Upgrading Your Electrical Service & Panel
Your electrical service is where the power enters your home and goes to the meter base where BC Hydro records your power usage. From there, the power goes to your main electrical panel. It is then distributed out to smaller breakers and branch circuits throughout your home.
Old main panels have limitations on available space to add circuits, or they have fuses (some insurance carriers will not insure a property that has fuses). Some old panels have had circuits added and have maxed out (most old panels are maxed out when the original construction was completed). Many old panels are of inferior quality and simply stop working and need to be replaced.
Often the heat from overloaded circuits can damage the plastic that the circuit breakers are made of, they become brittle and break, which can be a major fire hazard. An electric service upgrade is often recommended or required to increase the capacity of the existing electrical service.
Why Upgrade Your Electrical Panel?
With all the new appliances and technical devices we now have in our homes, we find that older homes just don’t have sufficient power available to handle the increased demand. Therefore, a “service change” is required.
This may include not only upgrading your electric panel, but upgrading your meter socket, the wire between the meter and panel, the wire between the utility and the meter and the grounding system as well. A panel upgrade or replacement is usually required to alleviate a problem with the existing panel.
Sometimes a breaker might overheat to the point that the buss bar in a panel gets burned. The conductors between the meter and panel may become loose and burn out the main lugs, especially common when aluminum conductors were used. Panels that were manufactured by CEB or FPE are now discontinued and have many issues. Ask the professional electricians at TDR Electric about upgrading your electrical service or electrical panel in North and West Vancouver.
How Are Electrical Panels Upgraded?
We only use the highest quality brands such as Square D, Siemens and Cutler Hammer. We offer a one-year warranty on everything we install. This is the heart of you electrical system, so we make sure it will last for years to come! Why should you upgrade from a fuse panel? Insurance companies have issues with insuring homes with fuse panels sometimes they will recommend that the panel be changed out for a breaker panel system. A large problem with fuse panels is that when a 15A fuse blows, most people will put a 20A or even 25A to replace it and stop it from blowing. This is very dangerous because the wires are not rated for this amperage and could cause a fire! The professional Electricians in Vancouver at TDR Electric can replace your fuse panel with a breaker panel. Let us educate you on the costs and procedures.
Call us at TDR Electric and set up an appointment for a free onsite consultation. One of our estimators will come out to look at the project and provide you with and free estimate. Once you have accepted the estimate, we will file all paperwork to open permits with the local city inspection authority, then we will contact BC Hydro prior to the upgrade. We will then schedule a day where the power will be disconnected and reconnected to your new electrical service with minimal disruption to the incoming power to your home.
Some of our services include: Panel upgrades in Vancouver, BCSub Panels in Vancouver, BCRelabelling Electrical Panel Schedules in Vancouver, BCService Upgrades in Vancouver, BCNew Grounding Systems in Vancouver, BCBreaker Replacements in Vancouver, BCNew Electrical Panel Inserts in Vancouver, BCMeter Base Replacements in Vancouver, BCUnderground Electrical Services in Vancouver, BCOverhead Electrical Services in Vancouver, BC
