As industrial and commercial electricians in St Albans, London and Hertfordshire, we have over 30 years experience in carrying out commercial electrical work across London and Hertfordshire. This work can involve anything from PAT testing of appliances to lighting designs and installs. In fact, effective workplace lighting should never be underestimated. If you are a business owner looking to increase productivity in a big way, you need to be speaking to an electrician with commercial expertise.

When is the right time to replace office lighting?

Lighting in the office is more than just ceiling lights. Office lighting can consist of signage, promotional areas and emergency lighting. In hotels and leisure outlets, decorative lighting can make a difference to reception areas, hall ways, conference rooms and any area where customers can purchase goods. However lighting is far more than stylish features. Here at Fulcher Edwards we pride ourselves on creating and installing outstanding eye catching lighting systems. Lighting is essential for employee loyalty, customer comfort and of course energy efficiency and low cost maintenance.

If you haven’t given much thought to workplace lighting in recent years, now is a great time to consult a qualified commercial electrician. They can advise, design and install a lighting system which has great functionality and looks the part. Old inefficient lighting systems are costly to run and maintain.  They can also commonly cause eye strain and discomfort amongst employees, particularly if they work at computers.

What is the big deal about energy efficiency?

There is a lot of publicity at the moment about energy efficiency. Energy efficiency really does have viable benefits that will see your business achieve real savings – that could be invested elsewhere. Lighting makes up around 20% of the average business energy bill, so it is important that your lighting is not costing more than necessary.

Becoming energy efficient does not mean radical changes need to be made. Changing over from halogen bulbs to LED bulbs will see instant savings being made.

Keeping up to date with changing technology and better performance

Many of the businesses we work with here at Fulcher Edwards seek cutting edge technology with performance. We specialise in designing and installing lighting and electrical installations that bring current workplace lighting up to date and which also looks good. To this end we ensure that all lighting we install in workplaces and retail units is adequate for the needs and is better designed for performance.

Of course lighting design and installation is much more than just screwing in bulbs. We work with many retro companies such as restaurants, shops, and hotels. Larger retro fittings are required to produce adequate lighting for a building. Whereas offices require more functional lighting.

Whatever lighting is decided upon, the aim is for increased comfort and reduced running costs. In turn, leading to increased productivity and consumer spending.

Using the right commercial electrician

To bring your commercial lighting project to fruition, it is important to find a commercial electrician who has the level of experience needed. In fact finding the right commercial electrician for your project will be key to its success. A commercial electrician needs to be able to make timely and helpful recommendations, work professionally and efficiently so as not to disrupt your business.

If you are looking for a ‘one stop shop’ for your lighting needs, then you need look no further. Please do not hesitate to contact us HERE.

The long weekend is in sight and the weather report is predicting sunshine and blue skies. This can mean only one thing for us Brits…BBQ time! If you’re planning on doing a spot of gardening, lighting up the BBQ, or just lazing around in the sun, make sure your garden is electrically safe!

Electrical Safety In Your Garden

1. Majority of us keep our garden tools in a shed. Before you turn them on, firstly check them for water damage or cable damage by pests. Its a good idea to keep any garden tools in a dry, safe place. Most importantly, switch off and unplug all electrical items before cleaning or checking them.
2. Make sure you have an RCD (Residual Current Device). If you don’t already have one in your fuse box, we recommend you invest in a RCD plug. RCDs protect against equipment fault or even accidentally chopping through a cable while gardening. An RCD cuts power in a fraction of a second which could save your life!
3. We recommend you don’t take electrical equipment such as TVs or radios outside. All it would take is a few unexpected drops of rain, a spilt drink, or water from the sprinkler system to cause sparks to fly!
4. Extension leads should never be used outside. Also make sure you have outdoor sockets installed. When using connectors, always make sure they are compatible to the actual equipment you are using and that they are designed for use outdoors.
5. After bathing in the swimming pool (or paddling pool) ensure you are completely dry before handling any electrical equipment. This includes switches and sockets.
6. If you want to install outdoor lighting for those warm, summer evenings. Make sure the lighting is suitable for outdoor use and is also weatherproof.
7. Only buy garden tools from reputable manufacturers as they will have undergone thorough safety checks.
8. Be aware of where cables are in your garden. It could be extremely dangerous if you accidentally cut through one while gardening. However if worst comes to worst, this is where RCD protection would step in.

There is nothing better than spending time in your garden on a sunny day. However its important to treat electricity with respect both inside and outside your house! If you’re ever unsure of anything then its always best to contact your local, registered electrician in St Albans, Hertfordshire and London.

We hope everyone enjoys the long Easter weekend. Please do not hesitate to contact us HERE.

Planning on working inside the home instead this weekend? Then check out our blog post all about electrical DIY!

With the Easter holidays well underway, your little monkeys will be spending more time at home than usual. Especially with the unpredictability of the English weather, days out are not always an option! Therefore, now is a good time to check your home is electrically safe for not only your little ones, but also their friends during play dates. During this blog post we will outline a few simple steps to help minimise the risk of electrical accidents.

Keeping Your Child Electrically Safe

1. Make sure you have RCD protection in your house. A modern fuse box will have an RCD built within it. RCDS turn off electricity in the fraction of a second to reduce the risk of death or serious injury.
2. Turn off electrical appliances when not in use. Especially hot items such as irons, hair straighteners and curlers. Not only could these overheat and potentially cause a fire, they could also burn your child if they touch the item.
3. Keep drinks away from electrical items. Also make sure your child is completely dry after a shower or bath before they touch an electrical item.
4. Extension leads and sockets should not be overloaded! This is to avoid a build-up of heat which could potentially cause a fire. Electrical Safety First have a socket calculator which you can use to check your sockets HERE.
5. Don’t leave any electrical cables trailing on the floor, or appliance cords in arms reach of a small child. A young child may be tempted to put the end of the cord in their mouth, or could trip over any untidy cables.
6. If your child has an electrical gadget, make sure they turn it off when not in use. Furthermore, make sure they are using a branded charger to charge the item on a hard surface. Using fake chargers and charging the item on a unsuitable surface e.g. under a pillow, can be a major fire risk.
7. For younger children you can use socket blanking plugs. Modern day sockets are generally not a serious risk, however socket blanking plugs can be used for extra peace of mind.

Its important to educate older children on electrical safety, especially when they are old enough to be left home alone. For younger children its important to take extra measures to keep them safe from electricity. Carry out visual checks on the sockets and cables in your house. If something doesn’t look right or if there is exposed wiring/burn marks present then contact your local, registered electrician.

We hope everyone enjoys their Easter! Please do not hesitate to contact us HERE.

We talk a lot in our posts about how we help house holders with their electrics, but did you know that Fulcher Edwards are also industrial electrical contractors? We are just as at home working in industrial areas such as factories, warehouses, and car plants as we are working in offices and our clients homes.

Our team of expert and highly experienced industrial electricians in St Albans, London and Hertfordshire, work in a variety of industrial areas. Carrying out electrical maintenance, commissioning, testing of new installation, and ensuring the workplace remains not only electrically and fire safe, but also safe from a Health and Safety aspect.

What do we do?

You’ll normally find one of our industrial electricians busily carrying out testing, repairing or maintenance of machinery. Fully operational machinery is integral to business success and here at Fulcher Edwards we are committed to keeping operational downtime to an absolute minimum. Of course we will talk to you, our client, in full detail about what to expect whilst we carry out electrical work on your behalf, and to this end we are happy to work at a time that suits you. This includes evenings, weekends, and even overnight if required.

Expert advice from Hertfordshires leading electricians

At Fulcher Edwards, we go much further than simply carrying out industrial electrical work. We work with our clients designing and installing electrical installations that not only save money on energy costs and maintenance, but also work to promote employee comfort and essentially Health and Safety. One of the key projects we worked upon was in a printing factory replacing the outdated flickering ‘tube’ lighting. The main requirement during the factory refurbishment project was to find a lighting solution to overcome the outdated florescent tubes. As they were distorting the movement of machinery. The flickering of the lights made dangerous components of the printing press appear as if they were moving, when in fact they were still. (There were no ghosts involved!!)

The new lighting also produced dramatic energy savings and far improved performance.

How to find a good industrial electrician

We often get asked the question what is the difference between a domestic and industrial electrician? The rough answer is quite a bit! It is very important that when you hire an industrial electrician that they have experience working in an industrial environment. Unfortunately we have seen evidence on industrial jobs of domestic electricians attempting industrial work which they have no experience of. For example, we often come across PAT testing stickers on industrial machinery. PAT testing is for small electrical appliances.  PAT testing equipment is not suitable for testing on Industrial machinery.

Industrial electrical work advice

If you have an industrial electrical project coming up, and you’d like some advice, please do contact us HERE. We are always happy to discuss your best and most cost effective options.