Does Your Home Need A New Electrical Panel? Look For These Signs
Posted on: 24 May 2021
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Your home's electrical panel is the component that all the electricity runs through. However, old homes with the original electrical panels may not be suited for the needs of modern homes. Here are some signs to look out for that may show it's time to upgrade your home's electrical panel.
You Notice Odd Behavior
The initial warning signs are those that you likely experience regularly, as you may see them on a daily basis due to bad wiring issues. This includes lights that dim or flicker when they are turned on, a spark when you plug items into electrical outlets, or even a shock when you touch some appliances. This could all be due to wiring issues with too many devices running off of a single circuit in your electrical panel, or wiring issues that need to be corrected.
Your Circuit Breakers Frequently Trip
Do you have an issue where your circuit breaker trips every time you run a specific appliance? This could be that the lights go out when the microwave is running, or when the refrigerator compressor kicks on while other appliances are in use. This is a sign that the circuit breaker that the appliances are plugged into is overloaded, and you need to have more circuits installed. This way, less stress is put on each circuit breaker by keeping it under the maximum amount of wattage used.
You Can Spot Old Fuses
Take a look at the electrical panel and see what kind of fuses it requires. Modern electrical panels use circuit breakers that can be reset when they are tripped. Older panels use one-time use fuses that actually burn out when they trip, which requires that they are replaced. If you have one of these older style electrical panels and are tired of replacing fuses, then consider upgrading the entire panel.
You Are Performing A Home Renovation
Are you planning on renovating your home by either adding an addition or finishing your basement? You may not have an electrical panel that can support the additional electrical outlets that you will be adding. Consider using this as an opportunity to upgrade your electrical panel so that you can add more circuit breakers to your home and not overload circuits. This also will give you the opportunity to rewire existing outlets so that they are on dedicated circuit breakers.
For more information regarding this system, contact an electrician.