What Should I Look For In An Electrical Panel?

The electrical panel is the most crucial component of the electrical system inspection. It is the point where power enters the house and is distributed throughout the rooms.

Start your check by seeing the wires entering the electrical panel from outside the house. Ensure the connection is firmly attached to the house, and note any trees are obstructing the wiring. Visible wiring should be in good shape, insulated, and have no exposed metal.

Homeowners can find directions for examining their electrical systems online, but they should never attempt this themselves. Look for a professional at Roosevelt Electrical Services whether you need electrical panel installation or inspection services. 

What’s Inside Your Main Electrical Panel?

• Main circuit breaker: The main circuit breaker is a sizable breaker typically found at the panel’s top; however, it can occasionally be found nearby or along one side. It manages the entire panel’s branch circuit breakers, the breakers in charge of each circuit.
• Circuit breakers: Every electrical circuit has a weak point, which is the circuit breaker. But that’s okay since it’s made to fail safely. Overcurrent safety devices, such as circuit breakers, prevent excessive current in a circuit (or, in older systems, fuses). 
• Hot bus bars (may not be visible from behind the breaker): The two large, thick black service wires that feed the primary circuit breaker supply the panel’s two “hot” bus bars with 120 volts each from the electric meter. 
• Neutral bus bars: The neutral bus bar, which also functions as the grounding bus bar in many service panels, is where the individual bare copper circuit ground wires are terminated. It is frequently referred to in this context as a neutral/ground bus bar.
• Main bonding jumper: A ground connection between the neutral/ground bus and the service panel is made possible by the main bonding jumper. The grounding electrode conductor, or GEC, creates a second ground connection.
• Ground bus bar: Instead of a neutral/ground bus, some service panels have a separate bus bar for ground-wire connections. In this instance, only the main service panels have the ground bus and neutral bus electrically connected; the ground bus and neutral bus are not connected in subpanels.

What’s Behind The Panel Door?

A service panel is a steel container with a lift-up or hinged door on the front. With the door open, you can reach every circuit breaker on the panel. Normally, one panel supplies power to the entire house, but there may be a second, smaller panel, known as a subpanel, that is used to supply power to a particular area, such as an addition, a large kitchen, or a detached garage. Similar to the main service panel, a subpanel receives power from the house’s main panel rather than directly from the utility lines.

Here’s what you need to know more about the electrical panel.

• It shouldn’t be a fuse box.

Although you may have grown up in a house with a fuse box, contemporary electrical systems go much beyond what a fuse box can handle. If a house has a fuse box installed, replacing it with a circuit breaker panel as soon as you purchase the property is required. In addition, the presence of a fuse box suggests that the home likely has other obsolete electrical fixtures and risky wiring.

• It should have a capacity of between 100 and 200 AMPS.

An older electrical panel may simply be limited to 60 amps or even less, which was rather frequent in historical construction, even if it isn’t an ancient fuse box. It’s a problem if you need a lot of electricity because of this limited capacity. Modern electrical requirements are better estimated at a couple of hundred amps, while some houses may require up to 400 amps.

Experienced electricians should leave complete electrical evaluations; you don’t need to perform them yourself. If you decide to buy, a professional can provide you with important information, such as whether the previous owner risked overloading any circuits and whether you’ll need to have pricey rewiring done.