Upgrading Your Residential Electrical Panel To Add More Power In Your Home

Posted on: 23 September 2022

The electrical panel in your home is the entry and control point for all the power coming into the house. In older homes, the electrical panel capacity may be limited to as little as one hundred amps, but as homes increase in size and more appliances are added, the power requirements continue to grow. Electrical panels are getting larger with more circuits to meet the demand. 

Service Entrance

The electricity coming into your home from the utility company requires a connection called the service entrance that connects the power lines from the utility pole to the house. The electrical connection feeds the electrical panels in your home and garage if you have a detached building. The electrical panel's capacity is often the limiting factor in the power coming into the house. 

In older homes, electrical panels used fuses and often only had a capacity of sixty to one hundred amps. The house did not need more because limited electrical items were used when it was built, but as homes have increased in size, more circuits are necessary to provide electricity throughout the house safely. 

The average home now requires twice or three times as much electricity coming into the home. In older houses, you may need to hire an electrician to change the electrical panels in the home and upgrade them to consolidate everything into one box with more capacity that uses modern circuit breakers instead of fuses.

If you are renovating the home, you may also want to upgrade the wiring throughout the house to ensure everything is working correctly. Adding ground fault interrupt circuits in the bathrooms and wet areas is necessary, and providing protection from lighting, power surges, and other unexpected problems may be mandatory during the renovations in many parts of the country.

Determine Your Electricity Requirements

Upgrading the old fuse panels to modern electrical panels with breakers is not overly challenging, but the electrician doing the work will need to determine how large the new panel needs to be. If you have a lot of electric appliances, are adding air conditioning to the home, or are adding a shop to your garage, you may need more capacity. 

Talk with your electrician about your needs, and they can help you determine the amount of electricity you may need at one time. The electrical panel size must be able to handle the required power and have some additional capacity.

Electrical panels are available that allow capacities in access or four hundred amps, and in homes that are using that much electricity, splitting the panels into several smaller subpanels can make it easier to manage the system. Electrical panels this large are not typically in residential homes unless the house is extremely large, but they can be used when necessary.  

For more information, contact a local company, like Shocking Difference LLC.

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The Electrical System is the Backbone of Your Building

The electrical system in your home or office is like the backbone of your building. It is what provides your building with the support that it needs to function, much like how your spine supports your body. Without a working electrical system, your appliances, lights, and electronics will not be able to run and function correctly. That is why it is essential to understand what to do and who to call when you experience an electrical issue or want to engage in an electrical upgrade to your property. At Royal Tech Electrical, we are here to help give you the information you need to make informed electrical systems so you can keep the backbone of your home and office working effectively.

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