Blog | Colbalt Electric, LLC

Residential Electrical Inspection

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 22:48:00 GMT

Attention Home Buyers! Vital information you need to know about Pre-Purchase Home Inspections.

An Electrician’s Pre-Inspection Could Save Your Life and Your Home

Q. Why should you consider a licensed electrician to perform a pre-inspection BEFORE your standard Home Inspection? A. Cosmetic cover-ups can be misleading, a threat to your safety, and to your investment.

The photo above shows what we recently found during a pre-home inspection electrical inspection. The home is approximately 55 years old so we went around the house to see if the electrical systems were safe and up to date. We found the wiring outdated, not grounded, and insulation dry rotted. This is definitely an unsafe situation. In this photo, you’re looking at a lighted wall switch. It looks great and it looks modern when you install it with a fresh, clean switch plate. However, there’s a potential disaster lying beneath.

This is not a knock on realtors, it’s their job to advise you on how to make your home look its best on a small budget. Updating light fixtures, switches, receptacles and their covers is on “the fix list” and for any house over 10 years, old, it’s highly likely they could use some freshening up.

We uncovered the same problem all over the house. Most Home Inspectors are going to simply flip the switches to see if they turn on the lights and check the receptacles for electric current. They’re neither encouraged nor expected to go deep as would a licensed electrician hired for the specific purpose of protecting your life and your investment.

Better wiring and updated fixtures can not only safe your life and property, but also extend the life of your appliances while reducing your electric bills.

Lightening Strike History Included with Inspection

A commonly overlooked issue which affects homes everywhere is the lightening strike. If lightening has ever struck the home you’re about to purchase, or even if lightening has struck a tree close by or a neighbor’s home, there’s a strong chance the wiring in the home you’re considering has been affected by it. These surges can melt plastic and metal insulation around wires and within wired connections and it’s often just a matter of time until they fail and cause fire.

If you live in South Jersey and you’re looking to purchase a pre-owned home, hire a local, licensed electrician who has the experience and your best interest at heart.

We’re here to help. Contact Cobalt Electric for your Pre-Purchase Electrical System Inspection.

Cobalt Electric is a licensed electrician which provides professional residential and commercial services in Camden County , Burlington County , and Gloucester County, New Jersey .

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LED Parking Lot Lighting Saves Businesses Big Money

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 21:18:00 GMT

For an investment that’ll save you substantial money in maintenance and energy cost, take a look at LED lighting retrofitting for your parking areas. No job is too big (or too small) for Cobalt Electric. Serving South Jersey for over 30 years.

Changing existing parking lot lighting to LED can save a business a lot of money. We call this

LED Parking Lot Light Retrofit

Business owners and property management companies benefit in 3 significant ways from changing out their old traditional parking lot lighting to LED retrofits. These are:

LED Lighting Saves Energy and Money

Moving from traditional lighting to LED saves an average of 50% on energy costs. A single parking lot light changed to LED will average electricity cost savings of approximately $300.00 per year. (Thomas Edison, we’re so very grateful for your contribution to lighting the world, but we’re moving on.) Count your lighting poles and count your parking lot lights…and count the savings you could quickly enjoying when changing to LED.

LED Lights Last Longer and Reduce Maintenance Costs

LED lights last drastically longer than the commonly used High Density Discharge (HID) lighting. Plain and simple, this means the necessity for your parking lot lighting to be replaced and maintained will be cut in half to two thirds.

Improve Quality of Lighting in Your Parking Lots with LED Lighting

LED lights distribute light more evenly which has the effect of “washing” and area with light. This is preferable to the spot light affect of traditional parking lot lighting.

Contact Cobalt Electric today to get a quote on changing out your old outdoor or parking lot lighting for LED retrofit lighting. The money you will save on energy and maintenance will pay for itself quickly and those savings will add up dramatically over time. It’s easy to get a good rate on financing for LED retrofitting too. Your rate of energy savings will outpace the interest rate (check with your banker for specifics).

LED Parking Lot Light Retrofitting Contractor in South Jersey

Consider upgrading to better and more economical parking lot lighting for your South Jersey business with LED parking lot retrofit lighting.

Swapping out LED lights for your old parking lot lighting is good for the environment too. Every effort we make as a member of the business community to reduce our energy footprint on the world matters. The popularity of LED lighting has driven down costs. There’s no downside to switching to LED lighting.

The post LED Parking Lot Lighting Saves Businesses Big Money appeared first on Colbalt Electric, LLC .

What You Should Know About Lightning Strikes In South Jersey

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 18:19:00 GMT

When lightening strikes your home or even outside your home, there can be serious damage hiding in the wiring and circuitry not visible because it’s hidden behind walls. Call an electrician experienced in lightning remediation if your home or even a tree on your property has been struck.

Lightning – it’s a powerful force that everyone respects and some fear. This well-known force of nature packs a powerful electrical punch that, although beautiful, can cause damage, injury, and even death. It’s not uncommon for lightning to directly strike a home during a storm. Even if your home is sturdy and well-grounded, there are still a lot of dangers if this happens – a lightning strike could spark a fire, damage the masonry of your home, or fry your electrical circuits.

Lightning is always looking for the easiest path from cloud to ground. If it goes through your home, it can follow gas and water pipes, cable and internet wires, phone lines, gutters and spouts, any other metal structure on your home, and perhaps most dangerously of all, your electrical wiring. It may even use multiple paths, branching to find the quickest way to get deep into the ground. The lightning may not actually hit your home, but even if it strikes a tree on your property, there are still plenty of dangers.

What to Do If Lightning Strikes Your Home or Property

If lightning strikes your home or even a tree on your property, your first call should be to your local fire department so they can check for any potential fires.The immediate danger, of course, is the hazard of a bolt of lightning sparking a fire within your attic or walls. That’s why, if you suspect a lightning strike on your home,

Even if you determine that there’s no immediate fire danger, your next call should be to an electrical contractor who also serves as a lightning specialist. A lightning specialist can determine whether there is any damage that could cause problems down the road. These problems could include power surge damage to your appliances, possibly requiring repair or replacement. A certified electrical contractor can help you decide whether your appliances and fixtures can be salvaged or not.

Electrician Trained in Lightning Remediation

An electrician trained in lightning remediation will be able to assess your home’s wiring and determine if there is any damage to the wires and circuits. If there is any, you may not be out of the danger zone for potential fires; faulty wiring is known to be a big fire hazard, and this holds true even if the wiring is faulty because of a lightning strike.

You should never take chances with lightning, but there are occasional stories of miraculous results. In 2007, the New Yorker told the story of a man who, after being struck by lightning near an outdoor phone booth, had a near-death, out-of-body experience and then, months later, developed an insatiable love for music, learned to play piano at age 42, and began composing his own works. Take this as our word of caution, though: never go seeking a lightning strike in hopes of gaining a new talent!

If you’re looking for a top South Jersey electrician to examine your home for lightning damage, Joe Ferry’s team at Cobalt Electric is your best bet. Cobalt Electric is a lightning specialist, and is fully equipped to help assess your home for damage and risk, make any necessary repairs, and help you prevent future damage. You may even want to consider having a lightning protection system installed; these systems help reduce or eliminate fire hazards in your home in the event of another direct strike. Call Cobalt Electric for the top South Jersey electrician services today; you can schedule your appointment or get a quote over the phone at (856) 701-0098

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How to Choose the Right Electrician

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 13:02:00 GMT

Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it. Who do YOU want doing electrical work in YOUR home or business?

You might think that choosing a licensed electrician near you would be as simple as selecting the first one that pops up on Google. After all, if they’re licensed, they must be good. But not all electricians are created equal. Nor do all electricians hire good help. Many local electricians in South Jersey put speed and profit before quality and sometimes, this is a recipe for disaster.

The Best Residential Electrical Contractor Near You

When choosing an electrician to make a repair, install a new circuit breaker panel box, a ceiling fan, an entertainments system or lighting, it’s important to do a little bit of research. Shoddy work (and it’s more common than you may think), can lead to disaster. Hammering away for the cheapest price will never end up with the best or safest job.

5 Steps to Making the Best Choice in an Electrical Contractor

Step 1: Check objective online reviews. Reviews on Google and sites like Yelp! and Homeadvisor are much more reliable than those posted on the electrician’s website. Anyone can add fake reviews to their own website. Although it’s also possible to get some fake reviews on Google , Yelp! , and Homeadvisor , there will also be real reviews. It’s fairly easy to read between the lines to separate the real ones from the fake.

Step 2: Check the status of their license. Imagine an electrical contractor who has lost their license or has failed to be responsible enough to renew it. These things happen. Here’s a link to the website where you can check on the status of any contractor’s license number in the state of New Jersey CLICK HERE . Make sure it’s valid and make sure it’s an Electrical Contractor’s license and not that of some other type of contractor.

Step 3: Get to know the owner. Visit the website of several electrical contractors and read them. A fancy paint job on their vehicles isn’t a qualifier for quality service. Take a look at their About Us page. Get to know the owners and their philosophy about service and a feel for their experience and their leadership of their team. To see a master electrician’s resume, CLICK HERE.

Step 4: Don’t be shy to request to verify their insurance coverage. Every electrician should have a copy handy of the declaration page to prove the validity and limits of their liability insurance coverage. don’t feel awkward about this. You will gain high respect for your due diligence.

Step 5: Don’t reply upon your friends on Facebook or some other social media sites. Why, because it’s human nature for people to recommend “the best deal” or their buddies in the business. It’s guaranteed you will find someone who says, “I can do that.” or, “I got a guy….” Friend, this is how homeowners and children end up as statistics . Don’t let this happen to you.

You may be interested to know, Joe Ferry, the owner and master electrician at Cobalt Electric is often called upon as an expert witness to testify in court on cases involving electrical contractors.

Taking shortcuts in electrical work can save money. Shortcuts in electrical work can also take lives and destroy property. Be smart. Do your due diligence. Stay safe and stay alive.

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What Causes Electrical Fires in Homes?

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 10:59:00 GMT

How Do I Know If There’s a Problem With the Electricity in My Home?

The Electrical Safety Foundation International

Water and Electricity-A Recipe for For Injury or Fire

Have Your Panel Box Inspected By a Reputable Licensed Electrician

contact us by clicking here

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