Power Panel Inspection
Why A Power Panel Inspection Is Important
Have you checked the power panel in your home? It is most likely to be the original panel (and breakers, too) that was installed when the house was first built.
If your home is at least 20 years old, your service panel could have some problems. A power panel inspection can be a great way to prevent future electrical problems.
It is important to have a licensed Colorado Springs electrician to inspect these service panels as really old electrical service panels have seriously high failure rates. In fact, there have been cases where the service panels have failed completely leading to fires and electrical shock.
Your Power Panel Is Working Harder
The electrical consumption in a typical household is much higher these days than it used to be as people now utilize a lot more electrical appliances such as an electric vehicle charger or a hot tub. Drawing so much current from an old panel can cause an overload.
The Inspection – For Safety
This is where an experienced electrician can be of great help as they can make you aware of any safety issues and recommend a solution. It is important that you always use the services of a properly licensed and qualified electrician for the inspection work and any other kind of electrical work.
It’s better to call an electrician for inspecting the service panel in case you are adding a new appliance capable of drawing a lot of current such as a new air conditioner, a kitchen remodel, or other big electricity users. In most cases, a separate dedicated electrical circuit is needed for such appliances and only a qualified electrician should install the new circuit.
Balancing The Load In Your Power Panel
You should also consider which are the circuits that are going to be used more frequently. These circuits need to be properly balanced using the busbars. Once these have been balanced, the remaining circuits can be properly balanced. Obviously, these things are technical and this is why only a qualified and experienced electrician should do the same.
If you come across a situation where the circuit breaker is tripping frequently and you need to reset it every time, it typically is due to more power being drawn from that circuit. There is also a possibility of something else being wrong. If the GFCI is tripping repeatedly, call an electrician to take a look. In short, whenever there is a trained electrician at the location, make sure to ask them for panel inspection to ensure that everything is safe.
In some situations, an electrician is able to balance the load among the breakers that are already present and provide a solution to the problems. Sometimes, when there are multiple busbars, there are more breakers on a bus bar as compared to the other, or there is a mismatch between the total load on each busbar.
In such cases, it is important to balance the load between these two busbars by relocating some breakers.
Time For A Power Panel Inspection?
Also, if it has been a long time since the electrical panel was properly inspected by a trained electrician, the right time to get that done is now. You should get this inspection done even if you are not facing any problems. It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to electricity.
The following is what typically is included in a power panel inspection;
- Test all connections
- Check for signs of arcing and wear
- Thoroughly inspect live metal parts and breakers for physical and internal signs of damage
- Perform an Infrared scan on all wire and connection to check for any hot spots or loose internal connections, which is something you cannot always visually see and can lead to arcing and fire.
- Replace any missing hardware such as screws and other mounting hardware that is commonly missing.
- Will provide a written and signed inspection report (This can be useful in the process of selling the home)
- Will Thoroughly check grounding and bonding inside panel ( if there are loose grounding connections inside a panel it can cause breakers not to trip how they are supposed to causing a hazard)
- Will provide an inspection Sticker on the Panel once complete.
Panel inspections are recommended annually to avoid any problems that you may not realize exist.
NEED AN ELECTRICIAN IN COLORADO SPRINGS?
Free Consultation!