An electrical panel is the central hub of your entire electrical system. It’s where all the power coming into your home gets diverted into multiple circuits to run a variety of appliances and electronic devices. From time to time, it’s important that you routinely upgrade your panel to better meet your needs and ensure safe operation of your household electrical system.
1. Fuse Box
If your home was built before the 1960s, you may still have a fuse box. This is a much smaller box that uses fuses for all the electrical circuits. The problem with a fuse box is that anytime you overload the circuit, the fuse blows. Unlike a breaker, you can’t simply reset the fuse to use it again. Rather, you have to replace the fuse with a new one, which can be quite frustrating and time-consuming. Apart from being a real pain to operate, fuse boxes typically aren’t large enough to handle our modern-day electrical needs.
2. Frequent Outages
Before the 1980s, it was standard practice to include about 60 to 100 amps of power going to a typical household in Winter Haven. While that was great for a time when there weren’t as many electronics, it simply doesn’t meet most modern-day needs. If you’re constantly tripping your breakers, overloading your circuits, have flickering lights, or one of the many other signs of drawing too much power from your panel, it’s time to think about upgrading. Most homes these days have about 200 to 250 amps of power going to them to power all of our appliances and a plethora of electronic devices.
3. Home Renovation Project
Planning a home renovation project can be very exciting. While you may be focused on upgrading your bathroom or installing new lighting fixtures in your kitchen, one thing you don’t want to forget about is your electrical system. If you’re doing extensive renovations to your home, it’s typically the best time to upgrade your electrical panel.
This includes everything from running new wiring and installing your outlets to upgrading your circuit breakers and your panel. It’s easiest to do an upgrade when all your walls are opened up, exposing all your wiring for easy access.
4. Want Smart Technology
Smart technology is taking the home convenience world by storm. Homeowners now have access to smart panels that easily integrate with their smartphones for convenient use and real-time energy usage data. Smart panels allow you to easily reset a circuit breaker from the convenience of your smartphone without having to physically touch anything in your panel. You can even see how much energy certain circuits are using, so you can better adjust your usage habits to reduce your energy consumption.
5. Not Enough Electrical Circuits
One other reason you may want to consider upgrading your panel is that it simply doesn’t have enough circuits. Panels are specifically designed with a set number of circuits, such as 20 or 25. If there’s no space to add additional circuits but you want to install a new appliance or put in new outlets, you’ll need to upgrade to a larger panel that can accommodate the number of circuits you need.
Tips on Choosing a New Panel
If you decide you need to upgrade your electrical panel box in your Lake Wales home to better fit your needs, there are multiple factors to consider when selecting a new one. One of the first things you’ll want to consider is the size of the panel. This includes the amount of amperage going to it and the number of circuits in it.
Larger homes need more circuits because they have more rooms to power. If you’re highly dependent on electronic devices or run a business out of your home, you may want to consider upgrading to 250 amps of power to ensure you never overload your circuit breakers.
While ensuring your panel meets your current electrical needs, you don’t want to forget about your future ones. If you’re thinking of putting on a home addition at some point in the future or want to add power to things like an outside workshop or garage, you want to ensure your panel will accommodate those upgrades when they happen. Keep in mind that panels have a usable lifespan of 25 to 40 years, so the decisions you make now are going to make an impact in the future.
Consider Feature Upgrades
When upgrading your panel, it’s also a good time to think about installing a whole-home surge protector. This device works to protect your electrical circuits from damaging power surges. It’s a great upgrade that can protect your appliances, electronics, and entire electrical system.
If you’re concerned about your energy usage moving into the future, you may want to invest in smart breakers or energy monitoring breakers. These will allow you to physically monitor your energy usage in real time so you can easily identify areas for improvement.
GFCI Breakers
One other factor you may want to consider is including GFCI breakers in your new panel. These are great for wet rooms like bathrooms and kitchens as they respond very quickly to kill the power to prevent electrocution. You can either have GFCI outlets installed or you can rely on a GFCI breaker for multiple outlets. If your home currently lacks GFCI outlets, it can be more cost-effective to purchase a GFCI circuit breaker than replace all the outlets in your wet rooms and outside.
Importance of Professional Installation
Working around electricity can be dangerous if not handled correctly. For this reason, it’s typically a requirement by the National Electric Code (NEC) and your local building codes to have a licensed electrician do a panel upgrade for you. This will ensure the job gets done safely and effectively.
Bonus Reasons to Upgrade
There are many other reasons you may want to consider upgrading your electrical panel. If your home has outdated wiring, such as aluminum wiring, you’ll likely need to invest in rewiring service in the near future. When rewiring your home, all the old wiring for your circuits needs to be pulled out of your panel and new wiring installed. It only makes sense to upgrade your panel when you’re removing all the wiring from it, as it’s simple to pull the box off the wall and put a new one on.
If your panel is over 40 years old, it’s likely time for an upgrade. It’s common for aging panels to have outdated breakers that are no longer produced. Trying to track down those outdated breakers can be time-consuming. Even worse, because there is such a small supply of them, their price is likely extravagant. It’s typically more cost-effective to replace your entire panel with newer breakers that are readily available.
Expert Electrical Panel Replacement Service
Top Flight Electric offers expert electrical panel replacement in the Winter Haven, FL, area. We can also help with all your electrical repair, installation, and inspection services needs. Call us today to book an appointment with one of our electricians.
