Navigating the New Canadian Electrical Code: Opportunities for Enhanced Safety and Efficiency

As leaders in the electrical supply industry, Civic Recycling is always at the forefront of adapting to changes in industry standards and regulations. A significant update to the Canadian Electrical Code has introduced several changes that are not only pivotal for the electrical sector but also for the environment and safety of our communities.

Renewable Energy and Energy Storage

The rise of renewable energy calls for efficient energy storage systems (ESS). The 2024 CEC includes detailed guidelines for ESS installation, particularly in residential units. For homeowners, this translates to more options for integrating renewable energy solutions like solar panels, ensuring their homes are future-ready and eco-friendly​​.

Adapting to Climate Change

With an alarming rise in flood damage costs, the CEC has introduced requirements for electrical installations in flood-prone areas. Homeowners and businesses in such regions will need to consider these new standards for safety and compliance, potentially affecting building designs and construction methods​​.

Electric Vehicle Revolution

As electric vehicles (EVs) gain popularity, the CEC has added provisions for electric vehicle energy management systems (EVEMS). This will impact the electrical infrastructure of multi-unit residential buildings and commercial properties, requiring electricians and construction professionals to adapt to new standards for EV charging installations​​​​.

A Clearer Path Forward

With improved interpretations in the CEC, professionals can expect less ambiguity and more straightforward guidelines. This clarity will benefit homeowners and businesses, ensuring that electrical installations are safe, efficient, and up-to-date​​.

The adoption of these changes varies across provinces and territories, but most are expected to adopt the new CEC within 18 months of publication. This means that regional differences in electrical standards will gradually diminish, leading to a more unified approach across Canada​​.

Purchasing an EV is an excellent long-term investment for reducing environmental impact. However, installing a home EV charging station can be costly, ranging from $1,000 to $4,500, with potential additional costs for upgrading home electrical systems. Thankfully, there's a cost-effective solution: an electric vehicle management system or an automatic load management system. These systems control EV supply equipment loads, helping to maximize the efficiency of existing electrical infrastructure and avoiding high upgrade costs. They are ideal for homeowners looking to adapt to the EV revolution without incurring excessive costs​​.

The updated Canadian Electrical Code presents a mix of challenges and opportunities. Homeowners, businesses, and professionals in the construction and electrical sectors must stay informed and adaptable. At Civic Recycling, we're committed to helping customers navigate these changes, providing the latest electrical components and expert advice. For those considering EV charging solutions, explore our Electric Vehicle Management System, and discover how you can efficiently manage your EV charging needs while complying with the latest standards.

Stay current with us as we embrace a safer, greener, and more efficient future.

Don't Risk It: How High-Quality Circuit Breakers Protect Your Home

High-Quality Circuit Breakers help protect you from electrical fires and will trip if they detect a problem. It is important to make sure they are checked by an electrician and that the breaker itself works properly and has been tested by a certified professional.

We found a great article from CNET.com that talks about this very topic, we have included part of the article below, for the full article click here.

Enjoy part of this post below!

Circuit Breakers fulfills a simple task:

If too much current flows through the circuit, it breaks the circuit and disconnects the dangerous flow.

The problem isn't the electricity itself, but what it can do: start a fire. If a cable gets damaged, it can create an arc that can ignite wood or other material. This unrestricted flow of current could be caused by a wrongly-wired plug, a faulty device or your dog chewing through a cable. Anything that makes the circuit the current has to flow through shorter than it should be (hence the term short circuit) or sends it to the wrong place is a problem because it can arc and cause a fire. That's the main difference between circuit breakers and the ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) sockets in your kitchen or bathroom: the latter protects you from electrical shock, while the circuit breaker in your basement prevents your house from burning down.

Somewhere in your house or apartment is a circuit panel that contains your circuit breakers. Each of these breakers is connected to a number of wall sockets or a single appliance. How much current will trigger these breakers depends on the type: most wall sockets will have 15- or 20-amp breakers, while large appliances like dryers may have larger ones. Whatever the capacity, they do the same thing: cut off the circuit if they detect a problem.

Inside is a mechanism called a magnetic breaker. In this, there is a coil of wire that the current passes through. Inside this coil is a small metal pin which can slide forward. When it moves, it pushes on another piece of metal, which is connected to a third piece that is part of the circuit. This is the active part of the breaker: normally, the current flows through it. When the pin moves and pushes the second piece, it moves the third piece and the circuit is broken. The circuit gets broken because a sudden increase in the current passing through the coil makes the pin move. The increased magnetic field created by this current pushes the pin, triggering the circuit breaker.

For more read the full article on CNET to read the full story on how circuit breakers will protect your home from electrical fires or other problems.

https://www.cnet.com/news/appliance-science-how-the-circuit-breaker-protects-you-from-fires/

High-Quality Circuit Breakers are important for both residential and commercial properties, make sure you have good equipment that has been tested by a professional.

Here at Civic Recycling, we back up our breaker testing with written test results, an insurance policy for you.

Properly tested circuit breakers are an insurance policy for you, your customers and your business. When it comes to the installation of circuit breakers your company takes on the liability if you install circuit breakers that are untested or have no documentation to back it up.

Eliminate the unnecessary risk with our help

All testing is performed by Certified Low Voltage Circuit Breaker Technicians. Contact us to learn more about this process and how we can give you peace of mind.

Our testing standards meet and/or exceed testing standards set out by  PEARL, NEMA, NETA , IEEE and even the manufacturers testing standards.

The Only Circuit Breaker Resource You Will Ever Need

Time is your most valuable asset. You either get paid for that time or you don’t. It’s easy to be pulled away into tasks that eat up all of that valuable time for what seems like something simple, like searching for the right circuit breaker.

What’s the answer? Let someone else do that search and keep working. All it takes is a phone call or a quick visit to the online store on our website.

Your Circuit Breaker & Electrical Equipment Resource

Civic Recycling is your circuit breaker resource. We have an expert team loaded with Certified Breaker Technicians. Click here to make the call, let them know about the parts you need to get the job done and get an answer within minutes. Even better, have it all shipped to your project and get back to work with the right parts in hand.

The experts can help you with obsolete parts or hard-to-find electrical products from small residential breakers to massive mains big enough to run a large facility.

This includes new and top-quality parts, reconditioned by certified experts. Of course, the breakers and equipment come with a guarantee, so you and your customers can proceed with the peace of mind knowing you’re working with the best.

Add an expert electrical supplier to your team

You are paid for your skill as a professional contractor, not for the time you spend thumbing through multiple websites looking for a part. When you have a valuable resource at your disposal, such as an expert in supplying tough-to-find parts, use it.

• Our experts know the parts you need and can get them in your hands.

• You don’t need to do your own search. It’s already done.

• One phone call or a search in our easy-to-use Online Store will give you the answers you need immediately, taking the guesswork out of acquiring parts.

• All this adds up to you and your team getting back on the job.

The frustration of the wrong or low-quality circuit breaker parts

Want to double down on a time waster? All you need to do is spend time digging around for a part, order it and then learn it’s the wrong breaker. Want a complete disaster? Install that low-quality breaker and then return to the project later because it doesn’t work. No one wants to do the job twice.

No one can afford to do a search for a part, buy the wrong one and have it malfunction. It’s a serious risk to the success of your business. Hunting down the right transformer, motor control, fuse or receptacle can be an overwhelming task and a job you shouldn’t waste time doing when you have an expert at your fingertips – on the phone or online.  

Leave this job to the experts in the field of electrical supply and move forward with your project. For more about our electrical products click here or contact us for more information on your specific needs.

Civic Recycling is pleased to announce that it has surpassed 350,000 lamps recycled to date and is well on its way to recycling 400,000 of them. Fluorescent lights provide high-value lighting in many settings but can contain up to 23 milligrams of toxic mercury per lamp. With this latest milestone in Civic Recycling’s commitment to protecting the environment in Canada, a total of 8,050,000 milligrams of mercury have been diverted from landfills or entering Canadian waterways. That’s 8 kilos of poison that can no longer cause harm to others or our natural resources.

Civic Recycling has surpassed 350,000 recycled lamps and well on our way to recycling 400,000!

Civic Recycling serves the greater Alberta region from its headquarters in Calgary. Through our fluorescent lamp recycling program, we aim to fill the gap left by our province not banning these types of lamps from garbage collection facilities as other areas already have. Although Calgary doesn't categorize fluorescent bulbs as hazardous waste, we recognize the threat they pose if not disposed of properly, and we work to minimize that danger.

We effectively crush various types of fluorescent lamps, including T12, T8, and T5 plus 4-foot and 8-foot tubes, U-tubes and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). We rely on the 55 VRS-U Premium Bulb Eater from the AirCycle Corporation to deliver our recycling services to customers throughout central Canada. This machine safely breaks down fluorescent bulbs so mercury and phosphor dust can be collected in a specialty filter that we later send for appropriate hazardous waste disposal.

Are Fluorescent Bulbs Created The Same?

We also recognize that fluorescent bulbs aren’t all created the same. They can contain anywhere from 3 milligrams to 46 milligrams of mercury depending on bulb type, size, and age. Even the smallest amounts of mercury can add up, and it all represents potential environmental harm. We accept all bulb types for your recycling convenience but can't take bulbs that are broken. Civic Recycling accepts small groups of bulbs, under 100 pieces, at our Calgary location during regular business hours and larger groups after scheduling a special drop-off time at our location or pick-up time at your own.

How Can I Dispose Of Fluorescent Bulbs Properly?

Partner with Civic Recycling to dispose of your own fluorescent bulbs, and together we can improve Alberta’s environment for the future. Statistics Canada reports that about 68 percent of all households use CFL bulbs, while 39 percent continue to use traditional fluorescent lights. At the same time, survey responses show that only a third of households disposed of those bulbs in an environmentally friendly manner. We are committed to working with Albertans to increase that percentage and prevent as much mercury as possible from reaching our landfills and waterways. Our disposal methods are safe, cost-effective and easy to access.

Join us in celebrating our milestone of surpassing 350,000 properly dismantled fluorescent lamps and millions of milligrams of appropriately diverted mercury and help us reach our next big target: 400,000. We’ve been a trusted service partner and industrial equipment supplier in Calgary since 1995 and look forward to our continued client relationships and environmental stewardship as we march together into a safer, less toxic future.

Civic Recycling & The Canadian Electricity Association Vision 2050: Modernization & Innovation

The Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) acknowledges that Canada is now at a crossroads in the future of the country’s utilities. According to the 2015 report “Electric Utility Innovation: Toward Vision 2050,” an enormous portion of the country’s infrastructure is nearing the end of its lifespan. As such it will require investments that could top $350 billion over the next decades to adequately maintain coverage and keep up with demand. At the same time, current practices and electrical generation methods may not be the best for the electrical needs of the future. That means continued innovation is necessary to provide electricity responsibly and in an environmentally friendly way.

Civic Recycling is dedicated to the aims of Vision 2050 so Canadians continue to have access to a well-maintained electrical grid.

Civic Recycling is dedicated to Vision 2050 so Canadians continue to have access to a well-maintained electrical grid. We provide the compliant products consumers need, help eliminate risk through circuit breaker testing and empower responsible disposal practices through our fluorescent bulb recycling program.

As the government works to provide oversight and electrical upgrades are performed to infrastructure throughout the country, we’re ready to partner with residential and business customers throughout Calgary & the greater Alberta region to enable your own responsible updates at reasonable prices. We work with contractors performing residential and corporate upgrades and individual customers updating items on their own properties.

What Are The Five Pillars CEA Has Adopted For Enhancing Our Electrical Grid?

At Civic Recycling, we’re proud to share how pleased we are with what Canada has already accomplished during its bid to embrace modernization and innovation for our country’s own infrastructure. According to the 2017 Sustainable Electricity Annual Report, the CEA has adopted five very important pillars to support updating and enhancing our electrical grid. Those pillars include a low-carbon future, improved infrastructure, building relationships with communities and customers, risk-management systems and business excellence. 

We especially like the good stewardship and responsibility shown by the commitment within the pillars to integrate renewable energy better, mitigate the impact of climate change, increase support to low-income families and hire the best possible employees to conduct business.

The 2017 Sustainable Electricity Annual Report also shows a decreased reliance on coal and oil sources between 2015 and 2016. During the same time frame, diesel and hydroelectric usage trended slightly higher. The real winners with enormous increases included natural gas, nuclear and renewables as energy sources. 

Each of those trends shows the commitment Canada has made to Vision 2050. Unfortunately, Canada’s carbon emissions did increase slightly between 2015 and 2016, but the CEA continues to work to reverse that advance.

Addressing the other pillars through progress, the Annual Report contains positive trends for infrastructure investment, lower mercury emissions, and fewer toxic spills. It shows that fewer energy corporations supported low-income customers through special programs in 2016 versus 2015 which, like carbon footprint reduction, will need continued hard work in the future to bring into line with modern times.

How does Will Civic Recycling continue To Support Vision 2050?

We stand in support of the hard work being performed throughout the provinces and territories of Canada, and especially here in Alberta, toward Vision 2050. Along the way, we look forward to continuing to assist our customers in Calgary, the surrounding area and across Canada. Whether we can help you recycle fluorescent bulbs or ballasts, test your breakers or supply all the products you need for any size electrical project, we are ready to serve.

Contact us if you have any further questions and we would be happy to answer them.

History of the Circuit Breakers Part 3, by Civic Recycling

History of the Circuit Breaker

We last left off our exploration into the history of circuit breakers thinking about what may be next on the horizon. A little research into the topic presents us with a number of ideas, many of which are quite exciting in the development of how we consume and use electricity & power. Let’s look at a couple of ideas and developments of the last few years to get a firmer grasp on where the world of electricity and circuit breakers are headed. 

The first exciting development we came across is being brought to us by leading power and automation technology group ABB. ABB has solved a 100-year-old problem in electrical engineering by developing the world’s first circuit breaker for high voltage direct current (HVDC). 

What this circuit breaker does is allow for the “interruption” of power flows, which will enable efficient integration and exchange of renewable energy. In layman’s terms, what this invention and new circuit breaker technology will do is allow existing power systems and grids to work with emerging technologies. This creates much better use of power and better system usage for companies as well as users. Sounds awesome and we love it!

Another emerging technology is being brought to market by French Multinational corporation Schneider. What Schneider has developed is a range of high-power, low-voltage circuit breakers. What these circuit breakers will aim to achieve is improved metering 

“saving project time and energy usage; improved mechanical and electrical performance, even in harsh environments; and the ability to monitor and control the circuit breaker with a smartphone, even in power outage.” 

More efficient circuit breakers work well for all involved, from the manufacturer to the distributor, to the end user. Here at Civic Recycling, we like all of those things.

Siemens is also doing some awesome things

Another large corporation, Siemens, has developed a technology that looks to build on the future of circuit breaker safety technology. What Siemens has done is as follows:

Siemens has extended its range of fire protection circuit breakers with a variant for currents of up to 40 amperes (A). This unit uses special analysis software to recognize arcing faults in an electrical installation and immediately interrupts the circuit in order to prevent a cable fire. Around a third of all fires in Germany are caused by defects of this or a similar kind in electrical installations.

Anything that improves safety and efficiency is a plus in our book.

Fire protection circuit breakers offer additional safety because they also detect types of electrical arcing faults that do not blow conventional fuses. This explains why their specifications were recently incorporated into Germany’s DIN VDE 0100-420:202016-02 national standard and are now compulsory for many types of facility. Examples include public buildings, bedrooms and lounges in senior homes and daycare centers, as well as woodworking operations, wooden houses, and paper and textile plants. In the USA, arcing fault circuit interrupters have been required by law since 2008.

Not only are breakers becoming more efficient in the way they tie into our homes and power grids, but they are becoming safer as well; these are just a few examples of what the future holds for circuit breakers and electricity usage. We hope you enjoyed our dive into the history and future of circuit breaker and circuit breaker technology.

At Civic Recycling, Canada’s number one circuit breaker specialist, we provide open lines of communication at all times. If you have any questions that need to be answered we can always be reached via email at sales@civicrecycling.com, or by phone. Should the purchasing of a new or reconditioned product require our expertise, we’re always happy to answer any questions and to assist in the process. 

Sources: 

http://www.abb.ca/cawp/seitp202/65df338284e41b3dc1257aae0045b7de.aspx

http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2016/04/schneider-electric-launches-future-ready-circuit-breakers1.html

https://www.siemens.com/innovation/en/home/pictures-of-the-future/infrastructure-and-finance/smart-cities-protection-against-cable-fires.html

History of the Circuit Breaker, by Civic Recycling: Part 2

We began Part 1 with the inception of the circuit breaker, in Thomas Edison's shop in the 1870s. The Boston Electric Company was the first to manufacture and install a circuit breaker, about 20 years later in 1898. But these early breakers wouldn’t be familiar to you – or to your parents, or even your grandparents.

The First Miniature Circuit Breaker

The miniature circuit breaker you would recognize was born in 1924. A Swiss company called Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) patented the design, which was based on an earlier patent by Hugo Stotz. Stotz was an engineer who had founded an electrical society in Mannheim, Germany in 1891. He sold his company and patents to BBC, and they developed and patented the miniature circuit breaker in Germany. Stotz is credited as the inventor, and thus the grandfather of the modern, thermal-magnetic breakers in every home, office, and industrial property today.

Meanwhile, BBC stayed in business under the same name for over 60 years. In 1988, it merged with the General Swedish Electrical Limited Company (ASEA), and became ASEA Brown & Boveri (ABB). ABB still manufactures Stotz circuit breakers, and in 2014 they celebrated the 90-year anniversary of the original patent.

Dangerous Times during the 1900s

During the 1920s, many more buildings became electrified, and more and more electric devices came to the market. In turn, this put an increasing demand on electrical grids. Many electrical lines began to hit amperage levels they weren't designed for. Could be a potential problem right?

In those days, electrifying your home or business wasn't for the faint of heart! Complete short circuits and dangerous fires were common. Even when you decided to cut the power (to avoid a fire), just doing that was a risky task. The only way to cut power was to manually flip an air-brake switch - but watch out for dangerous arcs. The current rarely gave up without a fight!

Something we do not typically think about nowadays. Electricity is pretty safe and those kinds of problems almost unheard of.

More Amperage, more problems?

In 1928, the electrical industry created the first circuit breakers with K characteristics. That means they would trip when the current was 10-14 times the circuit's amp rating. While safer, these early models were too expensive to make their way into most homes or businesses.

Throughout the early 20th century, Stotz's patent was still in force, and BBC remained the primary driving force behind circuit breaker development. But outside of Germany, other companies began developing their own circuit breakers. When BBC’s patent expired in the 1940’s, competition accelerated.

Still, BBC continued to lead the way, and by 1957, they developed a miniature circuit breaker with a full 10 kA rating. This model would trip at a short circuit up to 10,000 amps, protecting most buildings from damage, fire, or worse. By this time, circuit breakers were  starting to look as they do today. However, they remained in their own casing, because they were directly on an individual line, not in a panel.

Introducing Circuit Breaker Panels

At last, the circuit breaker panel came on to the scene in the 1960s. Along with it came the first modular miniature circuit breakers. During the 1960s, lots of North Americans renovated their homes, driving the production of many new circuit breakers. This period saw a wide variety of circuit breaker designs, not all of which proved to be safe.

Through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, electrical service continued to evolve. Beginning in about 1980, many new or renovated homes featured circuit breakers we would consider modern, functional, and safe.

More about breaker manufacturers

Picking up from where the Boston Electric Light Company left off, the circuit breaker was improved then by an inventor by the name of Granville Woods. Around the time that the first commercial circuit breaker was in use, Granville improved the design and invented the automatic circuit breaker. Granville largely focused his efforts on improving and modernizing the railroad business, many of which you can still see in use today.

Post-Granville Woods, the next developments in circuit breaker technology were devised by the Cutter Manufacturing Company. Cutter was the first company to manufacture them on a larger scale, making wide-spread use significantly easier. This product they originally manufactured was known as the ITE Breaker (Inverse Time Element). You will still find versions of the ITE breaker in today’s catalogs, slightly upgraded of course, but the essence of the original is still very much intact. 

ITE Breakers & technological advancements

Following Cutter Manufacturing’s advancement of the ITE breaker, there was something of a lull in development. It wasn’t until about the 1920s that specifications for breakers were brought to the fore. What this meant was from that point on those interested in tweaking and making changes to breakers were able to do so with ease. This led to quite a bit of invention and various types of breakers coming and going over the years.  

As you probably know, from here, technology flourished and offered us a great many more powerful uses, like the development from the fuse-panel to the circuit breaker panel in homes and buildings. Something that we now take for granted, this was quite the improvement from the ‘60s onward. This change made things significantly easier, as circuit breaker boards could be reset as opposed to fuses that needed to be replaced every time they blew. 

Advancements like these, from companies small and large and from people like Granville Woods, have taken us to where we are today. In the final piece, we’ll discuss the future of circuit breakers and their potential uses, as technology becomes a larger and more powerful force in our society. The world is changing quickly and it’s always a fascinating case study on why that is and how business and manufacturers will evolve with it. 

Visit us in store or online

We have made some serious improvements as a human species, and we hope to continue the trend! At Civic Recycling, Canada’s number one circuit breaker specialist, we provide open lines of communication at all times. If you have any questions that need to be answered we can always be reached via email at sales@civicrecycling.com, or by phone. Should the purchasing of a new or reconditioned product require our expertise, we’re always happy to answer any questions and to assist in the process. 

That’s it for this installment of the history of circuit breakers! Next time we’ll move into the 21st century: a time when our demand for electricity, and the complexity of electrical devices, has reached heights Hugo Stotz could never have imagined.

Sources:

https://www.thespruce.com/service-panels-changed-in-the-1900s-1152732

http://sciencing.com/invented-circuit-breaker-6529651.html

From Home-Builders to Electricians: Civic Recycling Covers Most All Electrical Supplies

When you need electrical supplies fast and for less, Civic Recycling has you covered. A single breaker has stopped working? Civic has you covered. Need to replace an entire service in a commercial building? Civic definitely has you covered. Jobs big and small, simple or complex, common or obscure: Civic has you covered.

Since 1995, we've provided high-quality equipment to electrical contractors, wholesalers, industrial suppliers. We serve the oil, manufacturing, and agricultural industries as well as the general public. Whether you are looking for a brand new 15-amp residential circuit breaker or an obsolete 3000-amp molded case breaker, a box of teck connectors, a custom-built motor control centre, or a complete service, we're here to help you!

Not sure where to start? Feel free to give us a call at anytime. We're Canada's #1 new/used circuit breaker dealer. But circuit breakers are just the beginning!

Electrical supplies: What we sell

1. Circuit breakers

From 15-Amp residential breakers to 3000-Amp mains to run an entire plant. We stock new and reconditioned units from nearly every brand under the sun.

Need a European or Asian breaker? We have those, too! Even better, we ship anywhere in Canada, fast, from our massive warehouse in Calgary.

2. Transformers

You won't find many shops selling transformers, and especially not at our prices. We stock single-phase and three-phase from 50VA to 750KVA. We've got distribution, auto, open type, epoxy potted, isolation type, control and current transformers, general purpose, indoor and outdoor. Odds are, we have what you've been searching for – reconditioned and ready to go.

3. Motor control units

We have Motor Control Centres in stock from all the major manufacturers. Need a replacement bucket, doors, operators, or handles? We’ve got you covered. What's more, we can even build you a custom MCC, from 400 amp to 3000 amp, breakered or fused. Let us know!

4. Combination Starters

We stock combination starters from every manufacturer around the world, plus all the replacement parts you'll need. Your manufacturer is out of business? We can help you out. Magnetic, Manual, Contactors: we have them in stock.

We even custom-build combination starters to order. Whatever your needs, we'll build to suit. Size 00? Size 6? IEC rated? Breakered? Fused? We’ve got you covered.

5. Fuses

We don't mean to brag, but we have every single fuse known to mankind. Just try and stump us.

6. Everything Else You Need

No job is too big or too small for Civic. 400 amp? 3000? We can handle it. Choose from our massive inventory of electrical supplies, or let us custom-build your perfect solution. From service entrance panels, CDP panels, and electrical panel switches to disconnects, transfer switches, and splitters: our warehouse has them all, and replacement parts for each. 

How we test and refurbish

Our testing process is an insurance policy for you. We stand by our products, and if a used piece of equipment doesn't meet our standards, we won't sell it.

Each test result is documented with a unique tracking number. We test insulation resistance and contact resistance on all our breakers, and perform an over-current trip test. Furthermore, our standards meet or exceed testing standards set by Pearl, NEMA, NETA, IEEE and the manufacturers.

That's why we 100% guarantee our professionally reconditioned products. Can the other guys say that?

Civic Recycling Services

Our testing shop is here to help with your equipment, too! Got some breakers you aren't sure about? We'll test them for you.

We’ll also recycle your fluorescent ballasts, lamps, and fixtures. Our services go beyond the warehouse, so that for every aspect of your job, Civic has you covered.

We want your old equipment

We are always looking for used equipment and electrical supplies to refurbish. Got a big demolition project? Spring cleaning your shop? Looking for an alternative to the landfill for that old panel? We’d love to have a look!

In fact, when you fill out our online form or send us a quick email, we'll respond within 24 hours. If we like what we see, we'll even pay for shipping for locations outside Calgary. It's almost like we’re cleaning your shop for you!

We’ve got your back.

We have the best prices, a massive inventory, and guaranteed quality. Plus we ship anywhere in Canada, and now you can shop our online store from anywhere, 24/7.

No matter what you need, Civic has you covered.

Learn more about what we offer or contact us for information over the phone or email.