Q. Do I Need an Electrical Service Upgrade or Change?

• A very common, and anxiety-producing question that many homeowners have asked me through the years is whether or not they need to upgrade their electrical service. Their anxiety is well founded because changing a service is disruptive, complicated, and costly. However, these homeowners recognize that not changing their service can limit what they can do or add to their home, or in some cases, can lead to the unimaginable disaster of their home burning down to the ground (maybe even with their family in it).
  So the first thing is to understand what a service change is.

  1. Electrical capacity. All homes have limited electrical capacity (as expressed in ampacity, the little number on your main breaker or on your fuses). When a service is upgraded or changed it�s capacity or amperage is increased, allowing the potential for the addition of more circuits for things like spas, central AC, room additions, kitchen and bath remodels etc. to be installed and used.
  2. Electrical supply. Virtually all homes that are connected to the power grid have an electrical service or supply of both 120 & 240 volts (sometimes expressed as 120/240 or 115/230 or 110/220). A service change does not affect this voltage at all.
  3. What gets changed? A typical 60 or 100amp to 200amp service change or upgrade consists of new service entrance conductors, outdoor meter, conduit, fittings, distribution panel with new over-current protection devices, grounding electrode(s) and water main bonding. A service change does not inherently entail any changes or repairs to your circuits. What was faulty or out of code before the change will remain so until it is specifically addressed.

  Now why in the world would you want to go to all this trouble?

  1. Convenience: Many older homes still have their original 60 or 100 amp service, so that when it comes time to remodel the kitchen or to add a room, often there is no physical room in the distribution panel or enough capacity (amperage) to install the required additional circuits.
  2. Capacity: As mentioned above, the amount of electricity available to use in your home is limited by the ampacity of your main breaker (hence the terminology of 100 amp service, 200 amp service, and so on). So when major things that need electrical power are added, or the size of the home is increased, then very often the electrical capacity of your service needs to be increased as well.
  3. Safety: Many electrical services have been hanging on the side of houses for an awfully long time, subject to deterioration caused by the environment and the weather. Some have become damp and corroded in those musty wet basements. Some have been chronically overloaded through the years and due to overheating, joints and connections have become loose. And some services still rely on fuses, which, because of their age, are corroded, overstuffed, and overheated. These conditions are dangerous, and good enough reasons to spend the money to change your service. Then you can ignore it in peace for the next 30 to 40 years

  If you are contemplating a major remodel, the addition of a room or garage, or a new kitchen you should consider upgrading your electrical service.
  Thirty years ago, the average new home was equipped with a 60 amp electrical service connected to a screw-in fuse panel with two fuse blocks. The common distribution was a fuse block for the stove and one for the hot water tank. The balance of the homes electrical needs were served by six, 15amp screw-in fuses.
  Twenty years ago the average new home was equipped with a 100 amp electrical service and some of them used the latest in technology such as circuit breakers.
  Now the average home is equipped with a 200 amp electrical service with a distribution panel handling up to 40, 15amp & 20amp circuit breakers serving the electrical needs of the home.
  North American�s are electrical power hungry. Today our air conditioning systems take more power than an entire home did 30 years ago. For example, A kitchen in an older home was only wired with enough capacity to provide power to things like a toaster, a refrigerator, a stove, some lights and a plug or two. Today�s kitchens demand 2-3 times the power to supply things like a toaster and/or toaster oven, larger refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens, coffee makers, garbage disposals, microwaves, blenders, hot plates, crock pots, significantly more lighting and in some cases small televisions and the list goes on.
  Simply Adding receptacles does not increase the available capacity if they are looped from other receptacles. To get more power to a location the circuit should be home-run directly from the distribution panel.
  Old style distribution panels, those with screw-in fuses and some panels known as Stab-Lok panels are generally considered fire hazards. The contact between the base of a screw-in type fuse and the buss bar oxidizes or charcoals from poor contact. In order for the current to continue to flow heat is generated. In many areas, insurance companies will not renew homeowner insurance if the home is equipped with an electrical distribution panel that has screw-in fuses.
  If your current electrical service to your home is less than 100 amps, and/or if it has a distribution panel that uses screw in fuses, you should consider replacing it as a top priority in any major renovation project. Homes with 100 amp services AND over 1500sq feet should consider a 200Amp service upgrade.