If your home has an older electrical panel and service in it, you may find that there is not enough power coming in for the demands of your modern appliances and devices that you need to power. An electrical panel upgrade can resolve that issue for you, and an electrician can add extra circuits to the house, so you have all the power you need.
Evaluating The Electrical Panel
When your electrician comes to inspect the current electrical panel and service, they will look at how many amps you have available and then take into consideration how many you need for your home. Many older houses still have one hundred amp services in them, and while that was enough when they were built, it is often not enough today.
An electrical panel upgrade allows the electrician to expand the power available. For most homes, installing a two hundred amp service is more than enough, but in extremely large houses with a garage and large commercial-style appliances, you may need as much as a four hundred amp service. Upgrading the panel does not mean you will use all the extra electricity, but it does offer you the option to add a circuit and draw more power when you need it.
Installing The Panel
When it is time to upgrade your electrical panel, the electrician will have the power company shut off the power to your home and disconnect the service at the weather head, the connection outside where the wires meet the house. The wiring inside the home is disconnected from the old panel entirely, and the electrician can then remove the panel.
An electrical panel upgrade is an opportunity to clean up the panel a bit and organize all the breakers, so they are easy to find. The electrical can also mark all the circuits correctly, so you never have to guess which breaker is the lights or the power to the range.
The new panel is mounted in the same location, and all the wiring is run into the new box then connected to the circuit breakers. Additional circuits can be run in the home during this process and added to the new service to give you the power you need in your home.
Once the wiring is complete inside, the new weather head and service entrance are mounted outside, and the wires run into the box. The electric company can then return to the home and connect the lines to your house, supplying power for your electrical panel upgrade once the electrical inspector or code enforcement signs off on the work. Typically an electrical panel upgrade in your home will take a couple of days, and you will need to plan for the power to be off during that time.