For many homeowners in the Ellisville, MO, area, the electrical panel is one of the most overlooked parts of the home. Unless something goes wrong with your electrical system, you’re unlikely to spend a lot of time looking at your electrical panel. However, it’s important that you don’t forget about this electrical component. Taking the time to maintain it properly can provide you with many different benefits.
What Is Electrical Panel Maintenance?
Your electrical panel helps to take electricity from your main power line and break it up into circuits that can safely supply power all over your house. Modern panels also include circuit breakers that act as a safety measure and turn off power whenever any circuit overloads or shorts. They go by many names, including breaker box, fuse box, and distribution board. They typically look like a medium-sized gray or metal box mounted somewhere on a wall inside or outside your house.
During routine maintenance, your electrician will carefully go over the entire panel. They’ll examine the equipment and make sure there isn’t any damage. This can involve testing the electrical panel manually or using equipment to measure the electrical current around the box. Maintenance also includes cleaning the panel of debris and tightening any loose connections. If there are any issues, like frayed wires, your maintenance may also include repairing these problems.
The typical electric panel maintenance visit won’t take up much of your time. It usually lasts no more than an hour. If the electrician discovers any issues during your service visit, they may stay a little longer to fix the problem.
The Benefits of Electrical Panel Maintenance
Many homeowners don’t regularly schedule electrical panel maintenance, but they’re missing out. Regularly maintaining your system gives you these helpful advantages.
Identify and Repair Potential Electrical Issues
One of the biggest perks of maintenance is that it helps to catch electrical issues. During your maintenance appointment, an electrician can easily spot things like loose wiring or corrosion. They will also be able to identify signs of overheating, such as warped plastic or scorch marks. This is important to recognize because most electrical issues don’t show up overnight. Instead, they gradually arise as a poorly designed system struggles more and more to handle irregularities. By catching them early, you can avoid a bigger problem later. Something that might take your electrician 30 seconds to fix during routine maintenance could otherwise require hours of labor and new parts in the future.
Lower Your Risks of Fires
When your electrical system malfunctions, it can do more than keep your lights from turning on or cause problems with your electronics. Electrical issues are one of the most common causes of residential fires. Loose wires and broken connections can lead to sparks and arcing that eventually cause fires. If you want to avoid these problems, maintenance is a smart choice. A service visit for your home’s electrical panel can address problems and keep them from going unnoticed.
Extend the Lifespan of Your Electrical Panel
The average electrical panel can last anywhere from 25 to 40 years. How you choose to care for your electrical panel can have a big impact on just how often it needs to be replaced. If you don’t want to replace it too soon, it’s important to maintain it properly. Electrical panels contain a lot of components that wear out at different times. A service visit can identify these problems and replace them promptly.
Appeal to Homebuyers and Insurance Companies
For many homeowners, having a history of regular electrical panel maintenance makes their house appear well-maintained. If you’re selling your home any time soon, showing that you have records of regular service visits reassures prospective buyers that your home has been lovingly maintained for years. This can attract more buyers to your property and potentially result in a higher sales price. A record of regular maintenance is also essential if you need to deal with insurance companies. This documentation can help prove that any electrical issues you have weren’t due to negligence on your part.
Boost Energy Efficiency Around Your House
When your electrical panel isn’t operating properly, it can end up causing parts of your home to use excessive amounts of energy. Keeping it in good condition allows the panel to distribute electricity efficiently around your house. This can result in some cost savings on your electrical bill though it will usually take a little while for the savings to add up to anything noticeable. The other advantage is that it increases the lifespan of your appliances. When an appliance gets the proper amount of energy delivered straight to it, it’s less likely to overwork itself and encounter damage.
Get Tips on Improving Your Electrical System
Your electrical panel maintenance visit is a great time to get advice from a professional. Your electrician can answer questions like, “Why does the breaker trip every time I make toast?” and “Do I need to be concerned about this scorch mark on my panel?” You can talk about your current electrical needs and get help deciding how to address them. Though your maintenance provider won’t always have time in their schedule for extended repairs the same day as your maintenance appointment, they can often provide an estimate and schedule a service visit for you in the near future.
How Often Should You Schedule Electrical Panel Maintenance?
To get all the benefits of electrical panel maintenance, you need to make sure this service happens regularly. Scheduling your maintenance frequently ensures that your electricians can catch small issues before they turn into major problems. The typical electrical panel needs to be maintained every three years.
However, there are some situations where more frequent inspections are a good idea. If your panel is more than 25 years old, you should schedule maintenance every one to two years. You may want to plan for a replacement as well. Electricians also recommend getting an inspection every two years if your home electrical system includes unusual features like knob-and-tube wiring or whole-home generators.
Choosing the Right Maintenance Provider
For the best results, it’s important to choose experienced electricians to perform your maintenance. Make sure you find a company with carefully vetted employees who have been properly trained. Before hiring them, take the time to ask some questions about their maintenance service. Check to see what sort of electrical panel maintenance they recommend and ask what sorts of systems they’re comfortable working with. It’s also a good idea to look up the company online and see what kind of reviews are out there. Ideally, they should be a business with a reputation for stellar service.
If you’re looking for electrical panel maintenance in Ellisville, turn to Potts Electric. Our team has over a decade of experience in both residential and commercial electrical work. We’re a family-owned company that prioritizes our customers’ satisfaction. In addition to electrical panel maintenance, we also help with services like new construction installations, wiring repairs, and generator repair. To learn more about our company, give us a call today.
