Your electrical panel is an important part of your home’s electrical system. It controls the flow of electricity to your home’s circuits, and it contains circuit breakers that will trip if those circuits are overloaded. This crucial safety feature prevents electrical fires and damage to your appliances, so you’ll want to ensure that your electrical panel is in good shape.
The average electrical panel lasts for 20 to 50 years, so you should definitely consider upgrading if your own panel is at least a few decades old. Of course, age isn’t the only indicator that your electrical panel is outdated. Here are some other signs that your panel should be upgraded.
Signs Your Electrical Panel is Outdated
Flickering Lights
Flickering lights are common during severe weather even in the most modern homes, but they shouldn’t flicker in normal weather. If your lights flicker almost every time you turn them on, you might have an outdated electrical panel or other electrical issues that need to be addressed.
Frequent Circuit Breaker Trips
Your circuit breakers trip when there’s a short circuit or one of your circuits is overloaded. As we said before, this is an important safety feature that can prevent serious damage to your home. However, it shouldn’t happen very often. If it does, your electrical panel likely can’t handle the energy needs of your home. This is more common when people try to use energy-hungry appliances such as space heaters or clothes dryers, but particularly old and outdated electrical panels can even struggle to support smaller devices. In any case, frequent breaker trips aren’t normal and should be addressed sooner rather than later.
Circuit Breakers that Don’t Properly Reset
Resetting a circuit breaker should be a simple matter. All you need to do is flip the switch back to its “on” position, and everything should be fine. If you’re having trouble resetting a breaker or if it trips again almost immediately, you might have a faulty electrical panel.
You Get Electric Shocks When You Touch Outlets or Light Switches
Simply touching an electrical outlet or light switch shouldn’t give you an electrical shock. Even if you only feel a mild tingling sensation when you turn on a light, a shock means that you have faulty wiring or an outdated electrical panel.
Burned Spots on Your Breaker Box
Ideally, when your breakers overheat, they trip before they get hot enough to start a fire. If you see one or more burned spots on your breaker box, it’s a sign that something is very wrong. Contact Mister Sparky for assistance before you have an electrical fire.
Burning Smells Coming from Your Breaker Box or Wall Outlets
Naturally, bad wiring and faulty circuit breakers that are hot enough to leave burned spots will also produce a burning smell. Again, this is a sign that something needs to be fixed right away to avoid an electrical fire.
Overheating Appliances
An outdated or faulty electrical panel can also send too much electricity to some of your appliances and cause them to overheat. If only one of your appliances overheats, the problem might be with the appliance itself. If it happens with several appliances, contact an electrician to inspect your wiring and electrical panel.
Visible Sparks When You Plug In an Appliance
While it’s normal to see a tiny spark when plugging in certain appliances and devices, you shouldn’t see anything more than that. Old or wet electrical outlets can practically create a shower of sparks when used. At the very least, this could cause a short circuit. At worst, it could start an electrical fire.
These are all signs that something is wrong with your home’s electrical system, and many of them can be tied to an outdated electrical panel. If you see any of these things happening in your home, contact Mister Sparky right away. Our electricians can inspect your electrical panel for problems and install a new panel if need be.