Electrician, Meyer Electrical Services Inc.
Written by Walt Meyer

How to Prepare Your Home for Winter Electrically – Part 2

As discussed in Part 1, preparing your home electrically before winter arrives will help ensure you have power and stay safe during the colder months. Part 2 will cover three more ways for preparing your home electrically for winter.

 

Test Smoke Detectors

 

In the case of home fires, having fully functioning smoke detectors throughout your home may be the difference between getting out of your home safely or ending up in a hospital. This also applies to detectors that alert you to the presence of deadly carbon monoxide. Make sure to test each of these devices in your home. Some may need their battery replaced and if a device is over 10 years old, it is time to replace it. Since 2018, Maryland requires “ALL Maryland residents to have 10-year lithium battery tamper resistant smoke alarms with the silence/hush feature on every level of their home.”

 

Test Electrical Outlets

 

Preparing your home electrically for winter should also involve having all your electrical outlets tested. Checking your outlets will ensure they are providing sufficient power and their wires are properly connected and grounded. If you are a fan of DIY, a simple way of testing your electrical outlets’ functionality and safety is with a multimeter. An even better way is asking a licensed electrician to perform these tests during an electrical inspection.

 

Rewire Your Home

 

After performing an electrical inspection of your home, a licensed electrician may recommend rewiring some areas of your home for safety reasons. Worn out or defective wiring is hazardous and can lead to a deadly electrical fire in your home. If your home is 50 years old or older, and you rely on extension cords to supply some rooms with electricity, this situation is unsafe and your home’s electrical system needs rewiring.

 

Electrical Services You Can Trust

 

Meyer Electrical Services is an authorized Kohler and KOHLER Sales & Service Dealer. We provide custom standby generator installations and are trained and licensed to perform the regularly required important factory service and maintenance.

 

Founded in 1991 and serving Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., where we are licensed and insured, Meyer Electrical Services provides home and commercial electrical services you can trust, including:

 

  • Standby Generator Installation
  • Panel Upgrades (Heavy-Ups)
  • Electrical Vehicle Charging Stations
  • Structured Cabling
  • Circuit Breaker Replacement

 

Based in Bethesda, our team proudly serves all of Montgomery County. Receive a free consultation for custom electrical work today by calling (301) 941-1400.