If your electrical panel has fuses rather than circuit breakers, safety can be an issue. Even some electrical panels equipped with circuit breakers can pose safety hazards and need to be upgraded.

Another reason to upgrade your electric panel is if it’s too small. To say it’s “too small” means it doesn’t supply enough power. One sign of insufficient power is that fuses are frequently blowing or circuit breakers are flipping off. Or possibly, a contractor has told you that your home or business needs more power for a new air conditioner or other installation.

What is an electrical panel?

The power from the electric utility company flows through large wires to your home and into the panel, a large metal box with fuses or circuit breakers inside. The panel controls the flow of electricity throughout the house, cutting the flow with fuses or circuit breakers if power levels rise too high.

If you think of your home electrical system as having branches and twigs like a tree, your electrical panel is the tree trunk. From the panel, the current flows into major electrical branches which dwindle into smaller and smaller branches and twigs, serving every part of your home.

An electrical panel may also be called a:

These all mean the same thing.

How do fuses and circuit breakers work?

If too much power were to flow into the wires in your home, they could melt and a fire could start. If you were to accidentally touch a damaged overloaded wire, you could receive an electrical shock.

To prevent more electrical flow than the wires are designed for, your electrical service panel is supposed to detect the problem and stop the flow immediately. In older electrical panels, a fuse blows. In newer ones, a circuit breaker flips off. Both fuses and circuit breakers are designed to break the circuit and cut the power to wires. Properly functioning circuit breakers (or fuses) are vital for your family’s safety and the safety of your home. Click here for more information about how to get the power back on if a circuit breaker has flipped off.

How do I know if my electrical panel is too small and should be upgraded?

If circuit breakers are flipping or fuses are blowing often, it likely means that your electrical system needs enlargement, including possibly a panel upgrade. Here are common situations which call for enlarging an electrical system:

Fuse Boxes

Older electrical panels have fuses rather than circuit breakers. In the days when fuse boxes were installed, homes needed considerably less power. Many fuse boxes were designed to handle 30-60 amps of power whereas the appliances and electronics in today’s homes often require 100-200 amps of power or more.

Fuse boxes may become overloaded, blowing fuses and shutting down your appliances. This is an inconvenience, and there’s a temptation to buy larger fuses so that they won’t blow so often. But, oversized fuses can allow overloading and overheating of wires. Occasionally, someone will have put a penny in the opening to replace a blown fuse. This can really create a fire hazard because a penny can’t break the circuit.

A little known danger of fuse boxes is that homeowners can accidentally stick their fingers into the fuse opening, possibly while changing the fuse, and be electrocuted. The safe solution is to upgrade with modern circuit breakers.

Circuit Breaker Brands

Specific brands of circuit breakers, especially those installed in earlier decades, have been found to deteriorate with age and pose a safety hazard. You can go to the free website Inspectopedia  and search on the brand of your circuit breaker to check its safety.

If you want to learn more about electrical panels, including some unsafe brands, click here. You can also ask us to check out your electrical panel. Call us 8-5 at (800) 990-9490. The Electric Connection provides free over-the-phone estimates and free home inspections, including checking the safety and sizing of your panel, with every electrical job. We look forward to talking with you.

Kim Hopkins

CEO, The Electric Connection

As energy costs continue to rise, we all have to make some adjustments and figure out how to afford the higher electrical bill or how to reduce our electricity use in order to afford a roof over our heads. Obviously, the latter is probably the best and who knows, you just may be able to reduce your bill lower than you ever thought possible. You could actually put a few extra dollars in your pocket every month to put towards the rising cost of food. An electrician in Pasadena has a few tips you can start using today to save money tomorrow. If you would like to learn more, call The Electric Connection and talk with a member of the helpful staff.

1-The easiest thing for you to do is to turn off and unplug anything and everything when it is not in use. You can save a couple dollars every day by reducing your phantom energy draw.

2-Switch to CFLs and save about $20 a month on lighting costs. If you have a big house and typically use a lot of lights, you can save more by switching your incandescent light bulbs to CFLs.

3-Have somebody familiar with Pasadena electrical code install a ceiling fan to reduce your heating and cooling bill. Fans circulate the air in a room to help keep it cool in the summer and warm in the cooler months.

4-Hire an electrician to install dimmer switches on lights in the living room, dining room and even a bedroom. You don’t always need a well-lit room to watch television, enjoy an intimate meal or simply chat. Using a dimmer switch to turn down the lights can save you money on your electric bill.

If you would like to schedule an appointment to have a dimmer switch, ceiling fan or other energy-saving appliance installed, give The Electric Connection a call today.