Electrical Service Upgrades in Champaign, IL

Service Upgrade

Homeowners all over the country are upgrading their home’s electric services and for good reason. It’s possible that your Champaign or Fairbury, IL home could highly benefit from an electrical service upgrade, especially if your house is older than forty years old. Unfortunately, your home’s electrical systems may not have sufficient power to assist in running all your electrical devices. Not only can having older electrical services destroy your current appliances and devices, but it could also become a safety hazard as well. Contact one of our skilled and professional Edelman Inc electricians to talk about how your home could benefit from one of our upgrades.

What Is An Electrical Service Upgrade?

Having an electrical service upgrade performed can mean a variety of things. It could mean only upgrading just your electrical panel, or it could also mean upgrading your home’s entire wiring system as well.

The electrical panel is important because it is the center of your home’s electrical system. From this point, circuits carry all the required electricity to any appliances, lights, and outlets in your home. The panel can then determine how much power is available for distribution from the circuits going to the appliances, lights, and outlets. Making it one of the most vital parts of your home’s operation.

Most modern homes have a 200 amp service panel, but some larger homes can have a 400 amp service panel. Homes with a 100 amp service panel or less should upgrade to support the operation of modern appliances and other electrical devices. The size of the service panel helps determine how many circuits there are, as well as their sizes, which can decide how that power is distributed through the home.

What’s Involved in an Electrical Service Upgrade?

We often recommend having an electrical panel upgrade performed if your home is older. Inside of your electrical panel or breaker box, which you can find in your basement, garage, utility room, or closet, you will typically see rows of switches. Each of these switches will correspond to a label on the inside of the panel door. That label will indicate which appliance or outlet it corresponds to inside your home. This label will usually indicate the amperage allowed on that breaker before it will cause a trip in the system, which is designed that way as a safety measure to avoid overloading.

To upgrade your electrical service, an experienced electrician, like our technicians at Edelman Inc, will ordinarily do one of the following:

We can help upgrade your electrical panel, which helps bring in more power to your home.
We can replace your meter and circuit breaker box which will allow for a greater capacity of power in your home
We can replace or perform electrical repairs on the panel or individual circuit breakers that could possibly be damaged, too old, or both.

Why Should I Upgrade My Home’s Wiring?

When deciding if you need to upgrade your home’s power, there are a few things to consider. If you’re experiencing frequent electrical problems including not having enough power to run all of your electronics, your home’s wiring may need to be upgraded or replaced. Adding more outlets and/or replacing current ones, could help provide more convenient outlets around your home as well as prevent potential fire hazards.

In the past, a common home service panel had a 60 amp capacity, which just isn’t sustainable anymore to run many of today’s modern appliances and other items like computers, high-definition televisions, air conditioners, smart home devices, appliances, and home-automation devices. Today’s modern homes have service panels that range between 200-400 amp service. This means that if you live in an older model home, you may be at risk for electrical failures

A great time to upgrade is during any type of home remodeling or adding rooms to your home. This makes it an easier process for professional licensed electricians to access the wiring within walls and ceilings since they will be exposed.

How Do I Know if My Home Needs an Electrical Upgrade?

There are some obvious warning signs signaling an upgrade is needed. Some of the most common signs are:

If you notice your circuit breakers are frequently tripping.
You are hearing any type of crackling sounds coming from the breaker box.
Your appliances aren’t running on their full power and you notice flickering lights or lights dim when the appliances turn on.
You are having to use extension cords or adapters because you seem to need more outlets.
Aging circuit breaker panels that are older than 25 to 40 years old and not able to trip. Tripping is a safety feature, and it can be dangerous if your breakers aren’t able to trip when they’re overloaded.
The aging outlets in your home are only two-pronged instead of a safer three-pronged outlet. The third prong is designed for ground rods.
None of your outlets near water sources have a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) installed. GFCI outlets are fast-acting circuit breakers designed to shut off the power to the outlet to protect people from electrocution.
You plan on adding any type of high-power appliance to your home, including an air conditioner, hot tub, or any other large appliance.

If any of these situations are true for you in your home, reach one of our Edelman Inc electricians to see what we can do to help.

Call Edelman For An Electrical System Upgrade Today

Upgrading your home’s electrical service is a necessity for safety and common-sense purposes. When this is necessary, please do not attempt to do this yourself. While replacing an outlet or a light switch can possibly be a DIY job, upgrading or replacing a home’s electrical service is a major project and should be done by a qualified and licensed electrician to avoid injury or death. Electricity is not something to take chances with. Reach us today at 217-290-9065 for a consultation on what may be needed in your home.

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