Electrical questions, answered in Wayne, NJ.

If it’s safe to reach, turn off that circuit’s breaker or the main, then call an electrician. If you see smoke or flames, get everyone out and call 911 from outside.

Don’t keep resetting a breaker that trips with a burning smell, and don’t open the panel cover. A burning or hot-plastic smell usually means a loose or overheating connection, and that needs to be found by a licensed electrician.

A device that’s noticeably warm to the touch is a warning sign and should be checked soon. Dimmers can run slightly warm by design, but outlets, ordinary switches and panel covers shouldn’t.

Stop using the outlet, turn off the circuit if you can, and have it inspected. Heat usually means a loose connection, a failing device or an overloaded circuit.

Partial power loss is often a problem with one leg of your service: a failing main breaker, a loose connection at the meter or panel, or damage on the utility’s side. Call your utility first to check their equipment, then an electrician.

Lights that go dim on one side and bright on the other, or appliances acting strangely, can point to a lost neutral, which can damage electronics. Turn off sensitive equipment and call right away.

Stay far away from it, keep kids and pets away, and call your electric utility or 911. Treat every downed line as live, and never try to move it.

If the line pulled the service mast or meter off your house, the utility makes it safe, and then a licensed electrician repairs your side before the utility reconnects.

One flickering bulb is usually the bulb, a loose bulb or an incompatible dimmer. Flickering across several rooms, or when big appliances start, can mean a loose connection or a service problem and should be checked.

Lights that flicker along with a buzzing sound or a warm switch should be looked at promptly.

Not until an electrician has inspected it. Any panel, outlet, wiring, appliance or generator control that has been underwater can fail or short when re-energized.

Leave the main off. Some flooded components, like breakers and GFCI outlets, have to be replaced rather than dried out. Homes along the Passaic and Pompton rivers learned this after Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Common signs are breakers that trip often, a panel with no open spaces, a fuse box, a 100-amp service in a house adding central air, an EV charger or an addition, and any panel that runs warm or shows scorching.

Some panel brands have known problems, which is another reason to replace. An electrician can assess the panel and run a load calculation to tell you whether you need a new panel, a larger service or neither.

Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) Stab-Lok panels have a long record of breakers that may not trip when they should, and many electricians and home inspectors recommend replacing them.

FPE was based in Newark, so these panels are common in North Jersey homes built from the 1950s through the early 1980s. If your panel says Federal Pacific or Stab-Lok, have it evaluated.

The work itself typically takes 4 to 8 hours, and most upgrades are finished in one day.

Power is off for part of that time. The utility may need to disconnect and reconnect the service, and the town inspects the work. Luminous Electric files the permit with every panel upgrade.

Knob and tube is early wiring, common before about 1940, that runs single wires on ceramic knobs and through ceramic tubes. It has no ground, its insulation gets brittle with age, and it was never meant to be buried in insulation.

It isn’t automatically illegal to have, but many insurers won’t cover it, and it can’t safely handle modern loads. Replacing it is the standard recommendation, especially in older Montclair, Ridgewood and Glen Rock homes.

Only if a ground is available. A three-prong outlet on an ungrounded circuit looks grounded but isn’t, which defeats the point.

Code allows a GFCI-protected outlet labeled “No Equipment Ground” as one fix. Running new grounded wiring is the better long-term one. An electrician can tell you which suits your home.

Small-gauge aluminum branch wiring from the 1960s and 70s needs attention, because its connections can loosen and overheat. That doesn’t always mean a full rewire.

Approved repair methods connect copper to the aluminum at each device using connectors rated for it. Large aluminum service and feeder cables are normal and are a separate matter.

For many homes, yes. Hurricanes, nor’easters and ice storms have left parts of North Jersey without power for days, Superstorm Sandy in 2012 most famously. A standby generator starts automatically and keeps heat, refrigeration, sump pumps, medical equipment and the internet running.

It’s most valuable if you work from home, rely on a sump pump or well pump, or have someone who can’t go without power.

A standby generator is permanently installed, runs on natural gas or propane, and switches on automatically through a transfer switch. A portable generator is wheeled out, fueled with gasoline, and connected by hand.

Either way, a generator must connect through a transfer switch or approved interlock, never by back-feeding through an outlet.

Because it can send power back out onto the utility lines and injure line workers, and it can overload the house wiring and start a fire. It also bypasses any protection.

A transfer switch or a listed interlock kit, installed by a licensed electrician with a permit, is the safe and legal way to connect a generator.

It depends on what you want to power. Essential circuits only (heat, fridge, sump pump, some lights and outlets) needs much less than whole-home backup with central air.

An electrician sizes it from your actual loads and panel. Any gas-line work is done by a licensed plumber or gas fitter.

It’s a good, low-cost layer of protection for most homes. A surge protective device at the panel helps protect HVAC equipment, appliances and electronics from surges coming in from the utility or nearby lightning.

It works best combined with plug-in protectors for computers and TVs. It’s often added during a panel upgrade.

Most EV owners are happier with Level 2. A standard 120-volt outlet adds only a few miles of range per hour, while a Level 2 charger on a 240-volt circuit can refill most daily driving overnight.

Level 2 needs a dedicated circuit sized for the charger, and the panel has to have room for it.

Often, but it should be checked with a load calculation, not guessed. Many 100-amp homes can add a charger, sometimes with a smaller circuit or a load-management device.

If the numbers don’t work, a panel or service upgrade is the honest answer. Luminous Electric checks capacity before every EV install.

Usually, with the association’s or owner’s approval. The plan depends on where meters and panels are and how the garage is laid out.

Luminous Electric handles multi-unit and condo EV charging, and can give your board a clear plan to review.

Linear LED is continuous light in a slim channel, recessed into a ceiling or wall, or mounted along stairs, shelves and cabinets. It gives clean lines of light instead of a grid of round cans.

It’s easiest to install during construction or renovation, when walls and ceilings are open, but it can be retrofitted.

Most smart switches and dimmers need a neutral at the switch box, and many older homes don’t have one there.

Some models work without one, or a neutral can be run to the box. An electrician can check your boxes before you buy devices.

There isn’t one number. It depends on ceiling height, the room’s use, the fixture’s beam spread and whether there’s other light in the room.

A good layout puts light where you work and sit, avoids glare, and puts everything on dimmers. We lay out lighting room by room.

Yes, for most work. New Jersey’s Uniform Construction Code requires electrical permits for new circuits, panel and service work, generators, EV chargers and most rewiring. Your town’s construction office issues the permit and its electrical inspector inspects.

Some minor repairs, like replacing a device with the same kind, are exempt. A licensed electrical contractor pulls the permit for you.

New Jersey allows homeowners to do some work on a single-family home they own and live in, with a permit and inspection. Panel, service and new-circuit work is best left to a licensed electrician.

Anyone doing electrical work for hire in New Jersey must be a licensed electrical contractor.

New Jersey requires a certificate of smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm and fire extinguisher compliance before a one- or two-family home is sold or re-rented. Your local fire official inspects and issues it.

An electrician can install hardwired, interconnected alarms ahead of the inspection.

The inspection is an independent check that the work meets code. It protects you, your insurance and your home’s resale.

Unpermitted work can cause trouble when you sell or file an insurance claim. Luminous Electric includes permit filing on every job that needs one.

Code calls for GFCI protection in places where water and electricity meet: bathrooms, kitchens, garages, unfinished basements, laundry areas, crawlspaces and outdoors, among others.

Requirements have expanded with each code cycle. If your home is older, adding GFCI protection is one of the cheapest safety upgrades you can make.

Look up the contractor on the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs license verification site. Electrical contractors are licensed by the New Jersey Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors.

A licensed contractor’s number should appear on the vehicles, estimates and advertising. Luminous Electric lists NJ Electrical Contractor Lic. #17641 on its vans, logo and listings.

Ask whether they’re a licensed New Jersey electrical contractor, whether they carry insurance, whether the price includes the permit and inspection, and what’s included in the quote.

A good contractor explains your options in plain language and puts the price in writing before work begins.

In New Jersey, electrical work for hire must be done by a licensed electrical contractor. Licensing means training, code knowledge, permits and accountability.

Unlicensed work can create fire hazards, fail inspection and cause trouble with your insurance or when you sell.

Every job starts with an assessment and a clear quote before any work begins. Their promise is in their own words: “We will never add hidden or un-agreed upon prices.”

Call (973) 777-9202 to set up an assessment.

Luminous Electric is headquartered at 586 Valley Rd in Wayne and serves Passaic, Bergen, Essex and Morris Counties.

Towns include Wayne, Clifton, Paterson, Passaic, Little Falls, Totowa, Pompton Lakes, Ringwood, West Milford, Fair Lawn, Paramus, Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Montclair, Bloomfield, Nutley, Butler, Morristown, Parsippany, Denville and Kinnelon.