gives you some space for future additions. This is not a job for an unlicensed person to attempt. In most cases it involves replacing everything from the service loop (this is the wire that extends from the top of your meter to the utility tie in ) up to and including the main panel. Depending on the layout of t... Read more...

 Before we start here, you have to keep in mind, that you are the customer and as long as you are paying for a service to be performed and the work is up to code, you can have anything you want. You are the boss. Another way to protect yourself is never pay the full amount of the work to be done up front. If the electrician demands money before he starts do not give more than ten percent. Always hold some back until the job is complete. It will be hard to get large contra... Read more...

When you are resetting circuit breakers or changing fuses to often. When you turn on your air conditioner and the lights dim in the room. When your lights flicker or go on and off. When you can smell electricity burning. When you have six electronic devises going into one outlet in back of your electronics center. When you have receptacle outlets overburdened by multi-plug strips. When a three-prong plug needs a two-prong adapter. If you have to run extention cords to plug in electrical devis... Read more...

Choosing the right electrician, or anyone in the trades to do work on your house, or apartment, or any other place in which you have slaved for many years to create a safe haven, can be fri... Read more...