Signs your Western New York home needs a panel upgrade

A lot of the houses I work in around Derby, Angola and the rest of the Southtowns were wired for a different way of living. A fridge, a range, some lights, maybe a window unit in July. Now the same house has a heat pump, a second fridge in the garage, a hot tub out back and an electric car in the driveway. The wires in the wall didn't get the memo.

Here's how I size up whether a panel or service upgrade makes sense, and what the job actually looks like.

The panel itself is the first clue

Open the door on your panel and take a look. Some equipment I'd replace no matter how well it seems to be working:

• Fuse boxes. Fuses do their job when they're the right size. The problem is somebody always puts a bigger fuse in after the small one keeps blowing, and now the wire is the weak link. Some insurance companies won't write or renew a policy on a house with one.
• Federal Pacific panels, usually labeled Stab-Lok. These have a long history of breakers that don't trip when they should.
• Zinsco panels, often with colored breaker handles. Same story, plus the breakers can loosen up and burn where they clip onto the bus bar.
• Rust, scorch marks or a warm smell. Water gets into panels through old service masts. Brown or black marks around a breaker mean heat, and heat means a bad connection.

Signs the house has outgrown its service

Your panel can be in decent shape and still be too small. Things I look for:

• Breakers that trip when the microwave and toaster run at the same time. That's often an overloaded kitchen circuit, which I can split without touching the service.
• Lights that dim when the furnace blower, well pump or AC kicks on.
• Double-tapped breakers: two wires jammed under one screw. Most breakers are only made to hold one. It usually means somebody ran out of spaces and made do.
• No open slots left and a plan to add something big.

When you're adding an EV charger, heat pump or AC

This is the most common reason I get called for a 100 to 200 amp upgrade. A Level 2 charger, a ducted heat pump or central air each pull a lot of current for hours at a time. Before I add one, I do a load calculation on the house. Sometimes the existing 100 amp service has room and we just add the circuit. Sometimes it doesn't, and putting the new load on anyway means nuisance trips or worse. I'll tell you which one you have. I'm not going to sell you 200 amps you don't need.

What the upgrade process looks like

People expect this to be a big mess. It's mostly paperwork and one long day.

• Permit. I pull the electrical permit with your town. Every town in Erie County handles this a little differently, and I deal with the building department so you don't have to.
• Utility coordination. NYSEG or National Grid has to disconnect power at the drop and pull the meter. I schedule that with them ahead of time.
• The swap. New meter socket, new mast if needed, new panel, new grounding. Every circuit gets moved over and labeled. Most homes are without power for one working day.
• Inspection and reconnect. The work gets inspected, and once it passes, the utility reconnects and sets the meter. In some cases the inspector has to sign off before the utility will come back.

I keep you in the loop by text the whole way, so you know when the power goes off, when it's coming back, and when the inspector is showing up.

Older homes need a closer look

If your house still has some knob-and-tube or ungrounded two-prong outlets, a new panel doesn't fix those circuits by itself. I'll point out what I see while I'm in there and you can decide what to tackle now and what can wait. No pressure either way.

Questions people ask

How long will my power be off during a 200 amp upgrade?

For most houses it's one working day. I line up the utility disconnect and reconnect ahead of time so the house isn't sitting dark waiting on anybody.

Do I need a permit to replace my electrical panel?

Yes. A service or panel change needs an electrical permit and an inspection. I handle both with your town's building department.

Can you tell from a picture if my panel needs replacing?

A photo is a good start. Text me a clear photo of the panel with the door open and one of the label inside the door, and I can often tell you what you have.