An electrical panel is a kind of metal box that comes with a door and is usually built into the wall of the out-of-the-way corner of your home. Inside it, you can find all the home’s breaker switches. Whenever required, you can toggle those switches on and off. The main purpose of these switches is that they automatically shut themselves off when there is too much electric current running through them.
Within the electrical panel, there is one main circuit breaker that controls the power of the entire home. Apart from that, several individual breakers are responsible for providing electricity to several different parts of homes. Each breaker will have a label on it that identifies which part of the home it is controlling. As it is an electrical system, wear and tear will surely be a part of this without any doubt. So for electrical panels also, upgrading is a must.
About Electrical Panel Upgradation
An electrical panel upgrade is a kind of service where the existing service panel is upgraded with a new one that has new circuit breakers installed in it. This process of upgrade is also known as the “main panel upgrade. It is like a switchboard for the whole house, and it receives power from solar energy and then distributes the same to the circuits for your lights, internet, and appliances. The electrical panel is the most critical part of a home or building. An electrical panel upgrade is not a tough task; it just needs to be done at the correct time to avoid any major accidents in the house. So let us move ahead in this article to understand when the correct time is to get this upgrade done.
Dimming or flickering of lights
Dimming and flickering lights in your home can indicate that your electrical panel is overloaded and that it is time to upgrade it. It simply means the panel does not have enough electricity left to provide your lights.
The appliance that needs high electricity costs
You would be surprised to know that your basic electronic devices, like tablets, smartphones, and even LEDs, actually draw a very modest amount of electricity in your home. Not just this, this high electricity demand is coming from the main everyday appliances only, like TVs, dishwashers, water heaters, and air conditioners. So in these situations also, it is time for the panel upgrades.
The electrical panel is tripping frequently.
Yes, it is annoying to experience frequent electrical panel trips. They mainly occur for the following 3 reasons:
- In the event of any short circuit in your electrical system,
- If any ground fault is occurring, that means any hot wire is touching the extreme ground, making it dangerous to even walk on the ground.
- Your electrical panel is just overloaded with too many appliances working together.
How to Upgrade an Electrical Panel
When you come to know that there is time to upgrade the electrical panel, So follow the below steps and do the same.
- Firstly, you just have to turn off the main circuit breaker in the home, so that the complete electricity flow is cut off in the home.
- Secondly, remove the front panel from the switchboard so that replacement of the switches can be done easily.
- Then remove the old wires from the panel, but just make sure the labels are still there, as that will make it easy for you to install the new ones.
- Prepare the new electrical panel and put it in the right place.
- Once it is put on, just switch the main power on.
Conclusion
Every house runs on electricity, so it is really important to have an amazing electrical infrastructure. So if your electrical panel is old, just upgrade it without wasting any time. And the best part of the electrical panel upgrade is that you can do it yourself without any electrician’s help.