You’ve heard of smart phones – but have you heard of smart homes?

Smart technology continues to rise in popularity for a lot of reasons, one of the biggest ones being that they keep your home’s heating costs down.

How does smart technology work to save you money on your electric bill? Read on to find out:

What Is Smart Technology?

 Smart technology is modern, advanced technology that has been designed to make our lives easier. In the home, most smart technology is designed to intuitively do things for you, so you don’t need to think about it! One example is Amazon’s Echo, which essentially performs a lot of the functions of a smart home. How can this smart technology help to lower your electric bill, though?

Let’s explore some of the technologies that might help your wallet to breathe a sigh of relief.

#1: Smart Thermostat

Smart thermostats are a great way to conserve energy in the home. These work by learning about your needs and habits and creating custom cooling and heating schedules based on your lifestyle. By doing so, this eliminates unnecessary energy use and waste of heat.

How often do you remember to change the temperature before you leave the house? Many of us often forget, and there’s no reason to heat or cool an empty home for 8 hours. Smart thermostats can take care of this for you and even start cooling down to reach a comfortable temperature just in time for you to return home.

#2: Smart Vent

 With most of the heating systems we have in our homes, it’s all or nothing –one temperature throughout your entire home. This isn’t very efficient if you spend most of your time in a few select rooms, such as your bedroom and living room. With smart technology, you can get smart vents that aid in reducing wasted energy by allowing you to regulate temperature room by room.

#3: Smart Window Blinds

 Smart window blinds work to save money in your home when you’re not there. Give your heating and cooling system a break to save more energy. When you’re not home, your smart blinds will open if they detect sunlight – helping to heat up your home with natural, warm light. These blinds also do the opposite – when too much sunlight is overheating your home, they will automatically shut to prevent too much sun from coming in and making your cooling system overwork itself.

The Verdict

Do the hottest and coldest months really do a number on your wallet with higher energy costs for heating and cooling?

You’re not alone! If you want to try and save money when extreme temperatures come around, you could benefit from these smart technologies.

If you want to implement these into your home to save money, get in touch with a local electrician in Perth. At Richtek Electrical and Air Solutions, we can help you to upgrade your home into a smart home and keep your energy costs down at the same time!

by Michael Gray

Have you thought about having USB power points installed in your home?

More and more homes are jumping on to this trend to have a more modern and convenient way to allow for powering devices. Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering USB power points for your home!

What Are PowerPoints?

 Right about now, you might be asking yourself, “What are USB power points?” And this would be a fair question! While they are quickly gaining in popularity, many people still have not seen or even heard of these handy new innovations.

Ask yourself this: How many devices do you use on a daily basis that must be charged using a USB port? Probably a lot.

Phones, tablets, smart watches, game consoles, cameras, and so much more are all charged using a USB port to draw their power from. Of course, many of us have wall-to-USB adapters lying around our houses, but how often do you use those or get annoyed at how bulky and outdated they are? Who needs a big box at the end of their phone charger, after all? They hog your outlet space and quickly get frustrating.

Does this sound like a struggle you’re familiar with? In all likelihood, you’ve experienced it too – in today’s world, our modern devices rely on USB ports for power in so many ways, and our outlets simply haven’t caught up yet.

Well, not anymore. This is where USB power points come in! These power outlets with USB ports in them are quickly becoming a popular item and are even standard to install in new homes. The best part? They are extremely simple to install and simply require you to swap the power point with a wall-mounted USB power point.

The USB Revolution

 Most homes today have several smartphones and tablets lying around that need to be charged daily. On top of that, most homes also have at least a few items – such as digital cameras, Go-Pros, video cameras, fitness trackers, MP3 players, bike computers, GPSs, came consoles, and more – that utilise USBs to become fully charged. The result? Tangles of cords on kitchen counters or in corners of the room.

This is why USB sockets built into our power points is becoming standard! However, if your house doesn’t have them yet, luckily, it is not too late. They are relatively easy to install, and it is never too late to upgrade your home and get one for yourself! Think of how great it would be to have charging stations for your home in public living areas such as the home office, lounge room, or kitchen.

Get Your USB PowerPoint Upgrade!

 While it is a relatively simple upgrade for your home, switching out your current power points for USB power points is not a DIY endeavor. It is essential to hire a fully qualified and licensed Perth electrician to carry out this task for you.

Get in touch with a local electrician that you trust with any questions you might have about getting USB power points installed in your home and rid yourself of the mass of tangled cords once and for all!

by Michael Gray

It is essential for the safety of yourself and your family to ensure that your smoke alarms are compliant with regulations. This gives your family early enough warning to either extinguish a small fire or to evacuate safely from an open fire in your home that has grown too much to be managed.

While it may feel like a situation that would never happen to you, it is better to be safe than sorry – and after making sure that your smoke alarms are up to date and compliant with regulations, you will be able to have the peace of mind that your family is safe from fires in your home.

Every second counts after a fire has erupted, as it grows exponentially in size and destroys everything in its path. This is why we are so serious about protecting and educating families in Australia on keeping their smoke detectors and smoke alarms up to date and in compliance with regulations.

3 Things to Check on Your Smoke Alarm Today

Check for solid green light: The solid green light on your smoke alarm reveals that you have a 240V hard-wired smoke alarm. If you do, this is good because WA regulations today require that all homes being rented or sold must have these alarms installed.
Ensure the smoke alarm isn’t within 300mm of a ceiling or wall: If the smoke detector is within 300mm of a ceiling or wall, it might not operate in the way it should. Because smoke rises and curls around corners, this leaves a pocket of air that the smoke won’t reach. If your smoke alarm is in this zone, smoke might not reach it and set it off in time to give you and your family adequate warning to reach a safe area.
Make sure smoke alarms are in required locations: Smoke alarms are required to be installed outside of every bedroom area. This means if you have a common living space such as a living room or kitchen separating two-bedroom areas, you will be required to have 2 smoke alarms installed in your home. You will also need a smoke alarm on every floor of any multi-story building regardless of where the bedroom areas are.

Maintaining Your Smoke Alarms

Here are some additional tips to help you maintain your smoke alarm:

Remove the head from the base and confirm that it is less than 10 years old

Replace the battery annually as it becomes flat

Re-instate the head of the smoke alarm back onto the base

Use a vacuum to suck the dust from the sensor chamber

Push the test button to see how the sounder works

Use artificial smoke and test the sensor’s operation

Clean the alarm using a damp rag

After you have followed the above steps, you can rest assured that your family is protected from fire in your home!

The Verdict

 Smoke alarms are something that should be taken very seriously, and if you think there might be a problem with yours or you need additional smoke alarms updated or installed, get in touch with a certified electrician today!

by Michael Gray