Electrical Panel & Service Upgrades
Your main breaker panel and exterior service are the main distribution point for all the electrical in your home. When a new breaker panel is installed, it is with quality materials that are UL listed. Each wire is checked to see what amperage it is rated for and the proper size breaker is installed for each wire. New panels are grounded to the latest version of the electrical code. The minimum size for new panels and services is 100 amps. Many homes still have 60 amp services, this can usually be obvious by the round meter socket that holds the power companies meter. A new 100 amp service will include a new meter socket, conduit and copper wire. We do not use aluminum wire for overhead services or anything in the home. Whole house surge protection is highly recommended. With the high usage of computers and electronic devices used in today’s homes, a whole house surge protector could save you a lot of time and money if there is a surge on the power lines.
200 amp panels and services:
With the future of electric cars looking to be forthcoming in the near future, a 200 amp panel and service upgrade will give homeowners the room for future expansion. Car chargers that will charge in shorter amounts of time take considerably more power (many are 60 amps or higher). We have numerous customers that have had us upgrade their homes to 200 amps and then run 100 amps from the new main panel to the garage for existing or future car chargers. We have also wired many car chargers for customers. A 200 amp panel and service will also help the sale of a home since many home buyers are looking to upgrade and add items such as hot tubs or car chargers.
If you still have fuses or an outdated panel you could be at risk.
Fuses:
Many insurance companies will no longer insure homeowners with fuses or Federal Pacific brand breaker panels. Many times, when a fuse is blown it is replaced with a larger fuse that may be too large for the wire it serves. If you still have fuses and have not had someone check the fuse ratings to make sure that they match the wire sizes, one or more may be incorrect. This could be an issue because of a previous owner of the home.
Federal Pacific brand panels:
Many insurance companies will also not insure Federal Pacific brand panels because of the fire issues that have happened due to the breakers not tripping when there was an issue in the home. Federal Pacific has been out of business for decades because of lawsuits due to defective breakers.
