According to ESFi (Electrical Safety Foundation International). The Month of may is electrical safety month. Cooper Electric wants to remind you not to take electrical safety for granted. Every year fifty-three thousand electrical fires occur in U.S. homes, most of which are entirely preventable! May is a great time to review important electrical and fire safety practices in your home.

Cooper Electric's Safety Tip is to test your GFCI receptacle outlets, by pressing the test and reset buttons. This will show whether your GFCI's are functioning properly. GFCI's prevent deadly shock, in wet are locations, and should be tested once a year.

If you are concerned about your wiring. We offer a state-of-the-art electrical testing service called CurrentSAFE. CurrentSAFE is a comprehensive test of your entire electrical system. Contact us today at 513-271-5000, and have our specialist out to your home to see if CurrentSAFE is right for you.

How to Prepare Your Home

The Thermographic Inspection

• New Installation Thermo PDF
• Thermography Inspection Performed on December 14th 2011
• The Image is of a “Factory Installed” Bus Connection from the 3,000 amp vertical bus to the primary side of an 800 amp distribution circuit breaker.

• This temperature abnormality was found during the Thermography inspection on phase c of the newly installed GE switchgear. The temperature difference between phase C and phase B is 20 degrees ferenheight (Image #2). The breaker was aproximatley 30% loaded at the time of inspection (phase C-278amps phase B- 284amps). After removing the factory installed GE circuit breaker we found that the insulation tape had overlapped and restricted the current flow from the main bussway in the gear to the circuit breaker lug (Image #1).

• The repair was made and the tape was properly removed from the switch gear (Image #3). A re-scan was perfomed on the circuit breaker (Image #4) and phase c was actually running 2 degrees cooler than phase b.

• Always have a qualified, licensed professional install water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer instructions. (They will ensure that electrically the circuit is sized at 80% of the calculated load allowed on the circuit.)
• Install Carbon monoxide alarms on every level of your home and outside each sleeping area.
• Have your furnace cleaned and inspected annually by a licensed, qualified professional. (Consider that your furnace houses and starts a controlled fire every hour in your home, and properly maintaining the equipment should be a priority.)
• Be sure circuit breakers and fuses are correctly labeled with their amperage and the rooms, circuits, or outlets they serve. (Consider having an electrician inspect that the circuits are not overloaded.)
• Consider having a qualified, licensed electrician replace your standard circuit breakers with combination-type arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI's).
• Make sure ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI's) are installed in your kitchen, bathrooms, workshops, basement, garage, outdoors, and any other areas where water and electricity are likely to come in contact.
• Examine electrical outlets and missing or broken wall plates to ensure that wiring and components are not exposed.
• Check extension cords for good condition, inspect for frayed wires and cracked insulation. (Replace cords that are badly damaged or consider shortening the cord with a replacement male/female plug. Always follow instructions.)

Cooper Electric provides CurrentSAFE, an electrical hazard detection service your your home. Contact us TODAY, for a free in home assessment.

Schedule A Thermographic Electrical Inspection 

Top 5 Reasons:

For any industrial business or operation, it is important to catch equipment and electrical problems before any operating failures can occur. Any problem that does go undetected can inflict extensive damage on your equipment and your business as a whole. Thermographic electrical inspections use High-Definition Thermographic (Infrared) cameras in order to determine temperature changes in electrical components. To help illustrate the importance of thermographic inspections, here are five factors to consider.

1. Catch Defective or Failing Components Early:

You can't always tell when a piece of equipment is about to fail. They don't all smoke and make noise. Instead, thermographic imaging is used to detect temperature abnormalities. This also works well with concealed equipment. By finding potential problems early, they can be fixed so that there is no down time.

2. Prevent Loss of Production Time:

An operating failure can shut your operation down for days, weeks or even longer. Keep your operation up and running and productive at all times by scheduling regular thermographic electrical inspections.

3. Save On Maintenance and Replacement Costs:

Regular thermographic inspections can help you save on maintenance costs and the costs associated with replacing failed equipment. By catching issues early on, your equipment will last longer with fewer and less-frequent replacements overall.

4. Prevent Fires and Personal Injury:

If left to get worse, loose wiring, faulty breakers and other problems can easily cause a fire. Furthermore, failed equipment can create safety hazards that have the potential to harm you or one of your employees. Don’t take chances. Predictive thermal inspections will help you protect your business and your staff from any dangerous conditions.

5. You Can Schedule During Regular Business Operations:

There is no need to shut down production simply because you have scheduled a thermographic electrical inspection. The best time to conduct a thermographic scan is when business is running as usual, as that is when most problems occur. Your inspector will work around your equipment and personnel. You might even forget the inspector is there.

The Inspection Results

When you schedule a thermographic electrical inspection, you will receive a complete report from your inspector that includes any abnormalities found, along with recommended courses of action. If there are any issues that demand your immediate attention, those will be focused on first. The report includes high-definition images and comparisons of scans over time. If there are any issues with your electrical systems or components, your inspector will find them.

By now you should be convinced that a thermographic electrical inspection is a wise decision and investment. With state-of-the-art equipment, training and certification, your inspector will attempt to catch potential problems before they are realized. If conducted regularly, you can extend the life of your equipment, save on maintenance and replacement costs and you can protect your business from down time and other disasters. By checking your electrical switch gear, panels, buss bar feeders and all other components and equipment, your thermographic inspector will help you find even the smallest of problems before they get out of hand.

We provide Thermography Cincinnati Inspections and Nationwide.