The Lehigh Valley Electrical Panel Installation Services
Your electrical panel routes electricity from the electric company’s power line throughout your home and control the supply of energy to each circuit. If your electrical panel is on the fritz, many systems in your home will be affected. If you find that you are having to reset tripped breakers frequently, then it could be time to contact a professional electrician. An experienced electrician should be able to fix whatever is wrong with your electrical panel or to install a new one if that’s what’s needed.
Panels will be typically found in a garage, closet or a place outside the home. In case of an emergency, homeowners should have easy access to these panels and know its basic functions. Some brands and old panels are no longer safe for use. If you’re unsure of the age of your electrical panel, it would be a good idea to have it inspected to make sure it’s safe and meets current electrical codes.
When should you replace your electrical panel?
The flow of electricity is controlled by circuit breakers. In case a circuit is overloaded, the breaker trips and the flow of electricity is shut off. You might have faced this if in the same circuit you had multiple devices running at once. It’s as easy to resolve this as unplugging gadgets and resetting the breaker.
If this is happening on a regular basis however, you may require professional servicing to replace your old panel with an updated one with enough capacity to adequately supply all your family’s power usage needs. If only one breaker falls, even if the machine is not overloaded, it can only be a bad breaker and the problem can be solved by a breaker replacement.
When your electrical panel gets to the point that you’re replacing breakers frequently, it’s a good bet that the entire panel needs to be replaced. If you don’t know the history of your panel, differing brands or different colored breakers will help you tell which of the breakers have been replaced.
When you are replacing an old appliance with a new one, you should always ask an electrician to check to make sure your panel is compatible, otherwise, you might overload your system. This is important especially if your new appliance takes up more power to operate than the previous one. When an old panel cannot support a new appliance, it’s time to get a new panel.
The latest panels are now equipped with AFCI outlets that safeguard wires from fires often caused by jumping electricity. Panels installed before 1999, when AFCI outlets became the standard, may not have them. In case you don’t have AFCI outlets you could be at risk of fires and other injuries.
An electrician is trained and capable of inspecting panels and outlets and can help in assessing your vulnerability. If your panel has no other problems, it may be more cost-effective to mount AFCI outlets at the end of each circuit than replace the entire panel.
If there’s some rusting or corrosion near your panel, it might need immediate replacement. If they are not properly protected, worn out panels are more likely to be damaged through surges, fires, and other factors.
Other signs that your panel needs replacing include:
- panel is warm or hot to the touch
- appliances overheating quickly when plugged in
- melted electrical wires
- popping or other noises coming from the breaker box
- burn marks on panel or outlets
- burning smell coming from panel
- hissing
- lights flickering when appliances are in use
Any unusual occurrence with your home’s electrical system should prompt you to call a professional electrician immediately. If you end up overloading your circuit, you could end up killing anything you plug into it. It can be costly as well as dangerous to ignore signs of a defective board. A dysfunctional electrical panel can cause fires to start.
Electrical panels last a long time but eventually wear out. Even your electrical wires can end up becoming frayed and/or worn. In addition, rodents may start chewing on your wires, and therefore disrupt your system. Whatever electrical issues your home may have, a professional electrician should be able to tell you what’s wrong and what can be done to correct the problem.
You may need to replace the entire unit or it might be as simple as replacing a wire. In such a situation, you could have your electrician discuss with you all available alternatives and get you installed the new panel so that your home can have dependable electricity once more.
For home safety, it’s best you contact a professional to inspect your home’s panel today. Only a professional electrician should deal with repairing or replacing an electrical panel. Those unskilled with electrical work could be putting themselves at risk of significant injury, and could cause more harm than good. Electricians are knowledgeable in all kinds of electrical work and they can do this in a safe and quick way.