An important component in your main electrical service panel is commonly known as the breaker. If you’re a homeowner, surely you have visited yours a few times over the years. But what exactly is it? And what does it do? Let’s go over the importance of the breaker and what its doing for your home.

If you read our article on the home electrical system a few months back, you will know which step the service panel comes in receiving electricity for your home. The service panel is the gateway for all electricity in your home. After electricity comes through underground or overhead power lines, it goes to your electrical meter and then to the service panel. Electricity branches off from here and travels to the rest of your home. Within the panel are circuits for different areas for electricity to travel. Shutting down a circuit can cause power loss to a part of the home, maybe a room or two. But because the home is on many different circuits, power can remain active in the rest of the house.

After electricity arrives at the service panel, it travels to a circuit. The circuit is a loop in which electricity travels from one end to the other. The breaker splits up to 100 amps or more into the circuits to distribute the power. Usually each circuit in a common residential home operates at 15 amps. The breaker is designed to “trip” if it receives an excess of electricity. If a power surge occurs on the outside of the home, for example a lightning strike, the service panel will stop the flow and turn off. If a surge happens on a circuit within your home, the breaker will also shut down that loop to protect the rest of the house.

Over time if work on a service panel is not completed correctly, the circuits could blow more frequently due to overloading. Parts in the panel can become outdated, loosen, or get burned out. If a service panel is not maintained and up to code, it also poses specific risks, making your home more susceptible to fires and electrical surges.

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Ensuring Your Residential Wiring and Fuse Box are Up to Code Homes can encounter a variety of electrical issues. Makings sure your home’s electrical wiring is up to par is extremely important. If you believe your home is experiencing problems with its electrical wiring, you should call a professional residential electrician to take care of the problem for you.

Using Modern Technology Many houses are older, so they have electrical wiring is out of date. As technology has advanced, so have our gadgets, devices and appliances. Older electrical wiring was not designed with such advanced technology in mind, so it is important to make sure your home’s wiring is updated and capable of handling your newer appliances, technology, lighting and electronics.

Fuse Boxes and Circuit Breakers While some older homes have fuse boxes, newer homes have circuit breaker panels. Fuse boxes work just fine, unless fuses with amperages too high for the wiring are installed. If the inappropriate fuses are installed, and insulation has been damaged, the old circuit needs immediate attention by being rewired.

When to Rewire Wiring problems can be serious in nature and can cause major risks to your home. You don’t want any safety concerns. If your home is older than 50 years old or you are buying an older home, you should hire a professional residential electrician to go over the wiring and ensure it is safe.

Older homes may require rewiring or need some repairs. It may be wise to get follow-up inspections for your home’s wiring regularly, about every 5 years. You don’t want to risk damaging your home or the safety of your family.

This is a great time of year to take advantage of year-end closeouts and end of season sales on things like hot tubs and swimming pools. The height of the outdoor season is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean you will be huddling up inside for the next six months. The weather in southern California will stay mild for months and you can enjoy the luxuriousness of a hot tub in your own backyard. If you have a swimming pool and have been thinking about having it heated, now is the time to buy. An electrician in Burbank can help you take care of the installation process on the deals you score. The team at The Electric Connection is on standby to take care of any of the wiring and electric panel upgrades you may need to make your new addition to the home a success.

Hot tubs require their own breaker in the electric panel. They need a 240-volt outlet as well. This is a big one and not the standard outlet you plug your toast into. Most homes do not come equipped with a spare 240-volt outlet, which means it will need to be installed by an electrician. Burbank homeowners can choose where they want the hot tub placed and the electrician will take care of wiring the outlet and running it back to the electric panel.

Because a 240-volt outlet is going to be a big extra, you may very well need to upgrade your electric panel. Your Burbank electrician will do an inspection of the panel and see if there is enough room to add the breaker that will solely support the hot tub. An upgraded electric panel will give you all the electricity you need to run all the appliances in your home without worrying about tripping breakers or using weak currents that could damage the electronics and appliances. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your new hot tub installation.