CATCH THAT ELECTRICITY

Hey folks, Bob with Express Electric here. I wanted to share a story that still makes me chuckle.

The Call About Electricity Crawling Across the Bed

A woman called me one evening and said, "I need an electrician! I need an electrician!" I thought that was funny already because it was quite a few years ago. She said, "The electricity is coming out of my electrical sockets and it crawls across my bed at night."

I said, "Excuse me?"

She explained, "The electricity, I can see it coming out of my electrical sockets and it crawls

across my blanket when I'm sleeping. It scares the heck out of me."

I’ve heard a lot of crazy stuff in my life, and I know some people might be under the influence of substances, legal or illegal, which could make their brain a little fried and not coherent with what they’re seeing. But I had to dig deeper. I asked her to explain how she could actually see this because in all my years working with electrical work, I’ve never seen electricity crawl out of a socket.

She said, "I see it at night. When I’m sleeping in bed and I look toward the electrical socket, it crawls across my blanket."

That got me thinking a bit, and I asked, "Do you by any chance have a wool blanket?"

She said, "Yeah, I do."

I said, "I bet what you’re seeing is static electricity. You know how sometimes when you move a wool blanket, you can see little sparks crawling?"

She about died on the phone. "Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed!" she said. "I believe that’s exactly what it is!"

I told her, "Okay, if it’s not, you called me and we’ll come out and make sure we round up that electricity and put it back where it belongs."

That was one of the funniest stories I’ve heard over the phone. Of course, I didn’t want to make her feel bad, she was serious about it. I’ve got a bunch more stories like that; maybe I’ll share them with you from time to time.

What You Need to Know About Wool Blankets and Static Electricity

Yes, electricity can crawl across your blanket if you have a woolen blanket. Be careful with that. Usually, it doesn’t hurt you, but it can look a little funky! Anyway, it’s fall time, and you’re gonna need a blanket soon.

Time to Check Your Outdoor Lighting

It’s also getting dark a little earlier these days. Don’t forget to check your outside lighting. Maybe it’s time to think about putting up motion sensor lights.

When I move into a new house, the first thing I do is install a motion light, like a floodlight, by my garage door. I take down the existing one and put a new motion light up so that when I come home in the dark, or when my wife comes home, we don’t have to worry about getting out of the car in the dark. The light comes on automatically and goes off after a few minutes when we’re inside.

Modern Motion Sensor Lights with Cameras

Nowadays, they even have motion sensor lights with cameras built in, like the Ring system. They’re not super cheap but not too expensive either compared to installing separate cameras.

When the motion sensor detects someone on your property, it not only turns on the light but also records video. It films both day and night, and you can get an app on your phone so you can see what’s going on at your home anytime.

Need Help Installing Security Lighting?

Give us a call if you want us to take care of your security lighting. Don’t wait until it gets too late and you really need one, get it installed beforehand.

God bless you, and watch out for those woolen blankets in the kitchen!