Waiting for power after a storm

With more weather event upon us, it is probably a good time to remind householders that if you haven’t already taken steps to protect your property and electrical system from storms, that now is the time to take stock and do whatever is necessary to protect you and your family. Below you’ll find the Sydney Local Electricians top storm safety tips to keep you and your family safe this storm season.

Storm Safety Tips

Severe storms can be fast moving and can strike at any time. They can be unpredictable and often cause major damage to property, as well as serious injury and even loss of life. What if you lost power and access to telecommunications? Ask yourself, if you and your family were isolated by a severe storm or flood, would you have enough food and water to last at least three or more days?  Charlotte from Annandale takes the safety of her family very seriously and called us at Sydney Local Electricians to get an Annandale Electrician to come and inspect her home for electrical safety after a particularly ferocious storm.  Water had gotten into her Susan Street townhouse and they had only just gotten the power back on hours earlier.  She was particularly mindful of getting the wiring and electrical components inside her home checked by our Annandale Electrician for the safety of herself, her husband and two small daughters.  Thankfully her home was electrically safe and only needed the service of a couple of high powered drying fans to remove some of the leaked water.

If you aren’t already prepared, it is imperative you now take action and look around your home to identify any potential hazards that may become airborne during a storm and cause interruption to your power supply. These items may include loose roofing, outdoor furniture and umbrellas, garden tools and outdoor toys as well as overgrown tree branches and other debris. Also, if you have an overhead power supply coming in from the street to your home check that there is no contact with trees and branches. Never attempt to prune these trees yourself if they are in and around power lines. If you are concerned a tree is too close to a power line, call your electrical provider and arrange a tree trim.

Surge Protection Installation

A small investment in surge protection could save you thousands of dollars in replacing electrical items so we would encourage you to call the friendly team at Sydney Local Electricians on 0415 11 66 22 about having lightning protection installed in your switchboard to protect all your appliances. When a storm does threaten, disconnect all sensitive appliances, such as computers and TVs, and unplug the telephone and TV antenna before the storm arrives. Never use equipment directly connected to electricity during a severe storm. It is also recommended that you tune into your local radio station for storm warnings and weather updates. Of course, don’t forget to keep fresh batteries available to power your radio in the event of a blackout. Many Councils now have SMS storm alerts which you can sign up for to enable you to receive a timely warning on your mobile phone when a severe storm is threatening your area.  Under no circumstance should you attempt any do-it-yourself repairs if your property suffers storm damage. This includes your home’s electrical system and any electrical appliances which may have been damaged. Likewise, never attempt to use appliances that have been effected by water as they can cause electric shock. Call a qualified Annandale Electrician for assistance. If wires have come down, report fallen power lines or damage to the electricity network to Energex on 13 19 62.

For any electrical checks, repairs or installations, why not call the team at Sydney Local Electricians.  We will be at your home or business in next to no time and can be contacted by calling 0415 11 66 22.

USB Power Points

Power points are a common day necessity that we all take for granted and with everything needing to be plugged in, having electrical sockets that match our lifestyle and need is a wonderful thing.  There are many designs and features of electrical power points available nowadays, but unfortunately choosing the right power point can be a seemingly complex task as Melissa from Bonnyrigg soon found out.  She called our team at Sydney Local Electricians after choosing us to install some new power points and upgrade some of the old ones in her Holdin Street town house, when she discovered that her choice was far more complex than simply choosing the power point panel cover.  Our Bonnyrigg electrician suggested that she may like to consider installing USB power points as part of her electrical upgrade

A USB power point, as the name suggests, is a power point that also has a USB socket built into it. They can be customised in a variety of combinations to suit your need, such as:

• Double power point with double USB point
• Single power point with double USB point
• Single power point with 2 double USB points
• From 1 – 6 double USB points on one switch plate

If you own an iPhone, iPad, Samsung or any other mobile or tablet device then yes, you do need at least one USB power point. The best place to install them is on the kitchen splashback, bedroom next to your bed, office, lounge room or anywhere that you would conveniently like to charge your devices without having to plug and unplug chargers. You can charge any brand device with a USB power point and no longer need to keep all the unsightly chargers in plain sight.  

With the average family of four each possessing multiple portable devices including mobile phones, iPods, iPads and tablets, multiple places in the home to change devices will never go astray.  Sydney Local Electricians highly recommend using a reputable brand such as Clipsal or HPM Legrand as using the wrong USB power point can be very dangerous and may cause a fire or electric shock. Stay away from the cheap imported products and choose one that is Australian compliant to save yourself money and hassles in the long run.  Melissa did choose a number of USB power points to be installed in convenient places around her home and she later told our Bonnyrigg electrician that it was the best choice she has made in relation to convenience.  

It’s always recommended to call a licensed electrician when looking to get any work done to your homes electrical system and it’s important to remember that in order for your home to be covered by insurance, any electrical work performed on your home must be done by a licensed contractor.  Faulty or incorrectly done electrical work can be dangerous via risk of electrocution or risk of fire.  

When you decide to install a USB power point, getting help from Sydney Local Electricians is a great place to start and if you would like to book a Bonnyrigg electrician to install these power points into your home, please call us on 0415 11 66 22 to make an appointment with one of our qualified electricians.

No power after a storm in Newtown

We quite often see a flood of calls coming to us for emergency electrical faults during and after major weather events such as storms or cyclones.  One recent call was from Steve who lives in Newtown and he called us due to the fact that his power was off and had been that way for a number of hours after a particularly severe storm.  At Sydney Local Electricians, we are more than happy to go through an initial check prior to us coming to your home just to be sure that we are not dispatched to your home prematurely and costing you unnecessary time and money.  Weather, accidents, and storms can disrupt the electricity we are so used to having so if you need a Newtown Electrician, we are always available. 

Sometimes electricity flickers momentarily then comes back however serious damage to power lines and the electrical grid can cause outages for days, or weeks. Steve was wise to call us as he was the only person on Kent Street without power and we found that he had a water damaged switchboard – something that would not have been picked up by the average homeowner.

Short-Term Power Failures

It’s always important not to panic.  By doing some basic checks, this can determine whether you may need to call an electrician or your electricity provider.  Firstly, check to see if your neighbours still have electricity. If they do, the problem could be inside your home. Check your main fuses or circuit breakers to see if they have blown or tripped. If they can’t be reset or keep tripping, this is a really good time to call a Newtown Electrician.  Sydney Local Electricians is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and you can reach us on 0415 11 66 22. If there is any immediate problems such as sparking, burning electrics or noises coming from electrical outlets, especially if these issues are near water that has banked up from a storm, remove yourself, your family and your pets away from the immediate area and call us immediately.  

If the problem is not in your home, you can call your electric supplier and they should also be able to tell you if it will be an extended outage.  Unplug appliances with electronic components, such as microwaves, televisions and computers. This will help to eliminate damage to your appliances from voltage surges when the electricity is restored and wait a few minutes before turning on these appliances when the electricity is restored. This will reduce demand on the power supplier's electrical system.

Long-Term Power Failures

If you are going to use a standby generator, be sure it has been installed and wired properly by a Newtown Electrician. If improperly installed, a generator could cause dangerous conditions for the utility supplier's employees working to restore the power. Of course, it is also important to be sure that a fresh supply of fuel to power the generator is on hand and stored properly.  To make an outage easier to cope with, keep an adequate supply of the following on hand at all times. These should be kept in a cool, dry place:  

•  Flashlights
• Battery-operated radio
• Candles and matches
• Extra supply of batteries for flashlights and radio
• Basic first-aid supplies
• A small supply of drinking water and food
• Baby supplies if an infant is in the home

Never go near downed power lines; always call the power supplier to handle these situations.  Remember that it’s far safer to call a Newtown Electrician from the team at Sydney Local Electricians and get the expertise required to eliminate an electrical problem after a storm rather than risk injuring yourself or those around you.

Electrical fault finding in Parramatta

Electrical faults can cause extensive damage to your appliances and can even start a fire in your home so if you are not in the habit of regularly checking over your home for signs of an electrical fault, it is worth scheduling in a Parramatta Electrician to your home maintenance plan. When John started experiencing minor electrical issues in his Parramatta home, he called us at Sydney Local Electricians and booked an appointment with our Parramatta Electrician team to come to his Wilde Avenue home.  

Electrical fault finding can be easy if there is an obvious problem, but when it comes to wiring or other issues, the fault is not always readily apparent.  John experienced a few faulty electrical issues and here are a few obvious signs that you might have an electrical fault in your home:

• Lights flicker or dim for no reason
• Light switches or power points that feel hot to touch
• Buzzing in light switches or behind power outlets
•  A tingling sensation when touching the outside of a light switch or power outlet
• Discolouration or burnt marks around power points or light switches
• Fuses constantly blow or switches that trip constantly
• Appliances are not working as well as they did

Hiring a Parramatta Electrician to inspect the electrical systems in your home is the most effective way to detect any faults and avoid the problems that can come from having an undiscovered electrical fault.  It may even save you from fire or serious injury.

Sydney Local Electricians will take a systematic approach to the electrical fault finding procedure, starting with obtaining any information from you about suspected fault, or areas that you have noticed are not quite right.  In John’s case, the electrical fault turned out to be a faulty light switch which was causing the safety switches in his metre box to constantly trip.  Without the expert eye of a qualified Sydney Local electrician, John may never have located the issue on his own.

The Sydney Local Electricians team will also use specialised fault finding equipment to quickly and safely locate the problem points. Professional electricians have specialised fault finding techniques and equipment that can safely help them detect any issues in your electrical circuits.  After locating the electrical fault, it can then be removed and replaced with new equipment which could include anything from a replacement power point or light fitting right through to a complete wiring replacement or switchboard upgrade. There are a number of possible sources of electrical problems in the home, and only a professional will be able to give you an exact cause.

It is extremely important to remember not to touch any electrical source that is noisy, hot to touch, sparking or has a burning smell.  Don’t leave your home safety to chance and never attempt to make electrical repairs yourself.  

If you suspect that you have an electrical fault at home, enlist the help of Sydney Local Electricians, who can undertake a systematic fault finding electrical procedure and detect and fix the problem.  Call us today on 0415 11 66 22 for a Parramatta Electrician.

Safety switch installation to keep you and your family safe

Installing an RCD Safety Switch in your meter box and testing it regularly is a small investment which will provide long term protection for you, your family and pets against serious injury and death.  Every day activities which may seem harmless such as screwing a picture into a wall or using an electrical appliance can result in electrocution without the protection of a RCD Safety Switch. Master Electricians Australia report that more than 300 are hospitalised each year due to avoidable electric shock and this can be prevented by simply taking steps to ensure electrical safety. 

On a recent trip to Sydney, Sydney Local Electricians was contacted by Peter from Penrith who wanted to enquire about installing safety switches into his home to protect not only himself, but his recent newborn son.  Upon reaching his Coombes Drive home, we were able to take him through everything he needed to know before making the final decision to have a Penrith Electrician install that safety switch in his home.

What is a Safety Switch?

Safety Switches or RCD’s (Residual Current Devices) provide a fast power cut- off in problem situations. Electrical hazards and faults are extremely difficult to identify (even for us professionals), such as a small hole in an extension lead or a damaged power board.

How do Safety Switches work?

An RCD Safety Switch works by monitoring the current flowing in the Active and Neutral wires supplying a circuit or an individual item of equipment. Under normal circumstances, the current flowing in the two wires is equal. If an earth leakage occurs due to a fault in the circuit or an accident with the equipment, an imbalance occurs and this is detected by the RCD, which automatically cuts off the power disconnecting in under 20 milliseconds of detecting a leakage current. Most importantly, the break in electrical current stops the flow of electricity through someone’s body to earth. RCDs also protect against fire caused by faults in appliances, tools and wiring.

Does your home have Safety Switches installed?

Since 2000, it has been compulsory for all new homes to have a minimum of two Safety Switches installed to protect the power and lighting circuits as part of the electrical installation. However, homes built before 2000 were not required to have two RCDs fitted and from 1992 to 1999, only one RCD was fitted, which will not ensure complete protection. One RCD is likely to protect only the power circuits and leaves the lighting circuits unprotected.

Testing your Safety Switches

To ensure that the Safety Switches fitted to your home perform correctly, they must be tested every three months, or if using a portable RCD, a push button test should be performed before each use by the operator.

Prior to testing your Safety Switches, ensure that all electrical appliances such as computers and televisions are turned off.  To test your Safety Switch, press the ‘test’ button on the front of the device and then release it. The button will only test the Safety Switch if an electricity supply is connected.  Pressing the test button will simulate an earth leakage fault and indicates whether the device is operating correctly. When an RCD Safety Switch operates, all power is lost to the equipment, power point or circuit protected by the RCD.  

If for any reason, the switch does not work correctly or it is not able to be switched back on, Sydney Local Electricians will be able to check these for you.  Give us a call on 0415 11 66 22 is you need a Penrith Electrician.

Light installation in Seven Hills

If you want to update your interior lighting or modernise your exterior lighting, you want to find fixtures and light bulbs that give you optimal style and function. There are now so many different styles of lighting and a lot of it now isn’t even used in the traditional sense of making it safe for us to see where we are going at night! Lighting is used to highlights parts of a home or building such as gardens or artwork and some lighting is now so extravagant that it’s actually considered art itself, but Sydney Local Electricians has the expertise to deal with any lighting no matter how complex it may be.  

Almost all suburbs in Sydney, including Seven Hills have a showcase of beautiful homes with a stunning array of lighting to match, and the lighting combinations and creations are endless.  Sydney Local Electricians was chosen by Beth to assist her in completing her newly modernised home in Seven Hills.  Everything was complete in her Collins Street home from the floor coverings to the artwork, and the final finishing touch required help from the Sydney Local team to install her new light fittings throughout the house.  Some of the lighting that was installed in Beth’s home included:

LED Lights

A lot of people are making the switch to Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights because they are an effective and durable lighting source. Although they are more expensive than other options like halogens and Compact Florescent Lights (CFL), an LED light bulb usually lasts longer than other varieties. If you want a bulb that will illuminate your light fixtures for long periods of time, you might want to choose LED bulbs. LED lights are energy efficient and they can be dimmed to create a unique effect throughout your home as Beth did when she had the SydneyLocal Electricians Seven Hills Electrician team install strategically placed LED down lights throughout her open plan living room to maximise both efficiency and light. You can also find LED bulbs in a variety of sizes so you can fit them into a wide range of light fixtures.

Halogen Lights

Beth was renovating an older style home and had quite a number of older halogen light globes and fittings.  People tend to choose halogen lights because they remind them of incandescent bulbs of the past however, these light bulbs do not bring a lot of value and they tend to burn out faster than other options. As this was the case in Beth’s home, she took the advice from the Sydney Local Electricians Seven Hills Electrician team and replaced all of her halogen globes and fittings with more stylish and economical LED and CFL lighting.

CFL Lights

Compact Florescent Lights (CFL) have already been on the market for a while, they offer good lighting features and have a fairly long lifespan. CFL lights are not quite as bright compared to newer options like LED lights and they cannot be dimmed, which means they are not good options in rooms where you might want to create a mood. They are great option for static lit areas such as hallways and CFL’s use 75-80 percent fewer watts than incandescent bulbs. Beth chose to use this option in her kitchen and hallways and Sydney Local Electricians was able to install all of her chosen lighting solutions.  If you would like Sydney Local Electricians to assist with your lighting project, call us on 0415 11 66 22 for a Seven Hills Electrician.

New power point installation in Waterloo 

Recently, the Sydney Local Electrician team received an enquiry about power point installation in a newly refurbished home on Walker Street, Waterloo. The property owner Matt asked us one of the most common questions we get on a weekly basis which is “Do I really need an Electrician to install a power point? Surely it can’t be that hard.” Our answer to this question is always the same “Is your life worth more than a power point?” Any work that requires you to deal with electricity must be performed by a qualified Electrician simply because of the fact that keeps you safe but secondly, because it is illegal for any unqualified qualified person to perform any electrical work. Why not take the hassle out of a seemingly simply task and let the experts at Sydney Local Electricians do it for you. 

 There is an endless range of power points available on the market to suit any outlet configuration or colour palette from plastic, metal or even glass, and if you’re unsure what type of power point you want, we have a range of power point styles for you to choose from. We can also help you with the placement of your new points. How many times have you thought to yourself that there aren’t enough power points or the ones that you do have are in the wrong spot? We understand that nothing looks worse look than those old, plastic 1950’s outlets in a renovated home and installation of new power points is a cost effective way of modernising that outdated look. 

You can also plan for where you want those badly needed “extra” power points. Sydney Local Electricians are an experienced Waterloo electrician team whose aim is to offer you professional and custom electrical solutions. Our experts replace your old outlets in the most professional and efficient manner and before they start replacing your power outlets, they take all the necessary precaution measures which include: 

• Shutting off power 
• Removing the plate carefully 
• Pulling out the outlet 
• Understanding the colour coding 
• Mastering the wire configuration 
• Determining whether the outlet is the right one 
• Installing the new outlet 
• Checking carefully to ensure that the new outlet is functioning properly 

Most importantly, Sydney Local Electricians will replace your old outlet with a safer outlet type that matches new renovations and meets Australian standards which not only reduces the likelihood of electrical failure, it also meets the required household insurance requirements of maintaining a safe home and using a licensed Electrician to perform your work. 

Matt made the wise decision to get the Sydney Local team to come to his home and we installed brand new brushed metal look power points throughout his home to match the new façade. At the completion of the job, Matt thanked us and said that it was far more complicated than what he originally thought and it would have taken him a lot longer with excessive risk to do the job himself. 

So if you, just like Matt, need new power points at your home in Waterloo or anywhere in the Sydney area, Sydney Local Electricians will be able to help you to update your home. 

 Call us today on 0415 11 66 22.

See our sister company: Staywired Electrical Waterloo