Electrical questions from California City & the high desert

Turn off the breaker for that circuit, or the main breaker, if you can do it safely, then call an electrician. If you see fire or smoke, get everyone out and call 911.

A burning or hot-plastic smell usually means a connection is overheating. Don’t keep using the circuit, and don’t open the panel cover to look. That’s a job for a licensed electrician.

A panel that’s slightly warm under heavy load can be normal, but a panel that’s hot to the touch, buzzing or smells burnt is not. Turn off the main if it’s safe and call an electrician.

Heat at the panel usually points to a loose connection, an overloaded circuit or a failing breaker. All three need a professional repair.

A tiny spark the instant you plug in can be normal. Large sparks, popping, scorch marks or a smell mean the outlet or the wiring behind it is failing. Stop using it, turn off the breaker and have it checked.

Worn outlets lose their grip on plugs, which causes arcing. Replacing the outlet is often the fix, but it’s worth finding out why it failed.

A partial outage often means a problem with one leg of your service or a failing main connection. Turn off the main breaker if it’s safe, then call an electrician, and call Southern California Edison as well since the problem can be on their side.

Lights that go bright and dim, or appliances acting strangely, are signs of the same problem. Don’t wait it out.

Stay far away, keep kids and pets away, and call Southern California Edison or 911. Assume every downed line is live.

Never try to move a line with anything, and don’t drive over one. If a line falls on your car, stay inside unless there’s a fire, and call 911.

Replace smoke alarms every 10 years, or sooner if the manufacturer says so, and test them monthly. California also requires carbon monoxide alarms in homes with a gas appliance, fireplace or attached garage.

Hardwired, interconnected alarms are required in many remodels and additions. We can add or replace hardwired alarms as part of other work.

A breaker trips to protect the wire when it carries too much current, when there’s a short, or when there’s a ground fault. If it trips again after one reset, stop resetting it and call an electrician.

Repeated tripping is the breaker doing its job. The cause might be too many things on one circuit, a short in the wiring, a failing appliance, or a worn breaker. One of our customers had a short in the wiring that kept tripping their breakers; finding the cause is the real fix.

Common signs are a panel with no open spaces, frequent tripping, a plan to add AC, an EV charger, a hot tub or solar, a fuse box, or an older panel brand with a poor track record.

A panel upgrade is permitted work and requires coordination with the utility for the shutoff and reconnect. We check your current panel and loads, then tell you whether you actually need an upgrade or just better circuit layout.

Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels have a long history of breakers that may fail to trip when they should, and many electricians recommend replacing them. If your home has one, have it evaluated.

These panels were common in homes built from the 1950s into the 1980s. A panel that looks fine can still have breakers that don’t protect the wire.

Many homes today have 100 to 200 amp service. The right size depends on your home’s size and its large loads: air conditioning, electric water heating, cooking, an EV charger, a pool or spa.

An electrician can do a load calculation to see whether your current service is enough before you add equipment. Don’t guess; undersized service is a common reason for tripping and dimming.

No. Panel, subpanel and new-circuit work should be done by a licensed electrician with a permit. Mistakes inside a panel can cause fires and serious shocks, even with the main off.

We can add a subpanel in a garage, workshop or shed, or new circuits for appliances, with the permit handled.

It’s a single piece of equipment that holds the utility meter and your main breaker together, usually mounted outside. It’s common on new homes and service upgrades.

Our job photos include a meter/main combination installed on a new build. Service equipment like this is coordinated with the utility and inspected before power is turned on.

Yes. Central AC and split-unit systems need a dedicated circuit sized to the equipment, plus a disconnect near the outdoor unit.

In the high desert, AC runs hard for months, so an undersized or shared circuit will trip and wear out parts. We’ve wired split-unit air conditioning for our customers and can check that your panel has room.

A brief dim when a large motor starts can be normal. Lights that dim a lot, flicker for a while, or dim when nothing big is starting point to a loose connection or undersized service, and should be checked.

Loose neutral connections in particular can cause wild voltage swings that damage electronics. That’s a call for an electrician, not a bulb change.

It’s when Southern California Edison turns off power to an area ahead of high winds or extreme fire weather, to reduce the risk of power lines starting a fire. They usually send notice ahead of time when they can.

If you rely on power for medical equipment or a well, plan ahead: a properly installed generator with a transfer switch is one option.

Yes. Heat makes connections and breakers work harder, and fine dust can work into outdoor equipment. Outdoor panels, disconnects and outlets should have proper weatherproof covers and be in good condition.

Have outdoor equipment checked if covers are broken, rusted or missing. Don’t open outdoor panels or disconnects yourself.

Fans don’t cool the air, but they make a room feel cooler, which can let you set the thermostat a little higher. Turn them off when nobody’s in the room.

A fan has to hang on a fan-rated box. We install and replace fans and wall controls.

Level 1 uses a regular 120-volt outlet and adds only a few miles of range per hour. Level 2 uses a 240-volt circuit and charges several times faster, which is what most owners install at home.

A Level 2 charger is a large, continuous load, so the circuit has to be sized for it and the panel has to have room.

Yes, a hardwired Level 2 charger or a new 240-volt circuit for one typically needs an electrical permit and inspection. A licensed electrician normally pulls it.

We install chargers and their circuits, check your panel’s capacity, and clean up after the work.

It can if the panel is already near capacity. A load calculation tells you whether you have room for the charger at full speed.

If there isn’t room, the options include a lower-amperage charger circuit, load-management equipment, or a panel upgrade.

Yes. Under California’s energy code, most new single-family homes built since 2020 must include a solar electric system.

If you’re building on a lot in the area, plan the electrical service with solar in mind from the start. Our job photos include a meter/main labeled for solar input on a new build.

Since April 2023, new solar customers of the big California utilities, including Southern California Edison, are on the Net Billing Tariff, which credits power you send to the grid at a lower rate than the old net metering. That makes using more of your own solar power, or adding a battery, more valuable.

Check the current rules with the utility and your solar provider before you buy. We can tell you whether your panel has room for solar or a battery.

A transfer switch, or an approved interlock, keeps generator power from flowing back onto the utility lines. Back-fed power can injure line workers and damage your home and the generator.

Never plug a generator into a wall outlet. Our job photos include a standby generator with its transfer switch wired in.

Current California code calls for GFCI protection in bathrooms, kitchens, garages, laundry areas, outdoors, crawl spaces and unfinished basements, near sinks, and for certain appliances. The exact list depends on when the work is done.

Older homes often lack GFCI protection in some of these places. Adding it is one of the simplest safety upgrades you can make.

Arc-fault circuit interrupters detect dangerous arcing in wiring and shut off the circuit. California code requires AFCI protection on most living-area circuits in new work, and when certain circuits are extended or modified.

If you’re remodeling or adding circuits, AFCI protection will likely be part of the job.

Two-prong outlets mean the circuit likely has no ground. They work, but they offer less protection for you and your electronics. Never use a cheater adapter to plug in three-prong appliances.

Code-compliant upgrades are adding a ground or installing GFCI protection with a “No Equipment Ground” label. An electrician can tell which fits your home.

One flickering light is usually a bulb, a loose bulb or a dimmer that doesn’t match the bulb. Flickering in several rooms, or with a buzz or burning smell, points to a loose connection and should be checked soon.

LED bulbs on older dimmers often flicker. A compatible LED dimmer fixes that.

Rewiring makes sense when wiring is brittle, damaged or ungrounded throughout, when there are many old splices and patches, or when there’s knob-and-tube or other obsolete wiring.

Many homes don’t need a full rewire, just targeted repairs, new circuits and updated protection. An inspection tells you which.

Use the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) license check at cslb.ca.gov. Search the license number and confirm the business name, that the license is active, and that it holds the C-10 Electrical classification.

The CSLB lookup also shows bond and workers’ compensation information. Trejo Electric’s license number is 1150791.

Yes. Electrical contracting in California requires a license from the Contractors State License Board for all but small jobs under the state’s minimum dollar threshold, and electricians working for C-10 contractors generally must be state-certified.

Hiring an unlicensed contractor can leave you with work that fails inspection and little recourse if something goes wrong.

Most electrical work beyond simple like-for-like replacements, such as new circuits, panels, services, EV chargers, generators and solar, needs a permit. Inside a city it comes from that city; in unincorporated areas from Kern County or Los Angeles County.

California City, Tehachapi, Lancaster and Palmdale issue their own permits. Mojave, Rosamond and Boron are unincorporated Kern County.

Ask for the license number and check it on the CSLB site, ask whether they’re insured, whether the job needs a permit and who pulls it, and get a clear price in writing before work starts.

Reviews from neighbors help too. Our customers have written that we explained everything clearly, didn’t overcharge, and cleaned the work area.

We look at the job first, then give you the price before any work begins. One customer wrote that the team came out the same day, gave a price estimate and didn’t overcharge.

Call or text (323) 942-2199, or use the request form, and tell us what you need.

Our listed hours are Monday to Sunday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with additional hours available upon request.

If something is sparking, smoking or smells hot, turn off the breaker or main if it’s safe. For fire or smoke, get out and call 911.