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

Now is the time to evaluate your outdoor and landscape lighting needs in preparation for the summer season.  Follow our step-by-step landscape lighting design plan and get the job done right.

Learn how to get luxurious landscape lighting effects and make your home shine by Memorial Day 2014…

Step One:  Review the perimeters of your home, including surrounding outdoor property—front yards, back yards, side yards—to see which features you would like to accentuate, such as fountains, sculpture, or flower boxes. Choose a few areas that will stand out and add a luxurious element to your home at night.

Step Two:  Scout out areas where you will need security lighting—leading up to and at all home entryways.  Take note of areas where path lighting, step lighting, and task lighting are needed.

LED strip lighting under steps, railings and benches provides excellent security lighting and may be custom-tailored to your decor. LED light strips are especially suitable for outdoor areas, as they are long-lasting and extremely durable, radiate very little heat, and use up to 80 percent less electricity than standard light sources.

Step Three:  If you have existing outdoor lighting—review your property at night to see where you can upgrade your lighting design.  Check that everything is in working order and adequate illumination is provided at all significant locations.

• Where there are large areas blanketed in darkness, consider installing a floodlight equipped with energy-efficient lamps and lighting controls.

• Equally important is to check for areas that are excessively bright. Overly bright outdoor lighting, including path lighting and patio lighting, creates glare and can actually make it harder to see at night and diminish safety and security.

Your landscape lighting should be soothing and comfortable.  Make sure that  landscape and outdoor fixtures do not cast light into your neighbors’ property.  Keep “light trespass” from invading your own home at night.

Step Four:  If you like to entertain outdoors—see that your property is safely lit for guests—pay attention to elevation levels and unusual dips or risings; boundaries defining rock gardens, Koi ponds, and small shrubs should be clearly visible.  Make sure you have enough ambient illumination for safe navigation, as well as sufficient task lighting for cooking and food preparation.

Step Five:  Lighting techniques, such as shadowing, silhouetting and cross lighting add artistry and depth to your landscape at night.  But do not overdo it.  Depending on the size of your property, select one to three key areas that will expand and complement your overall landscape lighting presentation.

• Conceal lights behind and below a statue or small tree to highlight form and create definition.

• Show off a sculpted garden,  a textured rock wall or a unique architectural feature of your home that will stand out at night.

Light responsibly.  Keep an eye on the safety.  Having top-quality outdoor lighting makes for the best “Neighborhood Watch Program.”

Light conservatively.  The most wonderful aspect of outdoor and landscape lighting is that you only need a few well-chosen light sources to deliver a great deal of illumination and an overall luxuriant feel to your home.  Compared to other home improvement projects, top quality landscape lighting adds substantially to the value of your property.

Light efficiently.  You will save money in the long run, if you invest in automated lighting systems and LED landscape lighting now.  For maintenance-free, durable, long-lasting illumination—buy your LED landscape lighting and automated control systems from a reputable dealer.

Top-quality LED landscape lighting fixture are built to last with finishes guaranteed to withstand harsh weather conditions; many come with life-time product warranties.

Find qualified lighting professionals and electricians.  Professional lighting consultants will help you design your landscape lighting to exact specifications with outdoor fixtures that are UL-listed for outdoor use; electricians, familiar with updated LED lighting systems, should be licensed and aware of current electrical codes and ordinances in your town or city.

Order your fixtures early, set the job up now with energy-efficient security lighting and luxurious landscape illumination to ensure you will be ready for summer holiday celebrations.

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