Electricians in Kitchener, Waterloo, & Guelph

THE ELECTRICAL SERVICE COMPANY

519-747-2406 or Toll-Free 877-228-5269

We are your electricians. Any and all electrical work, indoors and outdoors, for home, business and industry.

Our electricians design and install everything. From complete wiring for commercial and residential buildings to underground, waterproof landscape lighting. We install ceiling fans and fix broken light switches. No matter where you are in the Waterloo-Wellington Region (and beyond), we’ll be there.

Matt Stanson, Master Electrician with 30+ years’ experience, leads this team of skilled, trained and experienced electricians.

We are there when you need us. Most work happens during regular weekday business hours, but since you can’t control when things go wrong? We work evenings, weekends and holidays when necessary. We’re here to ensure you are never left in the cold, dark or, worse, in a potentially dangerous situation because of faulty wiring.

FREE ESTIMATES

Yes.

Whether you need information, advice or a quotation for a repair, reno, or a new electrical project? We are here to help.

CALL US FOR A QUOTE.

When you call Stanson Electric, you speak to a live person right away. Be treated like a human being rather than a number. If we’re not immediately available to answer the phone, we promise to return your call quickly, usually within hours.

Our response time for getting to your job is anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on your location and the urgency of your electrical need.

We offer realistic timelines and budget so that you know exactly what to expect when we begin your electrical repair, design or installation. We always take the time to explain what needs to be done and how it will be achieved.

All our services come with a complete guarantee for your peace of mind.

We take pride in the quality of our work. Your job gets done properly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. We love it if we can make you smile while we’re at it.

Master Electrician Licence: 6005834
Electrical Safety Authority Licence: 7005500

OUR PROMISE

Whatever your electrical needs, count on Stanson Electric to do the work quickly and properly, at a fair price, with a full guarantee. And a friendly smile. Day or night. Really.

Aluminum Wiring
Aluminum Wiring
* Aluminum wire is safe — connecting it to copper wire and copper-rated receptacles causes problems *

Aluminum and copper have different properties: they two expand and contract differently when under electrical load. This can cause the connections to become loose.

Loose connections can result in: sparking, arcing, oxidation, heat build up and, finally, the possibility of a fire through the ignition of surrounding combustibles such as the insulation on the wire, wall insulation, wallpaper in the area of the electrical box, etc.

Symptoms include: warm cover plates or discolouration of switches or receptacles, flickering lights, or the smell of hot plastic insulation.

Aluminum was a common material for wiring houses built in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Home improvements over the years added into the picture copper wire, and receptacles meant for copper.

Aluminum wire is still occasionally used today but for heavy power uses rather than general residential use. Copper wire is now used in residential homes.

*** Many insurance companies will not provide or renew insurance coverage on properties with aluminum on copper unless the wiring is inspected, and repaired or replaced as necessary.

The most common solution is called Tailing (or Pig-tailing), which involves re-making electrical connections using special marrette connectors which are able to blend aluminum and copper.
Ampere
Ballast
Breaker
Circuit
Circuit – Dedicated
Conductivity
Conductor
Conductor
A wire or combination of wires suitable for carrying an electrical current.

Any material that allows electrons to flow through it. Conductors may be insulated or bare.
Conduit
Connector
Current
Energy
Fuse
Fuse Box / Panel
Fuse Box / Panel
Or “panel box”, “breaker box”, “fuse box”. The large metal box containing breakers or fuses for all the electrical circuits in your home. The “main panel” or “service panel” receives its power from the hydro company.

There can be subpanels in a home, fed from the main panel and containing some of the home’s circuit breakers.

“Panel” can refer to either a breaker box or a fusebox. Some people still use the term “fusebox” to refer to a panel, but that term should only be used if you have fuses.
Ground
Ground
An electrical term meaning to connect to the earth.

A conducting connection, whether intentional or accidental by which an electric circuit, or equipment, is connected to the earth or some conducting body that serves in place of the earth.
Kitchen – Split
Light – Fluorescent
Light – Fluorescent
Fluorescent lights are tubular in design, with capped ends that feature two external pins each. The inside of the glass tube is powder-coated with phosphorous, and a small drop of mercury is also placed inside the bulb, which is filled with argon gas. An electrode at either end connects to electrical circuits.

When electricity flows through the electrodes it produces a charge that causes free electrons to travel through the gas-filled tube from one electrode to the other. This energy vaporizes a small portion of the mercury inside the tube and the result is ultraviolet (UV) light.

Fluorescent lights are far more complex in design than incandescent light bulbs, and more efficient. They use 75% less energy and generally last six to ten times longer than incandescent bulbs.
Light – Halogen
Light – Halogen
A halogen lamp, like an incandescent light, also uses a tungsten filament, but it is encased inside a much smaller quartz envelope. (Because the envelope is so close to the filament, it would melt if it were made from glass.) The gas inside the quartz envelope is also different — it is from the halogen group, which enables it to combine with tungsten vapor.

If the temperature is high enough, the halogen gas will combine with tungsten atoms as they evaporate and redeposit them on the filament.

This recycling process lets the filament last a lot longer (about 2000 hours). In addition, it is now possible to run the filament hotter, meaning you get more light per unit of energy. You still get a lot of heat, though; and because the quartz envelope is so close to the filament, it is extremely hot compared to a normal light bulb.

Halogen lights use only about 50% of the electricity needed to produce the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb. While they are not as energy efficient as compact fluorescent bulbs, their light “feels” warmer and more comfortable.
Light – Incandescent
Light – Incandescent
What most people think of as a “normal” light bulb. It is made up of a fairly large, thin, usually frosted glass envelope. Inside the glass is a gas such as argon and/or nitrogen.

At the center of the lamp is a tungsten filament. Electricity heats this filament up to about 4,500° F (2,500° C). Just like any hot metal, the tungsten gets “white hot” at that heat and emits a great deal of visible light in a process called incandescence. This is not very efficient because it produces far more heat than light. Since the purpose of a light bulb is to generate light, the heat is wasted energy.

An incandescent light bulb only lasts about 750 to 1,000 hours in normal use. This is because the tungsten in the filament evaporates and deposits on the glass. Eventually, a thin spot in the filament causes the filament to break, and the bulb “burns out.”

As of Jan. 1, 2014: 75- & 100-watt incandescent bulbs will be banned in Canada, followed by 40- & 60-watt versions on Dec. 31, 2014. However, the industry can continue to ship non-efficient bulbs, such as traditional incandescents, as long as they were manufactured before Jan. 1, 2014.
Light – LED
Light – LED
An LED is what’s called a “solid-state lighting” (SSL) technology. Instead of emitting light from a vacuum (as in an incandescent bulb) or a gas (as in a fluorescent), an SSL emits light from a piece of solid matter. In a traditional LED, that piece of matter is a semiconductor.

Stated simply, an LED produces light when excited electrons move around within its semiconductor structure.

A single light fixture stocked with a 60-watt incandescent bulb consumes about 525 kWh of electricity in a year; put an LED bulb in that light fixture, and the annual energy use is more like 65 kWh. The annual CO2 reduction is in the hundreds of pounds for a single lamp. Plus, you could go 20 years without having to change it.
Load
Load
The amount of electrical power required by connected electrical equipment.

The total impedance of all the items in the output circuit.
Main
Marrette
Overload
Panel
Panel
Or “panel box”, “breaker box”, “fuse box”. The large metal box containing breakers or fuses for all the electrical circuits in your home. The “main panel” or “service panel” receives its power from the hydro company.

There can be subpanels in a home, fed from the main panel and containing some of the home’s circuit breakers.

“Panel” can refer to either a breaker box or a fusebox. Some people still use the term “fusebox” to refer to a panel, but that term should only be used if you have fuses.
Panel Upgrade
Receptacle
Receptacle Gangs
Receptacle GFCI
Short Circuit
Short Circuit
A load that occurs when an ungrounded conductor comes into contact with another conductor or grounded object.

An abnormal connection of relatively low impedance, whether made intentionally or by accident, between two points of different potential.
Switch – 3 Way
Switch – Dimmer
Switch – Single Pole
Transformer
Transformer – Distribution
Voltage
Voltage
Or “volts”. The forcefulness with which current is ready to flow between two points.

Voltage can be present or fail to be present but electricity (current) cannot flow if voltage is lacking. However, even with voltage available, current will only flow if a continuous and conductive path is provided. Mathematically voltage is the “product” of current (amps) and resistance (ohms) in a circuit.
Wattage