Your home’s electrical panel serves as the central hub for controlling power throughout the building and safeguarding against potential hazards. In other words, it’s arguably the most important part of the whole electrical system in your house. Electrical panel upgrades can be necessary for a host of reasons. If you’re concerned that an upgrade may be necessary, look at the timing and motivations involved in the following situations.
The Electrical Panel Is Obsolete
Electrical technology has served us well in the United States for more than a century, but that also means there’s a lot of aging infrastructure. Even in your house, there’s a chance that the electrical system is simply obsolete. Lack of grounding is a common sign of an obsolete system, usually evidenced by the outlets only using two-prong plugs. Another obvious sign is a lack of support for arc- or ground-fault circuit interrupters. These are systems that cut off the circuit to an outlet if something triggers a fault, such as water splashing into the outlet. Unsurprisingly, these kinds of AFCI and GFCI outlets are most common in kitchens and bathrooms. You can identify them because they usually have reset buttons and fault indicator lights.
Some signs of obsolescence are less obvious if you’re not looking directly at the electrical panel. If the system uses a fuse box instead of a panel with electrical breakers, you can assume that it’s obsolete. Fuses tend to be round and glassy, and they measure about an inch in diameter. Circuit breakers are plastic, black, and horizontally oriented in most cases.
One of the harder signs for a non-professional to identify is the absence of a bus bar to support a ground or neutral line. We can have an electrician check the electrical panel to verify whether it contains the appropriate bus bar.
Another sign of an obsolete panel is that it’s missing key elements to comply with the current electrical codes. An obvious sign of an old panel is that it lacks a main circuit breaker. Today’s panels should have a single breaker that turns the electricity to the whole house off in one shot. It’s usually at the top or bottom of the panel. Most panels have two rows of breakers, and the main shutoff straddles the two rows.
Circuit Breakers Regularly Trip
The circuit breakers in an electrical panel prevent any particular circuit from carrying too much load. Circuit breaking is a key safety feature that prevents fires and damage to devices and appliances. If a circuit breaks occasionally, then it’s probably just doing its job. However, if a circuit is breaking even once a month, then there is likely an overload.
You don’t always have to upgrade the panel in this situation. In many cases, one of our electricians can install a higher-capacity breaker and run new wiring that supports it. It may also be possible to run a new line with its own breaker if there’s spare capacity on the panel. This is sometimes necessary if you’ve added a new high-demand device to the system. For example, you might need to do this if you just bought a large freezer.
One sign that an electrical panel upgrade is probably necessary is if multiple circuits are breaking in different parts of the house. At that point, the panel likely doesn’t provide enough capacity for all of your electrical demands. This is common in older houses that weren’t built for today’s lifestyle. If a house supports 100 amps of power, for example, things could get interesting once you add 200 amps of demand. This happens when you start adding large appliances, more electronics, power tools, and other devices to the system. The system might handle it when overall demand is low, but you could see the circuit breakers kick off if you throw laundry in the washer and then start a project with power tools.
Home Renovations or Additions
Even if the electrical panel is still working well, a home renovation or addition project is a good time to think about upgrading it. Once more, you may be able to just add some lines and circuit breakers. Especially if you or a previous homeowner planned for expandability, the upgrades may be as simple as putting in a couple of new circuit breakers and then running new wiring. If there’s no room for expansion, then it’s probably time to replace the panel.
Unusual Systems
High-voltage connections are becoming more common in households. While the old standard for a high-voltage setup was typically 240-volt power to support a washer and dryer, EV charging stations are changing the game. There’s a good chance that your home’s existing panel doesn’t have room for an additional high-voltage line, especially if you’re already running a washer and dryer. Consequently, a new panel may be necessary.
The same goes for other less common systems. If you require three-phase power, for example, a new panel may be necessary. Some types of solar power and even some generators will either require a new panel or a retrofit to make those systems work with the existing panel.
Efficiency
People tend to focus on the effectiveness of their home’s electrical system, making efficiency something that’s out of sight and out of mind. However, a low-cost solution like a panel with aluminum connectors could be costing you money in the long run. The same goes for a system that uses steel or aluminum bus bars. A previous homeowner might have elected to use these solutions back when electricity was cheaper, but they’re not great for today. Within several years, the cost of upgrading to an electrical panel that uses copper components is likely to pay for itself in reduced electrical consumption.
Safety
Any problem with the electrical panel that might endanger your house, the people in it, or the devices you own is a strong argument for an upgrade. Common signs of safety problems with a panel include the smell of smoke, melted plastic, visible electrical arcing, or black marks. You may also notice buzzing, hissing, popping, crackling, or humming sounds from either the electrical panel or systems in your house. Rust or metal discoloration in the panel is another potential sign of safety issues. If the panel or the breakers are noticeably warm to the touch, then something could be wrong.
Moving In
Finally, you may simply want to perform an electrical panel upgrade when you move into a house. This gives you peace of mind from knowing exactly what the system can and can’t do. It also lets you know that the system should have decades of service life ahead.
At Dawson's Electric & Air in Fuquay-Varina, we proudly serve the residents of the entire Raleigh area. We perform a variety of electrical services. Our electricians are prepared to handle work on GFCI outlets, EV charging stations, whole-house surge protection, generators, and lighting. We also welcome grounding and wiring projects.
If you’re concerned that your house may require an electrical panel upgrade, contact us at Dawson's Electric & Air today.
