The electrical panel is the heart of your home’s electrical system. Making sure it’s healthy and can handle your current needs could mean the difference between having a modern house or starting a house fire.
Being proactive about replacing your electrical panel is crucial to keeping you and your property value safe. Here are the top signs that it’s time for a replacement:
- Your current system is more than 20 years old. This is a rough rule of thumb, but in general, whenever you’re doing general renovations or your system’s amperage is behind modern models’ levels, panel replacement makes sense.
- Your panel depends on fuses. The type of panels installed in houses before and during the ‘60s usually relied on the fuses to absorb any overcurrent in the system by heating up to the point of melting. This can become a nuisance having to change fusses and keep a stock pile of them on hand.
- Your lights are flickering all the time. If you are the only house on your block experiencing faulty lights, then it’s likely not your utility company’s issue. The wiring or panel in your home needs to be looked at by a professional.
- Your circuit breakers keep tripping. If you can’t turn on some appliances in your house without the circuit tripping, it’s likely because your circuitry is overloaded or possibly the panel can’t handle the amperage demand.
- You plan on adding new appliances. Large additions to your current electrical load may outstrip the capacity of your panel. This applies more to situations where you’re either adding new appliances or replacing models older than ten years.
How Hard Is It to Replace an Electrical Panel?
If you’ve come to the decision to replace your panel, the next step is to contact an electrician. Panel replacement is complex. It requires a deep understanding of circuits and communication with your electric utility company.
At M. R. Electricians, we understand how to get you through this process. We’ve been doing it for over 25 years. So give us a call at 301-871-0477 (for Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC), or 727-422-0391 (Florida).
