Electrical questions for Northeast Florida homes.

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

Don’t keep resetting a breaker that trips with a burning smell, and don’t open the panel cover. Heat, scorch marks, buzzing and a hot panel face are all signs to shut it off and have it checked the same day.

Partial power loss usually points to a problem on your side of the meter, such as a failing main breaker, a loose service connection or a lost leg of the incoming service. Turn off the main if you can do it safely and call.

If the outage followed a storm or a tree hitting the line, call your utility as well. They own the line from the pole; the mast, meter base and panel on the house are the homeowner’s responsibility.

Stay far away from it, keep kids and pets back, and call your electric utility right away. Treat every downed line as live.

Never try to move a line, even with something that seems non-conductive. In Northeast Florida that call goes to FPL, Florida Public Utilities, JEA, OREMC or Clay Electric depending on where you live. The number is on your bill.

It’s a smart addition here. Florida sees more lightning than almost anywhere in the country, and utility switching after storms sends surges through the lines. A surge protective device at the panel protects everything in the house, not just what’s plugged into a power strip.

It works best alongside good grounding and point-of-use protection for expensive electronics. Ask about adding one when other panel work is being done.

Before June, have any standby generator serviced and test-run, check that outdoor outlets have covers, and know where your main breaker is. If you plan to buy a generator, do it well before a storm is named.

Once a storm is coming, permits, inspections, equipment and crews all get scarce. After a storm, have any equipment that was flooded inspected before it’s turned back on.

No. Back-feeding through an outlet with a so-called suicide cord can kill a utility worker on the line and start a fire in your home. A portable generator needs a properly installed transfer switch or interlock, or you run extension cords straight to appliances.

Always run portable generators outdoors, far from doors, windows and vents, because of carbon monoxide.

A standby generator is permanently installed outside and wired to your home through an automatic transfer switch. When utility power fails, it starts on its own and takes over within seconds; when power returns, it switches back and shuts down.

It runs on natural gas or propane, so there’s no refueling with gas cans in the middle of a storm, and it exercises itself on a schedule so problems show up before you need it.

It depends on what you want to run, not just the size of the house. A load calculation that lists your AC, well pump, refrigerator, water heater and other essentials sets the right size.

Some homeowners choose an essentials-only setup; others want the whole house to run as normal, including central air. A certified installer can size it and explain the trade-offs.

Use natural gas if it’s available at your home; it’s a continuous supply. In much of Nassau County natural gas isn’t on the street, so propane from a tank on the property is the common choice.

Propane tank size determines how many days the generator can run before a refill, so it’s sized along with the generator.

It has to sit outside on a proper pad, with the clearances the manufacturer and code require from doors, windows, vents and the house. Those rules keep exhaust and carbon monoxide out of the home.

It also needs access for maintenance, and on coastal properties flood elevation matters. Placement is part of the permit review.

Yes. Like any engine, a generator needs oil, filters, spark plugs and a battery check on a schedule, plus a look at the transfer switch. Covenant Power offers Generac maintenance.

A generator that’s been sitting since last storm season with an old battery is the one that won’t start when the power goes out.

A certified dealer is trained on Generac equipment and installs it the way Generac specifies, which matters for performance and for the product warranty. Covenant Power Electrical Inc is a certified Generac dealer.

Ask any installer about warranty registration and service; those details are handled by the dealer.

You need a dedicated 240-volt circuit sized for the charger, room in your panel for a two-pole breaker, and enough spare capacity on your service. An installer checks all three before mounting the Wall Connector.

Covenant Power is a certified Tesla charge station installer. Most garage installs are straightforward once the panel checks out.

Level 1 plugs into a regular 120-volt outlet and adds only a few miles of range per hour. Level 2 uses a 240-volt circuit and can typically refill a daily commute overnight with plenty to spare.

If the car is your daily driver, Level 2 is usually worth it.

Not if it’s planned. A load calculation shows whether your service can carry the charger with everything else running, especially air conditioning in summer.

If capacity is tight, a lower charging rate, load management or a panel or service upgrade solves it. Chargers should never be added by guesswork.

Yes, with equipment rated for outdoor use and wiring protected for the location. Tesla Wall Connectors are rated for outdoor installation.

Near the coast, it’s worth thinking about salt exposure and keeping the unit out of direct sprinkler spray.

Powerwall is Tesla’s home battery. It stores energy, from solar panels or the grid, and can power parts of your home during an outage, switching over automatically.

Covenant Power is Tesla certified; call to talk through whether a Powerwall, a standby generator or both fits your home.

Yes. A new 240-volt circuit for a charger is electrical work that requires a permit and inspection from your local building department.

The licensed contractor pulls the permit. If someone offers to skip it, that’s a reason to find someone else.

Warning signs include breakers that trip often or won’t reset, a panel that feels warm, buzzing or burning smells, rust or corrosion, a panel with no open spaces, and old fuse boxes. Any of these is worth a professional look.

A panel also needs a hard look before adding big loads like a generator, EV charger, pool or addition.

Both brands have long-standing concerns about breakers that may not trip when they should, and many electricians recommend replacing them. They’re common in homes built from the 1950s through the 1980s.

If you see “Federal Pacific,” “Stab-Lok” or “Zinsco” on the panel label, have it evaluated.

A breaker trips because the circuit is overloaded, there’s a short, or there’s a ground fault. Occasional trips with a space heater or hair dryer usually mean overload; trips with nothing running point to a fault.

Repeated tripping is a warning, not a nuisance. Don’t swap in a bigger breaker; have the circuit checked.

Some homes built roughly 1965 to 1973 used aluminum wire for regular circuits. The connections can loosen and overheat over time, which is a known fire risk.

It can be made safer with approved repair connectors at every connection or by rewiring. If your home is from that era, ask an electrician to check.

Not by itself. Putting a three-prong outlet on an ungrounded circuit makes it look grounded when it isn’t. The proper fixes are running a ground, or installing GFCI protection and labeling the outlet as having no equipment ground.

Which fix is right depends on what’s plugged in. Computers and surge protectors need a real ground to work properly.

Yes. Near the coast, salt air corrodes outdoor outlets, fixtures, disconnects, meter bases and panel connections far faster than inland. Corroded connections can overheat or fail.

Weather-resistant and corrosion-resistant devices, good covers and periodic inspection make outdoor equipment last much longer on Amelia Island and the beaches.

Often, but the box has to be rated to support a fan. A standard light box isn’t built for the weight and motion, so the box is usually replaced with a fan-rated one during the install.

If you want the fan and the light on separate switches, that may also need a new wire run to the switch.

A single flickering fixture is usually a bulb, a dimmer that doesn’t match LED bulbs, or a loose connection at the fixture. Flickering across many rooms, especially when big appliances start, can mean a loose service or neutral connection.

Whole-house flickering, dimming or lights that get brighter when something turns on should be checked soon, because a loose neutral can damage electronics.

Older dimmers were made for incandescent bulbs and often cause LEDs to flicker, buzz or not dim smoothly. Replacing the dimmer with an LED-compatible model usually fixes it.

Check that the bulbs themselves are marked dimmable, too.

GFCI protection is required in wet and damp locations, including bathrooms, kitchens, laundry areas, garages, outdoors and near pools, and the list has grown with each code cycle.

A GFCI shuts off power in a fraction of a second when current leaks to ground, which protects people from shock. Test them monthly with the test button.

Many homeowners swap simple fixtures with the breaker off, but if you find damaged, scorched or aluminum wiring, no ground, or a box that isn’t secure, stop and call an electrician.

Anything beyond a like-for-like swap, such as new circuits, new switch locations or panel work, should be done by a licensed electrician with a permit.

Florida electrical contractors are licensed through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) and its Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board. You can look up any license on the DBPR website.

Licenses begin with EC for a state-certified contractor or ER for a registered contractor.

An EC (certified) license lets a contractor work anywhere in Florida. An ER (registered) license covers the local jurisdictions where the contractor holds a local certificate of competency.

Both are real state licenses. Covenant Power Electrical’s license number, ER13016556, is lettered on its trucks.

Look up the license on the Florida DBPR site, ask for proof of insurance, and make sure the contractor will pull the permit. Ask who will be on site and what the price includes.

A contractor who displays the license number openly, on trucks and ads, makes the check easy.

Most electrical work beyond simple repairs and like-for-like replacements needs a permit: new circuits, panels, services, generators and EV chargers. In unincorporated areas, including Yulee, that goes through the Nassau County Building Department; inside Fernandina Beach city limits, through the city.

The permit brings an inspection, which is a second set of eyes on your safety. Your licensed contractor handles it.

Florida uses the Florida Building Code, which adopts the National Electrical Code (NEC) for electrical work, updated on a regular cycle. Local building departments enforce it through permits and inspections.

Code sets the minimum. Good work often goes beyond it, especially for storm and salt-air conditions.

It means the company is owned by someone who served. Covenant Power Electrical Inc is veteran-owned and operated, and Christian-owned.

In their own words, the company is “deeply rooted in our community,” with a commitment to attention to detail and ethical operations.