Key Takeaways
Ever wonder if your house, with all of its smart appliances and plugged-in technology, can handle the amount of electricity that you use? If your breaker box is overloaded, you may notice certain warning signs in your home. Capital City Comfort Solutions is here for your Richmond home’s electrical panel upgrade.
Older homes in the Richmond area often have older breaker panels. Unfortunately, that means all the electricity you use in your home office, laundry room, kitchen, and entertainment room could be overloading your electrical panel. This can cause inconvenient, or even dangerous, problems in your home. Take a closer look at your breaker box and see if you need to get it updated.
Check Out the Capacity of Your Electrical Panel
If you don’t know your breaker box’s capacity or the number of amps that it can handle at once, you can easily find it out. Open up the service panel door and look for the main breaker, which is a large, double-wide switch. This is the switch that controls all the power in your home. The capacity is usually stamped onto that switch. It may be a number between 100 and 200. These days, 100 amps is pretty low, and it may not be enough to handle your home’s energy demands.
The Consequences of an Overloaded Panel
Your service panel acts as a director of all the electricity that flows into your home. It directs the power to the correct circuits, so you get just the right amount of power when you turn on the vacuum cleaner or run the dishwasher. If there are too many appliances plugged into the same circuit, it can trip the breaker switch and stop the surge of electricity. While this may be annoying to you, at least you know your breaker box is doing its best to keep your home safe. If this happens a lot, or you notice other warning signs of an overloaded service panel, then you know it’s time for an electrical panel upgrade.
The Breaker Tripped (Again)
If you are making frequent trips to your breaker box to flip a switch, so you can turn the power back on in a certain area of your home, then you may have too many things running on the same circuit. An electrician can help you determine the best solution to this problem.
Ouch! My Service Panel Feels Hot!
Your electrical panel’s cover should definitely not feel warm or hot. If it does, it could mean there’s too much electricity flowing through it. When all that excess energy flows through it, the panel, wires, and switches heat up, causing them to malfunction or even burn.
In fact, if you use your other senses and smell a burning smell near your breaker box, or see a scorch mark, you know there’s a major problem. Contact an electrician immediately.
The Breaker Box is Singing
While your electrical panel will hopefully never sing along to your favorite song on the radio, it could possibly make a humming, crackling, or buzzing sound. This is not a good thing. It means the electricity is jumping from one overloaded circuit to another. Another word for this is “arcing.” Arcing electricity in a service panel is a fire hazard, so get professional help from an electrician right away.
My Hair Dryer Isn’t Working Right
If your hair dryer slows down when you turn something else on, or your oven seems to be preheating very slowly, you may be experiencing a consequence of an overloaded electrical panel. When too many things demand electricity at one time, an overloaded panel may not be able to direct the full amount of power to everything that needs it.
There’s a Ghost in My House (My Lights are Dimming Weirdly)
While there could be something supernatural going on when your home’s lights dim, it is more likely that you have an overloaded electrical panel. If you notice your lights flicker as the air conditioner starts running or dim whenever you run the microwave, you probably need an electrical panel upgrade.
Lifespan of an Electrical Panel
Breaker boxes have a lifespan of about 25 years. Many older homes also have older models that are not designed with today’s technology in mind. Upgrading to a newer one with a larger capacity could help solve your Richmond home’s electrical problems while keeping you and your family safer.
Time for an Upgrade? Call the Professionals at Capital City!
If any of the aforementioned signs of an overloaded service panel ring true in your home, then you are probably overdue for an electrical panel upgrade. Thankfully, the professionals at Capital City Comfort Solutions can check out your situation, determine the best solution, and make it happen, so you can plug in your electric teapot, run the microwave, and cook a pizza in your pizza oven all at the same time without worrying about a thing! Contact us to schedule an appointment.