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What are the best, most comfortable & durable Cut-Less Safety Work Gloves?

4/16/2018

9 Comments

 
Being in the electrical business for over 25 years, we have gone through a lot of work gloves. Until recently, that is. 

One of our company policies is that all employees wear Majestic, Cut-Less safety work gloves when working. We place a high priority on safety and these gloves are the most durable, comfortable and cool we have found. These gloves are lightweight and skintight so you feel small screws and objects and not drop them. Our electricians love the dexterity of these gloves.  They virtually mold to your hand giving you a secure fit yet are very flexible for being manufactured from such a tough material. 
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The gloves are made with Dyneema, one of the world's strongest fibers and have a cut resistance that is equivalent to Kevlar.  We have read this trademarked fiber is 15x more resistant to abrasion than steel, making them extremely puncture and tear resistant. This fiber is also used as composite plates in personal armor, tow ropes, parachutes and high performance sails. I think you get the idea...it has a high tensile strength meaning it is hard to tear.

These gloves also have a tight, long knit cuff for a secure fit and preventing any debris from getting inside the glove. During cold weather, if you are wearing a cuffed coat, it will make a nice seal and keep you warmer. 

We have been using these gloves for several years and they are far and away the best gloves we have found. Our electricians hands used to have constant abrasions from cuts from working inside meter cans and panels and the Majestic Cut-less gloves have all but eliminated these type of abrasions. 

If they weren't so comfortable and our electricians didn't have the ability to do "fine" work, it would be difficult to make them wear them. Now, they complain when we inadvertently run low though we have found a pair of these gloves will last for months and we even wash them repeatedly. They are very resistant to wear and don't tear up like other gloves we have used in the past so we don't go through them as quickly.

Since we are constantly working on white ceilings, it is nice to be able to see when they are dirty. Black gloves hide the dirt and grime and if you aren't careful you can inadvertently leave smudges on a customer's ceiling. The white or high-vis version of these gloves make it easy to tell when it is time for a wash. 

One of our electricians even mentioned a time he he was saved by his Majestic Cut-less safety gloves when he accidentally ran a knife cutter down his hand. The sharp blade did not penetrate the gloves, saving him the pain and our company an expensive emergency room visit. 

​The gloves come 12 to a package and cost between $16-$17 per glove which is a bargain when you consider how long they last and the accidents they prevent. The only complaint we have had is that you cannot use a touch screen with them on. So if you see one of our electricians answering his phone with his nose, you will know why!

We use Amazon to purchase many of our electrical products and equipment and have an amazon Prime membership which costs our company a fixed fee per year and then allows many "Prime" eligible products to be shipped free. It has been a wonderful program for the company.

9 Comments

How Do GFCI Outlets Work & What Causes A GFCI to Trip?

4/2/2018

25 Comments

 
Customers often ask our CWC Electric, LLC electricians how GFCI outlets work and what causes them to “trip” or stop working. Troubleshooting non-functioning GFCI outlets are a common electrical service call which can be expensive and frustrating to homeowners.

GFCI stands for Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters and it was designed by Charles Dalziel in 1961. Mr. Dalziel was a professor of electrical engineering at UC Berkeley and wrote The Effects of Electric Shock on Man, a treatise which explained the effects of varying amounts of electricity on humans. Mr. Dalziel apparently knew a thing or two about how much electricity it took to kill a person and developed a device designed to protect human lives. In contrast, circuit breakers were designed to protect equipment and buildings and operate completely differently.

Here’s a mini-lesson on electricity:
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All electricity attempts to return to its original source. In other words, when an electrician refers to a circuit, he is talking about electricity leaving your panel, flowing through the insulated wires in your house to supply power to any energized items and then following a return path back to the panel. Circuit simply refers to a roughly circular route that starts and finishes at the same place…in this case, your electrical panel.

A GFCI outlet measures the power coming in and then returning to your panel as it completes the circuit. It was designed to detect any difference more than 4 or 5 milliamps and to react quickly (less than one-tenth of a second) to shut down any circuit out of this small range.

For reference, there are 1,000 milliamps in an amp. Any current over 1 milliamp can be felt, 5 milliamps will produce a painful shock, currents at 10-15  milliamps can paralyze or freeze muscles (making it impossible to release an energized object such as a tool, appliance or wire)  and currents as low as 50-100 milliamps can be fatal. If a person is accidentally exposed to electricity, it is very important to stop the flow of electricity into the body as fast as possible. Each year there are an average of 400 home related electrocutions, about 60 which are associated with consumer appliances.

When a GFCI “trips” it is working as designed. If the GFCI’s internal current transformer senses more than a 4-5 milliamp loss, it instantly shuts down the outlet and any outlets it feeds to prevent accidental electrocution. Most often, when a GFCI “trips” it is the result of a faulty appliance plugged into the outlet or an outlet down circuit. Before calling an electrician, you may want to try this simple diagnosis: Unplug all appliances plugged into or down circuit from the GFCI, reset your GFCI by pushing the button in the center of the outlet and then plug the appliances back into the GFCI one at a time and turn them on to see if any of the appliances are causing the appliance to “trip”. If you plug in your coffee maker and the GFCI immediately trips, it is likely you have a faulty appliance and the GFCI is operating as designed.

All man-made objects have a lifespan and eventually wear out. It is recommended that all GFCI’s should be tested monthly to ensure they are operating correctly. Simply push the TEST button to turn power off to the circuit which should cause the RESET button to pop up. You will need to hit RESET to turn the GFCI back on. Do not assume that because an outlet is working that the GFCI protection is in effect. Newer GFCI outlets have an interlock to prevent the outlet from working if the GFCI protection fails however older GFCI outlets do not have this built-in failsafe.

GFCI outlets should be installed in any area where moisture can be potentially present, examples include kitchen countertop outlets, bathroom outlets, all exterior outlets and garages. Your electrician may suggest additional areas where GFCI protection is recommended or required by the National Electrical Code.


​AT CWC Electric, LLC we generally use Leviton, Pass and Seymour or Hubbell brand products. When installing GFCI outlets you should always use a name branded product to ensure safety. 
25 Comments

    Author

    Natalie Hogan, Office Manager and Co-Owner, CWC Electric, LLC

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