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The electrical service box is the first thing that is important in any electrical job. It might sound like it is a herculean task to install electrical service at your house, but it is a necessary evil, and nothing can go forward without it. If you need to install an electrical service at your house/dwelling, following these general instructions can help make things easier and make the process more pleasing for those looking to get the value for their dollar in electrical work. Generally, the electrical regulations (and they vary from state to state) allow for a service that is as big as you want but not as small. Generally, in this case, the bigger, the safer – if that can be attributed to electricity – in terms of passing inspection! There is always a definitive minimum, which is usually based on the area of your house above the ground. This post was delivered to you by:Residential Electricians San Antonio

In more detail, the service size usually requires 2 considerations:
1) The Load (Calculated) – This is the sum of all your potential loads after general demand factors are applied to the calculation. An average dwelling (about 1076 sq.ft.) has an electric stove and electric dyer, but for gas heating, the demand on the service is around 5000 watts, plus another 7000 watts for the stove (6000) and the dryer (1000). Again this is the load calculation, not the actual number of watts the appliance is rated on. For example, the dryer load is 1000 watts on the system if the dryer is a 4000-watt piece. This is referred to as the basic load of the system. Naturally, adding those watts up (5000+7000) is the 12000-watt load you need. Furthermore, we need to find amperes in our consideration. This is found by dividing the total amount of watts by the service voltage size. In physics, the formula is represented by a = w/v. Surprisingly, although we use 120 volts in the plugs in North America, the service voltage size coming to your panel is 2 wires by 120 each. Thus, the service voltage size total is 240v. Remember, Volts and Watts add up; amps do not! So our minimum amperage required would be 12,000 / 240 = 50 amps. Please remember that this is calculated amperage and not the minimum service size because there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE!
2) The Minimums Service Size – this is the number based on the floor area of your dwelling. Generally – 60 amp – for any dwelling which is LESS THAN 861 sq. ft. The area calculation also includes all the areas of all the floors except the basement / or underground section of the dwelling. The underground/basement area is ignored for the minimum amperes requirement. For any place which is MORE THAN or EQUAL to 861 sq. ft. – you generally need 100 amp service. As mentioned above, this includes all the floors except the basement/underground. San Antonio Residential Electricians
Considerations: Even if your total actual load is way below the service size based on your floor space – i.e., if your calculated load is 50 amps, and your floor space requires 100 amps – you need to install the service size based on your floor space, and not your calculated load amount. This is why you can have a serving size as large as you want but not as small as you’d like. The extra capacity (the difference between 50 and 100) is for future use. Even if you are never going to use it, you might one day sell the dwelling, or your kids will inherit the property, and they might want to do something with it; the extra service size has to be there to allow for this future need. In any case, most jurisdictions will not let you get away with using a service size that is too small for the area/space that you have in your house/dwelling.

60 Amp Service Size – (reminder: can only be used if total floor space is < 861 sq. ft.)- Service switch, fuse, or breaker rating – 60 amps- Hot Wire (Black) – x 2 #6 AWG 90 copper – (other colors can be red or blue)- Neutral (White) - x 1 #6 AWG 90 copper- Service Raceway – 1 inch. Or use #6 TECK Cable.- Meter Base Rating – 100 amps.- Service ground wire – #6 or larger – (this is a bare copper, twisted strand)- Service Panel Size – minimum 16 circuits. This panel can generally supply the usual plugs and central gas/oil heating. 100 Amp Service Size – (reminder: can be used for any property that is less than, equal, or more than 1076 sq.ft.)- Service switch, fuse, or breaker rating – 100 amps- Hot Wire (Black) – x 2 #3 AWG 90 copper – (other colors can be red or blue)- Neutral (White) - x 1 #2 AWG 90 copper- Service Raceway – 11/4 inch. Or use #3 TECK Cable.- Meter Base Rating – 100 amps.- Service ground wire – #6 or larger – (this is a bare copper, twisted strand) Service Panel Size – minimum 24 circuits. This panel can generally supply all the usual plugs, a central electric furnace, a boiler, and a baseboard heater.* Please remember that you need twice as much hot wire as the neutral wire.

Considerations:
At least 2 Spare Circuits are usually required to be left in the panel after you’ve connected all of your circuits. This is for future use.
The Minimum Panel Size – is used only as a guideline for the minimum size as to your needs. A project/house/dwelling might require more circuits or a bigger panel amp rating. Always ensure you have the necessary amount of circuit space in your panel. Neutral AWG Size: – some jurisdictions require one to use the same neutral wire size as the hot (feed) wire. Check with your local authorities. Usually, it’s a good idea to use the same AWG for both the hot and neutral wires.
Fused Switches: – are rarely used in residential settings, but if you plan to install a fused service switch, it must comply with your local authority regulations. Usually, the regulations require that the service conductor ampacity be equal to the calculated service load or around 80% of the switch rating, whichever is greater. For example, if your calculated service load is 120 amps, the service switch must be 200 amps. In this example, the minimum service conductor ampacity is 160 amps (80% of 200), not 120; the load conductors from the switch to the panel must also be the same 160 amps. Neutral – Can, at times, be bare; some jurisdictions will allow a Neutral wire in the service panel pipe to come from the service meter into the service panel. Something else to consider in regards to this is that using a bare wire saves you money and is easier to work with / form when pushing it through PVC piping with tight corners. On the other hand, the insulated wire can be greased easier. When a bare neutral wire is entered into the meter base, switch, or panel, it must be insulated to protect against contact with any live wires. Usually, this is not a problem as the live wires are separated widely enough for any contact with the neutral. Still, in cases where it isn’t, one must insulate the neutral wire (electrical tape) to the same thickness as the insulation of the hot wire. Also, you would insulate from the entrance until the connecting coupling (any exposed sections).

Pest Control – Bed Bugs

Bed bugs were once a common public health pest worldwide, and recently, have made a comeback. Bed bugs are parasitic insects that live on a diet of blood. Feeding preferences vary among species, some being attracted to blood from bats, birds, or other warm-blooded animals while others are attracted to humans. In comparison to other insects, bed bugs are superior. They can go without food for up to 18 months and can live in many different places. That’s why every crevice and corner must be searched within 100 feet of furniture. Some bed bugs even live behind wallpaper or pictures. Adults can be seen with the naked eye. They are about 3/8 long and are reddish-brown. After feeding, the color and size of the bed bug change remarkably. Newborns are translucent and become browner as they age through the 5 molting processes. A single adult female can lay up to 200 eggs in a day. These eggs hatch 4-12 days later. It makes sense how an infestation can happen so fast.

The presence of bed bugs isn’t determined by the cleanliness or price of a home or hotel. Bed bugs are most often transferred from a place of infestation such as clothing, luggage or bedding to an uninfected area. This could happen anywhere. Due to the increase in international travel, bed bugs have become a larger problem. This is probably due to the close contact between people in travel situations. Bed bugs are even being found in places thought to be immune to infestations, such as expensive homes and fancy hotels. Once a bed bug infestation occurs, it’s difficult to get rid of. Since they can go long periods of time without blood, not having a host simply forces them to move. However, how long is someone willing to not be around their home?

When a bed bug feeds, they don’t burrow as other parasites do. Instead, they puncture the skin with two hollow feeding tubes. One sucks blood while the other pierces and administers saliva to the wound. The saliva contains anticoagulants and anesthetics. This is why when someone is a bit, they cannot feel it. It’s also why a red bump often occurs followed by itching. Although there are 27 different pathogens that can be carried by a bed bug, there have been no cases of diseases being transmitted by bites. Bed bugs normally feed every 5-10 days and their peak feeding period is about an hour before sunrise. They are nocturnal insects, so while humans sleep, bed bugs are doing their work.

There are treatments for bed bugs, but the chemicals and insecticides previously used have been used for so long that many of the newer generations are immune. Recently, extreme temperatures have had success. Bed bugs cannot survive extreme hot and cold temperatures, specifically, below freezing and above 113 degrees Fahrenheit.

With the use of advanced technology, we use a machine that disperses Cryonite in order to freeze and kill bed bugs. Cryonite is carbon dioxide snow. It’s the same substance as dry ice, sitting at a very cold temperature of about -108 degrees Fahrenheit. The Cryonite effect is rapid freezing of the bed bugs by using a specific mix of particle sizes and speeds in order to create a quick energy transfer. This is what causes the freezing. This is also why the snow is different from that of what you would find in a fire extinguisher.

A fire extinguisher would not kill bugs just as a Cryonite machine would not put out a fire. The speed of the snow helps penetrate tiny cracks and crevices as well as get them through long pipes maximizing the freezing effect through the infected area. The other reason speed and high energy are important are so that the freezing snow has a hard impact on the bugs, guaranteeing contact. Once contact is made, the Cryonite does its job by killing the bug.

Freezing is the best method for bugs that are immune to pesticides and Cryonite is both environmentally friendly and hygienic. Cryonite is poison-free, meaning you can use it on any surface. It’s dry, so it can be used even in areas where moisture isn’t wanted, like electrical sockets and switch boxes, and it is residue-free, allowing for use in sensitive environments. Its accurate and reliable, making an impact on the rise of bed bug infestations.

The actual machine that delivers the Cryonite is a simple unit consisting of a trolley, hose, gun, earthing clamp and conductor and additional tools. The trolley allows easy transportation for the cylinder containing 7-10 kgs of carbon dioxide gas as well as holders for all the other equipment.

The gun holds the nozzle and is designed to help the user work with the machine as efficiently as possible. The gun allows for a larger reaching capacity than would be met by just the nozzle. This way, the user can get to difficult places like up high, nooks and crannies, and under and around

Wasps – Residential Pest Control

The wasp is a colonial insect living in social groups. Each colony is established in the spring by an overwintering queen which makes a smaller starter nest from paper made by itself by mixing wood and saliva.

The colony grows throughout the summer and the nest with it. Many thousand individuals are often to be found associated with each nest, with the workers feeding on nectar, sweet materials, and at certain times insect larvae and other animal pieces. The colony develops males towards the end of the summer to mate with the presumptive queens which when mated over winter start a new colony the following year.

The largest wasps nest we treated was located in a loft and was the size of a double wardrobe. There were over 40,000 wasps in the nest and one treatment was enough to eradicate it.

A wasps nest is very easy to spot. Wasps will normally make nests in air vents, in lofts, on roofs, under guttering in the eaves and under flat roofs to name but a few places. If the wasps are going in and out of the particular hole on a regular basis, it is likely you have a wasps nest. Wasps also visit dustbins, waste depots and dead animal bodies which can lead to the spread of disease and contamination of foodstuffs. As a general rule, you should not attempt to treat wasp’s nests by yourself. It is likely to be difficult and potentially dangerous. On no account should you remove a nest from the roof space? This should be carried out by a professional pest controller. The main hazard is the risk of ‘anaphylactic shock’ which can arise from even a single wasp sting, which may lead to death. The wasps can cause alarm when present in large numbers and if the nest is in a place where the individuals from it interfere with humans they can inflict painful and sometimes dangerous stings.

Wasp’s nests can be controlled by applying insecticidal dust into the entrance of the nest at high pressure. Once this has been carried out the wasps will distribute the dust naturally around the nest, thus killing the queen and the rest of the wasps. This will normally take about twenty-four hours.

One visit is all that is necessary to treat a wasps nest.