Home upgrades are exciting. New floors! New countertops! New … electrical panel?
When you own a home, there are many times when doing the job yourself can save you some money instead of hiring the project out. That said, it’s important to remember that you don’t want to do a job bigger than you can handle.
Renovating and remodeling are no small undertakings. After all, you want your dream home to be perfect for you. Determining a layout design, choosing colors, and picking materials are tough enough without the added pressure of electrical plans.
What’s an Electrical Panel and Why Does it Matter, Anyway?
“What even is an electrical panel?” you ask? Think of the electrical system of your home like the body’s circulatory system. The electrical panel is like the heart, “pumping” electricity throughout your home.
Quick! What kind of electrical panel do you have in your home? Chances are you don’t know—and that lack of knowledge could be harmful to you and your family.
If your home was built before 1990, you may well have an outdated electrical panel. Electrical panels are designed for safety: to prevent too much power from flowing to the same area at once and overheating or causing a fire. But many of the panels installed before 1990 have safety issues of their own. Let’s take a look at some of the most common outdated electrical panels, so you can be aware for your own safety.
Chances are, you don’t think about your electrical panel very often. Most people don’t know anything about them beyond how to reset a circuit breaker when it’s tripped. It’s not something you think of as needing to be replaced, but sometimes that’s the case. And if you don’t replace it when you should, it can lead to fire hazards and other dangers. So how do you know when you need a new electrical panel? Here are 7 reasons why you might.