Electrical Panel Repair and Replacement
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When your house loses power, you lose electricity in your home. Your lights flicker to a dull hue or go out completely while appliances neglect your commands.
Even gas stoves, furnaces, and water heaters give you the cold shoulder. That’s because some of their components, like circuit boards, relay switches, and thermostats, need current to send signals to the unit to power on.
Keep this house-wide blackout from occurring with an electrical panel repair and replacement in Reading, PA. As #2 of the top 50 businesses within Berks County, Service 360 Group does anything, from simple rewiring to installing a backup generator. For Reading’s residential electrical service at its best, reach out before issues ensue.
Why Is Your Electrical Panel’s Health Vital to Your Home?
Most likely located within your household basement, the electrical panel hides within a gray metal box on your wall. Upon opening the breaker box door, you’ll see that the electrical panel has rows of on-off switches or circuit breakers, each sending current to a different part of your home. Above them, a larger switch (the main circuit breaker) controls all breakers below, so once flipped off, the panel powers down.
Unfortunately, it’s not just an accidental flip of the switch that darkens your home. An older or worn breaker panel, faulty wiring, or excessively drawn electricity can cause short circuits. Frayed wires also originate from lightning strikes during electrical storms, water damage from leaks, and numerous other sources but come with similar signs you need a repair.
Signs One or More Circuit Breakers Need Repairs
If your electricity goes out, your first instinct is to find your electrical panel and restart the main breaker. Your lights and appliances may fly on but won’t remain active for long. The breaker will trip again every few hours or days, depending on how many items you have plugged in at once.
This constant tripping might occur if one or more breakers absorb excessive amounts of electricity, overloading the unit. The panel also short circuits, feeling hot and sometimes smoking if cross-wiring causes the hot wire to touch the neutral wire or loose or damaged wiring occurs. Other signs of a poor breaker that requires an electrical panel repair and replacement in Reading, PA, include:
- A burning smell radiating from a fried electrical panel
- Sizzling, buzzing, popping, or other sounds outside of a light hum originating from wiring issues since they cannot correctly absorb and disperse electricity
- Frayed wire strands, melting protective plastic wire coatings, and other visible wiring issues within the breaker box
- A non-resetting circuit breaker, which means the breaker trips immediately after you turn it back on from overloaded or short circuits or a ground fault from an active wire touching a ground wire
What Happens During a Repair?
More often than not, the above malfunctions go away with a simple repair when you call a licensed electrician. Upon arriving at your home, the technician listens to your concerns, flipping your lights and appliances on to see how they react. They’ll then travel to your breaker box to inspect your panel.
Rewiring your system removes old, damaged wires, preventing electrical fires that would otherwise threaten your family and household. The professionals also look at the placement of the wires to ensure they’re not touching, drooping, or loose. If out of place, the electrician tightens the connections after examining their condition.
Other factors your technician looks for during an electrical panel repair and replacement in Reading, PA, that’ll prevent issues from worsening include the following:
- Repairing or replacing individual circuit breakers on the panel gives the electrical current a secure platform to flow to and from
- Replacing the metal bus bars beneath the circuit breakers for even electrical distribution among the breakers and better performance
- Removing the entire panel and placing it in a separate location if constant tripping derives from water damage
When Does a New Installation Become Necessary?
If you require more home electricity than your panel can supply, the technician may upgrade the entire panel. Unlike newer homes with breakers that support larger amounts of hooked-up gadgets and appliances, residences ten years or older won’t keep up with the demand. Therefore, to prevent overloading and constant breaker tripping, trust an updated panel to prove more efficient.
However, panels work optimally for about 30 years with proper maintenance before reaching the end of their lifespans. So, you won’t want to spend the extra money on a new installation if your panel is still relatively new. If this is the case, but your breaker is still tripping from overloads, ask about installing additional circuits to your panel rather than a new panel itself to divide the influx of electricity better.
A breaker panel with limited space may prevent you from installing more circuits, but that still doesn’t mean you have to resort to a panel replacement. Complementing your main breaker panel with a subpanel allows you to add several new circuits to your home. Your technician will install this smaller panel no further than one foot away from the original to take the heat off the latter.
For 360-Degree Protection Across Your Entire Home!
Electrical repair is tricky, especially since anything from a spark in an outlet to a full-house power outage may give off similar, confusing symptoms. Don’t conduct DIY guesswork on this dangerous part of your home that could leave your issues unresolved and contribute to shocks and house fires. Instead, contact an electrical contractor on our #1 HVAC team with almost 20 years of experience.
Our full-service contractors provide 24/7 emergency services that cover everything, from HVAC and plumbing remedies to electrical panel repair and replacement in Reading, PA. For quality and dependability from a trained and licensed team, look no further than Service 360 Group. Call (610) 370-9907 to schedule services and receive a free quote in this and surrounding areas today!
