Jim Lord's (jimlordaz) Blog

As a Realtor and licensed electrical contractor with a lighting background I am often asked what people can do to make the lighting appear better in their homes. Today is an exciting time for lighting, with the phasing out of incandescent lamps with LED products we are afforded the opportunity to...

As an electrician I was called many times to homes that really did not require my services. Home inspectors can sometimes be a little too excited to find something that may be wrong that really is not. The number one thing I was called for was GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) protection to...

In my 25 years as a contractor I do not know how many times I was asked this question. The answer is, no. In most cases (especially in non-industrial settings) voltage has zero effect on the cost of electricity used.We are charged for electricity in kilowatt hours. A kilowatt hour is 1000 watts u...

I'msticking with my electrical theme this week so here is another about circuit breakers and replacing them because of age.According to most manufactures, circuit breakers should be replaced every 20-30 years depending on exposure. The US Government recommends replacement after 30 years. Over the...

During the Vietnam war, copper became harder to find in the US leaving wire manufactures to find a conductive metal that was readily available and Aluminum wiring became main stream.While aluminum (or AL wiring) was cheaper, the devices to connect to the AL wiring were not, sometimes costing as m...

As I am recalling my days as a service electrician this week I thought I would go to my second most common service call, tripped breaker. I can't tell you how many times I went to someones home who swore they checked the breakers, only to find it was in fact tripped.Only one of the major circuit ...

In my years as an electrician, the most common service call I received was receptacles not working. More often than not it turned out to be a GFCI receptacle. GFCI recepts can control a variety of receptacles throughout the home from one place. Prior to certain code changes throughout the year it...

Before I entered real estate I was an electrical contractor and spent a portion of that career working specifically with lighting. In fact, I was an award winning contractor through Salt River Project, winning two awards for my work in the lighting field.There are two keys to proper lighting, Kel...