Do you have receptacles in your home that have buttons on them marked test and reset ? Did you ever wonder exactly what this receptacle was for or why these buttons were there. A GFCI receptacle is a receptacle that gives added protection around the home over and above the circuit breaker in your homes panel box. Did you know if you were using an appliance and it was plugged into a GFI receptacle and that appliance fell into a sink full of water or was damaged in such a way that would shock you if you touched it, a GFI protected receptacle would shut itself off automatically to protect you ? 

The receptacle monitors the balance of voltage internally and will shut itself off if an imbalance or short circuit occurs. The manufactures of these devices suggest you test your device or breaker once a month by pushing the test button and resetting the device or breaker. If the device does not shut off or shuts off and does not reset then you should replace this device immediately. 

GFI protection is required on counters near sinks, in unfinished areas of the home like a basement or garage. Outdoor areas, pool pumps, hot tub circuits, fish ponds, etc..

If you do a test today and find that your GFI protected device does not test and reset properly or you don't have GFI protection in the areas above, Call today for Service. 

Hello Friends.

A simple, sometimes ignored and avoided maintenance issue homeowners fail to deal with on a regular basis is the changing of air filters in a forced air heating and cooling system. Failure to regularly maintain your filter in your duct work could lead to expensive and unnecessary repairs. You would be kicking yourself when you pay out to your technician the price of a new capacitor or a new squirrel cage blower motor or worse, even a new system all together. Hard to believe that a simple $3 dollar filter could cause such expensive repairs, but this is the case is always best when you change your filter, to have a supply of 5-10 filters available to get you through the year, more if you are doing remodeling and creating dust in your home. Locate your filter rack every time the same month and do an inspection of the filter with the system off. Best not to do this inspection with the furnace running or able to turn on at a moments notice. Turn off your kill switch or thermostat to the off position. Remove your filter. Take notice of any directional arrows for air flow at this time. It is very important to insert your filter in the same direction. Hold it up to the light. If it is not obvious that dust particles, etc., have clogged and impeded the ability of your filter to do it’s job, and if it looks clean, come back in a week and check it again. When you see its dirty, replace the filter. Replace any doors or covers, then turn on the furnace power switche or put your thermostat to the termperature you want.

That’s it. Once a month inspection and timely filter replacement will go a long way to guarantee years of trouble free operation from one of your home's most important pieces of equipment, so you and your family can maintain comfort throughout the year. ......... Keystone Home Services