Electrical Panels in St. Louis

Electrical Panel Considerations for St. Louis Homeowners 

Homes across St. Louis County, St. Charles County, and Franklin County span a wide range of ages, and panel concerns tend to follow that pattern. 

Older homes in areas like Affton, Lemay, and South St. Louis City often still have 100-amp service panels, or in some cases fuse boxes, which weren’t built to handle modern electrical loads. For context, running a central air system, an electric dryer, a home office, and a Level 2 EV charger simultaneously on a 100-amp service is a stretch at best and a hazard at worst.

Upgrading to 200‑amp service can give you the headroom today’s households actually need.

Two panel brands come up regularly during inspections of older metro‑area homes: Federal Pacific and Zinsco. Both have documented histories of breaker failure, meaning the overcurrent protection the panel is supposed to provide may not function reliably. If your home has either of these panels, a replacement is worth prioritizing.

For newer homes or recent renovations, the question is often less about capacity and more about whether the panel is appropriately configured, with circuits correctly sized, breakers properly labeled, and protective devices like AFCI breakers installed where current code requires them.

What to Expect During an Electrical Panel Upgrade

A panel upgrade begins before anyone touches a wire.

The first step is an assessment of your current service, your household's electrical load, and the upgrade's objectives. For most homes, that means moving from a 100-amp or 150-amp service to a 200-amp panel, though some larger homes or properties with significant electrical additions may require more. Potts Electric performs this evaluation upfront so the scope of work and the cost are clear before anything is scheduled.

On installation day, the process starts with a service disconnection coordinated with Ameren Missouri. With power safely off, the old panel is removed, and the new one is installed, wired, and labeled. Existing circuits are reconnected and inspected in the process, which sometimes surfaces wiring conditions worth addressing while the panel is open and accessible. Most residential panel upgrades are completed in a single day, and power is restored before our team leaves the job.

The final step is inspection. Panel upgrades require a permit in virtually every municipality across the St. Louis metro, and the work must be inspected by the local authority having jurisdiction before it is considered complete. 

Potts Electric manages the permit application and coordinates the inspection as part of every panel upgrade project, so homeowners do not have to navigate that process on their own.