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Eliminating False Alarms with Heat Detectors: A Smart Solution for Your Home

Smoke detectors are essential for home safety, and today’s fire codes require them on every floor and in all living areas—including bedrooms, hallways, and living rooms. While they provide critical protection, certain home layouts and conditions can lead to false alarms, which can be frustrating and, over time, may even compromise your safety.

Why False Alarms Happen

False alarms are common in homes with open-concept designs where the kitchen and living room share one large space. Cooking smoke can easily trigger a nearby smoke detector, causing nuisance alarms. Similarly, bathrooms can be a problem area; steam and humidity from showering can also set off a smoke detector unnecessarily.

The Problem with Removing Smoke Detectors

When faced with constant false alarms, some homeowners may simply remove the smoke detector in the problem area. While this may solve the nuisance, it also leaves the home vulnerable in the event of a fire. Smoke detectors are a vital part of home safety, and removing them is not the answer.

The Better Option: Heat Detectors

Instead of removing the smoke detector, a better solution is to install a heat detector in areas prone to false alarms. Heat detectors are designed to activate only when they sense temperatures above 135°F, making them ideal for spaces like kitchens and bathrooms where smoke and humidity might trigger a traditional smoke detector.

Why Heat Detectors Work

Heat detectors provide peace of mind by ensuring you’re still protected without the hassle of nuisance alarms. By replacing a smoke detector in problem areas with a heat detector, you can eliminate false alarms while maintaining a high level of safety in your home.

At Southern Chester County Electric, we believe in providing safe and effective solutions for your home. If you’re dealing with nuisance alarms or need help upgrading your home’s fire safety system, give us a call. We’ll make sure your home is both safe and comfortable.

Electric Vehicle Charger Install

At Southern Chester County Electric, we’re seeing more and more customers opting for hybrid vehicles—and for good reason! Hybrid vehicles offer a practical solution for those who want to enjoy the benefits of electric power without the worry of running out of charge on long trips. Unlike fully electric vehicles, hybrids combine electric power with a gasoline engine, giving drivers peace of mind during long-distance travel.

Recently, we installed a 240V, 20-amp electric vehicle charger for a Volvo hybrid in Landenberg, Pennsylvania. With this setup, our customer can charge their vehicle at home, minimizing trips to the gas station while enjoying lower electricity costs compared to an all-electric vehicle. Although hybrid vehicles do use some gas, the cost savings from not solely relying on electricity make them a smart choice for many.

If you’re thinking about making the switch to a hybrid vehicle or need a charger installed, Southern Chester County Electric is here to help with expert installations and advice tailored to your needs.

Avoiding Overload Problems With EV Chargers

With the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), many of us are getting into the world of fast-charge EV chargers. Here at Southern Chester County Electric, we’ve been installing quite a few of them and we’ve learned a lot along the way. It’s important to know that these chargers need a fair bit of electricity, and if you’re thinking about using a generator with them, there are a few things you should consider.

The Power Needs of EV Chargers

Fast-charge chargers are great because they juice up your car quickly, but they do pull a lot of power. When we talk about using a generator, especially the portable kind, it’s often not up to the task. They just can’t provide the amount of electricity needed. And it’s not just the portable ones; even larger, standby generators can struggle under the load.

The Risks of Overloading

If you try to power your EV charger with a generator during an outage, you might end up overloading it. This can cause the generator to shut down, leaving you without power and your EV uncharged. Plus, overloading can damage your generator and other electrical devices at home.

How to Manage the Load

The key is managing the electrical load to prevent overloading your generator. This means being mindful of how much power you’re using at once and ensuring it’s within the generator’s capacity. It’s all about balance and making sure your generator can handle the demand.

We’re Here to Help

If all this sounds a bit daunting, don’t worry! At Southern Chester County Electric, we’re equipped to help you navigate these challenges. Whether you need advice on the right setup, want to upgrade your generator, or just need help with managing your electrical load, we’re just a call away.

Pendant Light Installation at The Oaks Ministry

Two new pendant lights with LED Edison type bulbs in the kitchen at Oaks ministries two. The mission of The Oaks Ministries is to provide hope, healing and restoration in a Christ centered residential environment for women in need of a fresh start. For more information visit, www.oxfordoaksministry.com

Video: Protecting Your A/C System From Surge Damage

In this video I explain how an inexpensive DITEK surge protector can protect your A/C system, potentially preventing thousands of dollars in damages.

The Tesla 240V Portable Charger

This is a 240 V Tesla portable charger. This EV charger has the power of a lot of hardwired fixed units that people install in their garage but the beauty of this unit is it can be unplugged and brought with you when you travel.

We installed a 240 V receptacle and ran a dedicated line from the garage to the breaker box. Down in beautiful Landenberg Chester county, Pennsylvania.

RAB Vapor Proof Lighting for Reliable Outdoor Use

Moisture, dust, birds, mice, and their nests often collect in barns and out buildings could be a fire hazard when they come in contact with lighting fixtures and electrical equipment. The heat from the equipment and or even short circuits and electrical malfunctions can cause these materials organic materials to catch fire.

RAB Vaporproof brand lighting is a good choice for agriculture, buildings horse, barns, and more. These lights are waterproof, vapor proof and dust proof with stainless steel screws and cast aluminum. This light fixture is made to be reliable in dirty, damp and dusty conditions and is reasonably priced.

We recently replaced lighting in a barn in the Fair Hill area. We removed the old fluorescent lights that were full of organic materials and even a dead bird we installed new RAB lighting with LED energy efficient bulbs.

Kitchen LED Undercabinet Lighting Installation

Undercabinet lighting is a great addition to your next kitchen remodel project. Often done incorrectly with cheap plug-in lights or plug-in lights hardwired incorrectly or not installed at all.

GM undercabinet tape lights are the best choice for your undercabinet lighting needs. This installation was done in in West Grove Penn Township in Chester County Pennsylvania.

RING Security Lighting for Home Monitoring

We install a variety of home lighting systems, including many with advanced security features that illuminate and monitor your home, garage and more 24 / 7. We recently installed a Ring floodlight cam along with a new hundred amp service and garage wiring in West Grove Penn Township in Chester county, Pennsylvania.

Generator Maintenance Reminders

This past winter the extreme weather and winds caused downed trees and downed wires, leaving many without power for days and even  weeks like in Kennett Square, Chester County and also Newtown Square in Delaware County. Those with generators ran them for an extended period of time, which means that the maintenance schedule will come up sooner than expected.

So don’t forget to perform the proper maintenance on your portable and standby generators. Standby generators should be maintained every 200 hours and portable generators every 100 hours or once a year, which ever comes first.

Standby generators need to have their oil changed, oil filters, air filters and spark plugs changed. Portable generators also need the oil changed, spark plugs and the gas tanks should be drained of gasoline for storage.

We just performed scheduled maintenance on this 16 KW standby generator that we installed in Oxford Pennsylvania. We also cleaned it up and it looks like new again. Green light means go, ready to run for the next power outage!