Artisan Electric | Midwest Indiana Electrical Consultants

From the City of Lafayette web site:  “Building permits must be issued before any permanent structure is built, modified, or remodeled within the city limits. Any proposed work within the street right-of-way requires a permit. Permits are also required for large sheds and both above and in-ground swimming pools. Site plans are reviewed for conformance to city standards for parking lots, utility connections, street access, and landscaping. The Engineering Department also reviews all subdivision plans and inspects all infrastructure”.

Its that time of year again and (gasp) bad weather will be upon us soon.  This weeks tip is a simple one… it will save you a bundle to deal with outdoor light fixture repairs before the snow flies and things freeze… in some case, like in ground landscape lighting, if a problem occurs after it has hard frozen for the winter we have little choice but to put the repair work off until spring thaw

In other areas, like commercial parking lot lights, wall packs, those pesky motion detector sensor lights – getting fresh lamps in and checking out the systems before winter is money well spent.  Things break when it gets cold, and planning for bucket truck / large ladder use during those bad winter months will always cost more then doing the same work during favorable weather.

And of course – PLANNED maintenance is always more cost effective then emergency or unplanned repair work!

Artisan Electric is excited to announce the addition of VIDEO TESTIMONIALS to our main web site.  CLICK HERE to check out some real world comments from our clients (they make me blush).

Special thanks out to all of those who continue to extend the hand of support and faith as we continue down the path to be the best company we can be.  We could not do this without you!

Best Regards,

-CV

So one of the big gray areas in the trades that no one really likes to to all about is costing and rates.  I never have understood this and feel like it causes more harm then good to “save the money talk” for later.  A great tool to get this out of the way on the front side of a job is a standardized rate sheet.   As a consumer you have every right to see a rate sheet prior to any work being done at your home our business.  Any reputable service contractor that is conducting an honest quality business will have a rate sheet for their company – if they can’t provide you with one then that may be your first sign to look for some other options.

Here is a scan of our Standardized Rate Sheet – for service work and unit hour billings:

Electricity by nature is very hard to define.  In our day to day we often use the word “electricity” incorrectly to describe a lot of different conditions and states, all of which have specific definitions.  When you get down to it, it can all be rather confusing – even for those of us in the business.  Secondly – all of this electrical stuff is very closely related to (and effected by) the principals of magnetism and wave frequency.  There is a lot more to it then meets the eye, and general electrical theory is still an evolving filed of study.  Thankfully, I am but an electrician and can leave that heavy hitting to the the electrical engineers of the world.

Here is one basic electrical engineering text book definition we use to describe the electricity in motion we use as end line consumers:

Electric charge, also called “electricity,” is a fundamental component of everyday matter. Objects are made of molecules and atoms, atoms are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and the protons and electrons are made in part out of electric charge. Electric charge is substance-like. If you have a quantity of charge, you cannot destroy it, you can only move it from place to place. A flow of electric charge is called “electric current.”

So, stepping off from there… the practical electrician definition of electricity then becomes (more or less) “the flow of electrical current thru a conductor”.  Not so bad, is it now? So where am I going with all of this… good of you to ask.  One quick way to help determine if the electricians you are dealing with know their stuff is to ask them “what is electricity”.  More often then not I think you will be surprised by the answers you get.

As an electrical service contractor we see a lot of burnt up stuff.  Far and away the most common thing to find crispy and smoking are those trusty plug adapters and outlet strips.  You know the story… you only meant for it to be a temporary solution when you put the microwave on top of the fridge.  Or maybe its the one you installed behind your home theater with the ground pin broke off and a few too many things plugged in.  Or perhaps maybe (I know, not you right) its the 3 or 4 you have strung together in your man cave or garage.  Put in so you could run the beer fridge, the radio, charger for your cordless tools, run the space heater in the winter, and still crank up the tunes loud enough to hear when your washing your motorcycle, charging your boat battery, and working on the ATV.

Then… then THAT smell lingers in.  Dang it, well at least you were home to catch it, right?

So all joking aside all outlets strips, plug adapters, and surge protectors are not created equal. They all have two negative things in common the minute you put them in use:

FIRST – they increase the chance you can overload a circuit or outlet

SECOND – they are adding additional connection  points (many that are of poor quality and design) that can fail or cause heating at the point of use

Let me explain a little electric 101 and how this sets up to be the perfect storm.  So most 120 volt circuits in a newer home are protected on 20 amp breakers.  Strike one is that your standard 3 prong outlet is only rated at 15 amps to begin with (unless the larger blade terminal on the face is a “T”).  Strike two is that many of the outlet strips, adapters, plug makers, and such are rated at 10 or 15 amps, SOME ARE RATED MUCH LOWER THEN THAT.  Strike three comes next… add to that a couple of  light duty cords (like the smaller green and orange ones that only have 16 or 18 gauge conductors rated at 10 amps or less) and you have set the stage.  Each one of those additional “plug in” connections causes more resistance and more heat. What can happen is that all of those things, when stung together and loaded up, can melt and ignite before the 20 amp breaker protecting the circuit will shut down.  Depending on how poor the connections are, the age of the circuit, outlet, and breaker; combined with the type and ratings of the adapted being used it may only take a few amps of load to cause this to occur.

So what is the solution you ask.  It is three fold and simple:

1) BUY 20 AMP RATED CORDS AND ADAPTERS

2) BUY AND USE ONLY TOP QUALITY 20 AMP RATED OUTLET STRIPS and SURGE PROTECTORS

3) CORRECTLY WIRE IN MORE 20 AMP RATED OUTLES WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED (and consider adding some additional circuits).

In my world we run into a lot of unscrupulousness competitors.  One simple way to weed out those that should from those that should not is by checking up on their insurance coverage. For contractors that are properly insured the common practice when asked is to provide a CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE.  Simply put, it is a quick glance document made out to you by the insurance company.  It wound be sent direct form the agent supplying the coverage to dismiss any chance of document tampering, and typically it shows the clients name on it to prove that coverage is in place for that specific project.

Here is a current example of our certificate of insurance:

So the key things to look for on these is that both General Liability and Workman Compensation insurance is in place.  The minimum standard for General Liability is 1 million combined (you will see on our certificate we carry 2 million as required by some of our commercial clients) and the minimum standard for workman compensation is 300,000 (again we are required to carry 500,000 for some of our large scale projects).

Second – make sure that vehicular coverage is in place. In the case of many “trunk slammers” they may not have coverage at all (may just have their standard minimum coverage insurance).  Once you start using a vehicle for business and service work there are very different coverages required – and standard insurance will not protect the contractor or the client in the event of an accident on site.  In fact – many carriers will cancel a policy and deny any claim on a vehicle involved in an accident that was not properly insured for business use.  In our case we carry that insurance with State Farm and a have a separate certificate for that.  That tends to be the case for most contractors.  It is a similar document and will read the same way.

Finally, double check that dates on all the certificates are current – make sure the coverage is in force for the period of time that your specific project will be taking place in.

We buy A LOT of materials, and any many cases are at the mercy of our vendors for warranty and pro product solutions.  Kirby Risk Supply is our primary vendor and an industry leader in the electrical supply field.  What a lot of people don’t know is that they are a locally owned family  company based right here in Lafayette Indiana.  They have many divisions and cover a lot of ground from residential, to heavy industrial, as well as motors and full repair / rebuild services for electrical components. If you have never been to there web page and like tech stuff go check it out.

If you are a lighting and ceiling fan freak a trip by the local lighting showroom is a must – they have the kinds of things there you just can see at the big box home stores.

Enjoy!

Here in the Lafayette area it is summer storm season, and it has been a very bad year for high yield lightning strikes.  We have a number of jobs going on right now where we are working with clients to get damaged wiring in homes replaced.

The question that always comes up is:  “How do I know if there has been damage, is there a way to test the wires in the walls?”.  Thankfully, the answer is YES.  We do in fact have a way to test for this.  Its called an insulation resistance test, also know as a MegOhm test or sometimes referred to in the trades as “Megging”.

The theory is simple really – the electrical resistance of the insulation on a conductor or in a piece of equipment can be tested and measured by isolating the conductor from ground, applying a high voltage over time, then measuring the results.  In most residential situations we use a 300 to 500 volt DC test over 10 minutes.  When done with care and by knowledgeable electricians it is a very reliable test.

So – here is the process for preforming a megohm test in a home:

1) ALL electrical current to the dwelling must be shut off

2) All appliances, light fixtures, heating and cooling equipment, dimmers, GFCI’s, AFCI’s, low voltage systems and any “plugged in” or “hard wired” equipment must be disconnected from the circuit(s) to be tested

3) The best practice at this point is to then isolate each individual wire – taking apart every splice, junction, and connection in the circuit to be tested

4) Next, the testing of the insulation can be preformed – this part actually goes pretty quick

5) After testing any conductor that fails to meet the testing standards should be considered damaged and marked for replacement

So, now a word of caution is in order.  If you have had a major strike and the  electrician, general contractor (or restoration company) helping you out with the repairs has not told you about this process, then GET ANOTHER COMPANY.  MegOhm testing is really the only way to know if damage has occurred, and even then it is not a fool proof testing process. You can’t be sure by visible inspection alone, and you can’t visibly inspect most of the wires in a home.  Lightning is crazy stuff, it has a super high voltage and travels very fast.  If your home has been hit tell your insurance agent you want it tested!  We also HIGHLY RECOMMEND that any home that has had a strike install Arch-Fault breakers on all the branch circuit wiring, as well as make sure proper fire alarms are in place (and a quality A-B-B fire extinguisher is located on each floor).

Here are some pictures of lighting damage from a few projects we have going on now

In this day and age of cutbacks, start up companies, “magic jacks”, new technology from TV, internet, and telephone providers; and the mentality of many of these companies to make the fast buck it can be hard to know were to turn to manage issues related to these services.  Specifically the cable infrastructure and trouble shooting.

Artisan Electric is qualified  to do all forms of networking cabling – including:

• Category cabling for home data networks and structured wiring
• Coaxial video cabling for Internet /HDTV /satellite / home automation/ audio projects
• Telephone cabling for voice and DSL
• Audio and whole house sound
• All forms of low voltage wiring for home automation and lighting control
• Home and office fiber optic cabling  installation /terminations
• Certified testing for structured wiring networks

If you are having trouble with service providers getting you the results you want (or expect) let us know – we can help.  In most cases we can do a better job for less money and avoid the “staple it to you house and drill a hole in the wall” install method!

Here is another good (FREE) resource for testing Internet speeds, the  SPEAK EASY SPEED TEST .  Truthfully many providers have a bad habit of selling you upload / download speeds that they are not actually providing.  If you can test it and you are not getting what you are paying for then there is a good argument to be made with your service provider for improved service or a discounted rate.