Sunset Air Blog: Archive for August, 2014

The Very First Labor Day Celebration

Friday, August 29th, 2014

Labor Day as a federal holiday, held on the first Monday of September, has been with us now for 120 years. President Grover Cleveland signed the law that made Labor Day a national holiday in 1894. Ever since then, the three-day weekend has provided people in the U.S. with the opportunity for vacations, time with their families, shopping trips, and a general celebration of the conclusion of summer and the beginning of fall.

However, there were twelve years of Labor Day observations in the U.S. before it became an official holiday. The first Labor Day celebration took place in 1882 in New York City on September 5. According to the accounts from the time, it had a rough start and almost didn’t happen.

The main event planned for that first Labor Day was a parade along Broadway that was to start at City Hall. However, the parade ran into a bit of a snag early on. The marchers started to line up for the procession around 9 a.m., with a police escort to make sure the event went peacefully. However, the problem of the day wasn’t rowdy members of the parade—it was that nobody had remembered to bring a band!

With people ready to march, but no music to march to, it started to look like no parade would happen at all, and the first Labor Day would have ended up a failure. But just in time, Matthew Maguire of the Central Labor Union—one of the two men who first proposed the celebration—ran across the City Hall lawn to the Grand Marshal of the parade, William McCabe, to inform him that 200 men from the Jeweler’s Union of Newark were crossing the ferry to Manhattan… and they had a band!

At 10 a.m., only an hour late, the band from Newark walked down Broadway playing a number from a popular Gilbert and Sullivan opera. They passed McCabe and the other 700 marchers, who then fell in line behind them. Soon, the spectators joined in, and an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people marched through Lower Manhattan.

According to the New York Times, “The windows and roofs and even the lamp posts and awning frames were occupied by persons anxious to get a good view of the first parade in New York of workingmen of all trades united in one organization.”

The parade concluded two hours later when the marchers reached Reservoir Park. But the party was only getting started. Until 9 p.m., some 25,000 people celebrated with picnics and speeches and beer kegs. It was an enormous success, and all thanks to the speedy arrival of jewelers carrying band instruments.

If those musicians from Newark hadn’t shown up, perhaps we wouldn’t have the holiday opportunity that we now have every year. However you celebrate your Labor Day, our family at Sunset Air wishes your family a happy end of summer.

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When You Should Schedule Whole-House Rewiring

Friday, August 22nd, 2014

Rewiring an entire home’s electrical system is a large task, but one that often necessary to improve daily electrical use and to increase safety. The job requires a team of expert electricians and should never be undertaken as a hobbyist “adventure” or delegated to amateurs who offer suspiciously low prices.

If you believe your home needs to have whole-house rewiring, a call for electrician from Sunset Air. We are proud of the skills of our team of electricians, and we offer many electrical services—large and small—to the South Puget Sound and Southwest Washington areas. We will help you decide if whole-house rewiring is the best option for your home.

When Whole-House Rewiring May Be Necessary

The amount of electricity that we use in our homes on a daily basis has increased exponentially since the 1980s, and seems to rise each year. We have more powerful appliances than ever before, as well as new gizmos that need a steady electrical supply. Just think about how many devices you need to have hooked up every day just for recharging, and you will have an idea of the recent boost in electrical needs for U.S. homes.

All this heightened demand for power can overwhelm older wiring systems, even ones from only a few decades back. If you think that whole-house re-wiring is something necessary only for houses more than five decades old, you might be surprised to learn that your home needs it!

However, old homes are a good place to start. If you live in a house built pre-World War II that has never received an upgrade to its electrical system, you should schedule rewiring right away: old copper wiring can become dangerous with the growing amount of electrical demand placed on it.

For newer homes, be on the lookout for these signs that you will benefit from whole-house rewiring:

  • Aluminum wiring: This metal replaced copper after 1965 and remained in use through the mid-1970s. However, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, aluminum wires can overheat and cause fires. Check with an electrician if your home was built between 1965–1973 to see if you have aluminum wiring.
  • Constantly tripped circuit breakers: If you are habitually going to the circuit breaker panel to reset tripped breakers, then your home is sending you the signal that its electrical system cannot handle the current demands placed on it.
  • Charred, discolored outlets: These marks indicate electrical fires caused by shorts within the outlet. At the very least, the outlet will need an upgrade… and possibly all the wiring as well.
  • Acrid smells: Do you notice a burning smell whenever you turn on the lights in your home, but cannot find the source? Then it’s time to call an electrician, because something could be seriously amiss with your home’s wiring and it will need replacement.

If possible, you should arrange for rewiring during a remodel a safeguard. However, if you have emergency indications like those above, or if your home simply cannot handle the daily electrical demands placed on it, call for an electrician in Puyallup, WA from Sunset Air to see if you should schedule whole-house rewiring ASAP.

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Signs You Should Replace Your Electrical Service Panel

Friday, August 15th, 2014

A faulty electrical service panel in a home places it in danger. The service panel is where the main power line from outside a home enters and is routed throughout the electrical system. The panel also disconnects circuits if excess electricity flows through them by tripping circuit breakers. If the panel starts to malfunction to the point that it can no longer function correctly, not only will it risk shutting down all electricity to the house, it will put it at risk of electrical fires.

If you have an older service panel, you need to pay attention to signs that it may need replacement—before it fully fails. If you detect any of the warning signs below, call an electrician right away to inspect the panel and see if it needs repairs or a complete replacement.

For all your electrical needs, large and small, you can rely on the many years of experience at Sunset Air. We have served the South Puget Sound and Southwest Washington areas with excellent electrical repairs for almost 40 years.

Warnings That You May Need a New Electrical Service Panel

  • Constantly tripping circuit breakers: When a panel begins to wear down, it will be more susceptible to power surges through the wires, and consequently will start to disconnect circuits more often. This can also happen because your home energy needs have surpassed the capacity of the service panel. If you find that you are resetting breakers a few times a week, when before you rarely had to resent them more than a few times a year, then the panel is warning you that it needs serious repairs or a full replacement.
  • Evidence of electrical fires in the panel: Wires that wear down inside an electrical panel can create fires. These often quickly burn themselves out, but they will leave behind signs that they’ve occurred. If you smell an acrid odor from the panel, or notice charring and discolored marks around the circuit breakers, you’ve probably had an electrical fire in the panel. You need to call for professional assistance right away.
  • Breakers will not remain reset: Resetting a tripped breaker should take care of a problem under normal circumstances. But if you discover that a reset circuit breaker in the panel won’t stay reset, or it does not restore power, then you may have a faulty service panel. A professional electrician will be able to determine what the problem is and the best way to fix it.

If you still have an old fuse box rather than a modern service panel with circuit breakers, then you definitely need to have a replacement: fuse boxes are out of date and insufficient for modern electrical needs.

When you have an electrician in Gig Harbor, WA from Sunset Air replace your service panel with a new model, your home will benefit from increased safety and convenience. Contact us for all your electrical needs.

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Should I Upgrade My Fuse Box?

Friday, August 8th, 2014

For many decades after the introduction of electrical power into homes, the fuse box served as the center of a house’s electrical system. Whenever an appliance placed too much demand on a circuit, a fuse would blow to prevent damage from electrocution or a fire.

The fuse box is now an old-fashioned concept, superseded by the circuit breaker panel. If you live in an older home that still uses a fuse box, the question has probably crossed your mind: “Should I replace it with an upgraded service panel?” The answer is simple: “Yes.” We’ll explain why below.

Upgrading your electric service panel is not difficult: you need only to call a skilled electrician in Aberdeen, WA and schedule an appointment to have the work done. The experienced team at Sunset Air can handle the job for you that will keep your home safe and your lights and appliances running without interruption.

Why Upgrade From a Fuse Box

Fifty years ago, the average electrical use in a house rarely exceeded 60 amps at any time, and consequently, fuse boxes were designed with this amount of power in mind. Most fuse boxes contained only four fuses, each capable of sustaining 15 amps. As power use increased in homes, fuse boxes were either enlarged to handle more circuits, or people placed larger capacity fuses into the fuse box—a potentially dangerous situation.

A modern home uses 150–220 amps due to the increased use of computers, monitors, and more powerful appliances. Fuse boxes do not have the capacity to handle this amount of amperage without constantly shorting out. This is both inconvenient and dangerous. Although you can continue to repair the fuse box and replace burnt-out fuses, you put your home at greater risk of an electrical fire.

A circuit breaker panel is much safer for your home. You will have lowered risk of electrocution and fires. Circuit breakers are also less of a hassle than fuse boxes: you only need to flip a circuit to restore power, while you have to replace fuses and risk running out of them.

So if you still have an aged fuse box in your home, it’s time to call for an electrician in Aberdeen, WA to swap it out for a modern service panel. Call Sunset Air today to arrange for the new installation that will protect your home and family. You can trust to our more than 35 years of experience.

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