Each year many children suffer electric shock or burns from inserting objects into electrical outlets on the wall.  For newly constructed homes and remodel jobs in our area, electricians are required to use tamper resistant (TR) receptacles, also known as child proof outlets.

TR receptacles are designed so that a single object like a paper clip or pin cannot be pushed into the outlet. It has a dual spring loaded shutter that only opens when an actual plug is inserted into it.

If you have young children in your house this is a great safety feature and can be a lot more convenient than the little child proof caps that need to be put in all the outlets.

This photo shows one of many decor style TR receptacles available, this one installed in a home in Avondale, PA.

There are many things to consider when wiring and lighting your barns, garages and out buildings. Open bulb light fixtures can be unsafe because they can ignite fires if the bulbs are broken and even just the heat of an open bulb can ignite a fire.

Its a good idea to protect lights, switches, outlets and wiring from physical damage from farm tools, equipment and machinery as well as livestock and even rodents can chew through unprotected wires. Also its important to keep out the moisture as well as dust, debris and insects.

The two first pictures above show unsafe open bulb lighting and an unprotected switch and wiring at a sheep barn in Oxford, PA. The three final pictures show the new, safer lighting and wiring that we installed.

Sub-panels are smaller electrical panels that can be used to extend the feed from the main panel. They can be installed in your home to increase the branch circuit capacity in a certain area. They can also be installed in out-buildings, garages and barns.

Installing a sub-panel for a remodel job such as finishing a basement or an addition can make the project easier and is a safer way to go. Using sub-panels can also be more cost friendly and cuts down on the need for long runs of expensive copper wire for your branch circuits. Having breaker switches closer to the area that they are protecting is safer and more convenient to turn off and to reset.

The top photo shows a sub panel that we installed in a basement in Cochranville, PA in Chester county, and below is another from a garage in Cochranville.

This Generac Standby generator in Oxford Pa was installed in 2002 and is working as good as the day it was installed.

These standby generators have an exerciser [timer] that starts up once a week and lets it run for a short time to keep the battery charged and to make sure that its ready and in good working order for when the utility power goes out. (more…)

This picture shows down live wires supplying power to a house in Oxford, PA.

The recent ice storm caused several outages in the Delaware Valley. PECO reported to have 100,000 customers without power in Delaware, Chester, Bucks and Montgomery counties.

When ice accumulates on the wires and on the trees, the wires become damaged from the excess weight and from the trees and branches that fall on the wires. (more…)

When installing electrical equipment in outbuilding such as barns, sheds and garages, it is important to consider basic electrical safety.

Electric is easy to take for granted and basic safety for your outlets can be overlooked. (more…)

Southern Chester County Electric would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. Here are some safety tips for the holiday season.

• Make sure that all of your outside Christmas lights are plugged into GFCI protected outlets to prevent electric shock hazards.
• Test your GFCI outlets and breakers to make sure they are working properly.
• Approved weather proof covers should be used on all outside outlets to prevent water from entering outlets and plugs.
• Never use a aluminum ladder when installing Christmas lights or any lights or wiring.

Long time friend Fred Venti and wife Carol enjoying a brisk night admiring the beautiful Christmas lights at the Simpers home.

Recently I volunteered my time for a great organization called Camp Compass. This organization does some wonderful work helping local kids. (more…)

It’s that time of year again; time to change our clocks back, and also time to change the batteries of our smoke detectors.
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With the recent storms we have had in our area, I received several calls for power outages. While investigating the outages in people’s homes, I found a lot of surge protectors to be blown out. (more…)