Frequently Asked Questions
Electricity can be complicated and mistakes can be SERIOUS. Nova Scotia only trusts electricians holding a certificate of qualification in the electrical construction trade to conduct electrical work. Each job requires a permit and an inspection from NSP(Nova Scotia Power). Ensure that your electrician holds a license, has pulled a permit and has scheduled an inspection for your jobs.
Electrical Contractors working in your home or business are required to be trained and licensed and must follow provincial laws and national electrical code standards. You are obligated and encouraged to ask your contractor the following:
- Do they hold an electrical license?
- Do they have a permit issued by the inspection authority for your job (Nova Scotia Power)?
- How are you going to ensure safety on the job?
- Was there an inspection done during and after completion of this job?
We at Oceanside Electrical hold all of the required licenses to own and operate an electrical business and we can assure you that all of our jobs will have a permit and be inspected.
In an nutshell these are both devices that keep you and your family safe. They are safety devices that detect faults in a circuit and cut off power on that circuit that may cause injury or hazard to you.
- GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) is a device that is used to prevent us from electrocution. If a persons body starts to receive a shock, the GFCI senses this and cuts off the power before they can get injured. These are generally found in areas of our home or buildings where circuits could come in to contact with water. I.e. bathrooms, kitchens, outdoors etc.
- AFCI (arc fault circuit interrupter) is a device that will provide protection from electrical fires. This device will detect and disconnect power when it senses leaks in electricity caused by faulty electrical equipment or damaged wiring. These devices are now mandatory in new construction and new installation of electrical equipment.
Yes, however you must ensure that the product that you are looking to purchase online is CSA, ETL or CU certified. There will be a sticker on the product and the manufacturer should have it in the products information / spec. sheet.
If your product doesn’t have one of these 3 symbols on it an electrician cannot legally install the product. If something happens because of an uncertified product, insurance will not cover the damages.
You are looking for one of these 3 symbols:
We aim to provide a fixed quoted price to all of our clients prior to beginning work to ensure that there are no hidden surprises and that you get exactly what was agreed upon. We also offer troubleshooting & diagnostics of electrical faults and emergency service calls that are charged at an hourly rate.
For these emergency service calls and troubleshooting tasks we charge an hourly flat rate of 150$+hst for the first 1hour and then 135$+hst for every additional hour +PLUS costs of material. We start charging when we depart from our office until we complete the job at hand.
Please message / call for further clarification.
Definitions
Circuit: A complete circular path that electricity flows through. Circuits consist of a power source, conductors (wires) and a load.
Voltage: The pressure in a circuit causing electrons to flow / move allowing lights, plugs and equipment to operate. I like to think of voltage as the heart of an electrical circuit. As the heart beats blood gets pushed through your veins. Just like electricity as the heart (voltage) is present electricity gets pushed through the wires to where they have to go.
Amperage: Also known as current, amperage in its simplest term is the strength of electricity. I like to think of it as the blood of an electrical circuit, blood is what makes our organs and body work. When you work harder you need more blood. Amperage is what feeds our electrical equipment and when you have bigger equipment more amperage is required.
Resistance: The opposing force to current flow, trying to squeeze current making it difficult for it to get to its destination. I like to think of resistance as someone pushing on your veins in your body. The veins diameter gets smaller making it more difficult for blood to get to its final destination. Resistance is good though, we need it to complete our circuit. It is also used to produce heat, our baseboard heaters are very high resistance devices.
Conductor: Any material that electricity can flow through. Most common conductors are made of copper and aluminum because they have very low resistance. Conductors carry electricity to their final destination.
Service Entrance: The equipment on the outside of your building to bring power in to and monitor consumption of power in your building. Equipment includes meter, conduit and wiring. General service entrance sizes 100A, 200A and 400A
*You may need to upgrade your service entrance if you want new things added to your residential home*
Service upgrade: Removing the old service entrance and upgrading all of the conduit, wiring and metering for the purpose of having access to more power. Generally if you are looking to add pool & spa, Electric Vehicle chargers and home additions.
Circuit Breaker: A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from faults such as overloads and short circuit.
Direct Current: Also known as DC, it means direct current. There is only one direction in which the DC current flows.
Branch Circuit: They are all the circuits that feed equipment beyond your main electrical panel.
Generator: A tool that changes mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Load: Any component of a circuit that consumes power. Lights, motors, heaters, appliances etc.
Overload: When equipment is above a full-load rating or a conductor above its rated ampacity persisting for a long period of time. It can cause damage and overheating to the equipment and wiring. Our circuit breakers generally protect from this happening.
Short Circuit: A short circuit is an abnormal condition in an electrical circuit where the electrical current flows through an unintended, shorter pathway instead of following the circuit. Generally caused my damaged wiring and improper installation of equipment.
You might have a “short” if your breaker keeps tripping on you.
Breaker Tripping: When your breaker cuts power to a circuit due to a fault that was detected.
Demand: The amount of measured electricity that is being consumed at a given period of time.
Maximum Demand: The maximum amount of measured electricity that is consumed during the day. This unit of measurement is used to calculate if you have enough available power to install new equipment.
*If you do not, you would need to upgrade your service entrance*
