Electrician in Glendale – Why Fuse and Circuit Breaker Size is Important

Posted on December 18, 2012 | by K Hopkins | 1 Comment

The frequency of accidents caused by the incorrect usage of electricity has increased as our dependency on electronic devices has increased over the last several years. Every year, accidental electrical fires cause millions of dollars in property damages. Because of this, you should always practice as much electrical safety as possible whenever you use your electrical appliances and devices. To make sure that your home is as safe as it can be from electrical accidents, you should also consider talking to an electrician in Glendale about performing an electrical safety assessment, updating service panels and ensuring that your home is properly grounded.

Can you use any size fuse or circuit breaker in your electrical panel?

Many older homes still utilize an outdated fuse box inside the service panel, instead of a safer and more modern breaker panel. If you still have a fuse box, then it is very likely that your electrical system is not prepared to take the amount of electricity that you use every day. This results in fuses blowing very frequently for many homeowners. Rather than replacing blown fuses with the appropriately sized replacements, some homeowners choose to oversize the fuse in order to reduce the frequency of blown fuses. This can be very dangerous, though not nearly as dangerous as replacing the fuse with something that cannot blow, such as a coin. Doing either of these should be avoided. Fuses are protective devices that are designed to stop electricity from flowing into a circuit whenever it reaches a level that is dangerous. Whenever you oversize or bypass a fuse, your circuit can overload. This can lead to overheating, fire and electrical shock.

One of the best ways to deal with an older fuse box is to have your electrical service upgraded by one of the technicians at The Electric Connection. We can send someone out to upgrade your service, and install the appropriately sized circuit breakers in your new electrical service panel. If you are experiencing any issues with your electrical panel, please don’t hesitate to give us a call today.

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Electrician in Pasadena – How to Use Your Electrical Panel

Posted on November 29, 2012 | by K Hopkins | 2 Comments

Your electrical panel serves as the entry point for the electricity being provided to your home from your electrical utility. It also functions as an electrical safety device that will turn off an electrical circuit if there is too much current. Excess levels of electricity can lead to fire or electrical shock. Although you can often tell which circuit is malfunctioning by looking at your breaker box, it can make things much easier if you take the time to label all of your circuits or fuses. This way, you know which switch goes to which area of your home, regardless of whether or not that particular breaker has visibly tripped.

Most newer homes use circuit breakers in order to protect the different areas of the house. Some older homes, however, may still have fuses. If your home still has a fusebox, consider calling a local Pasadena electrician to inspect your electrical system. This is often the sign of an undersized electrical service. If you have a breaker panel, just follow the below steps to restore power to the area of your home that has been affected.

Excess electrical current passing through a circuit will cause your circuit breaker to trip, effectively stopping the current from flowing anymore. When this happens, the switch will move to a neutral position, which is between the ON and the OFF position. To return power to this circuit, all that you have to do is flip the switch all the way to the OFF position and then back to the ON position. Before doing this, it is good practice to turn off or unplug all appliances in the circuit.

Now that the power is back on, you can continue to use your circuit as usual. If you have continuous issues, however, you should call our technicians at The Electric Connection for assistance. We are always more than happy to lend a helping hand. You can also get more information through our website at www.theelectricconnection.com.

Electrician Santa Monica – What Are Electrical Circuits?

Posted on October 19, 2012 | by K Hopkins | 1 Comment

An electrical circuit is the necessary pathway required to provide power to your appliances, gadgets and electronics. Each circuit is a closed loop system that is formed by wires, a power source, load, a switch and some sort of circuit protection. The electricity flows from the power source, into the circuit and ultimately into the object that it is plugged into. After the electricity has provided the necessary power to the device, it then flows back to the original electrical source, allowing the circuit to keep the electrical current flowing in a smooth manner. There are three different types of electrical circuits: the parallel circuit, the series circuit and the series-parallel circuit.

How Do They Work?

An electrician in Santa Monica installs an electrical panel that is then broken into several circuits that provide power to your home. Whenever you plug a device into an electrical outlet, or flip a switch, you are accessing electricity that is flowing through that particular circuit. By plugging in or flipping a switch, you are essentially completing the circuit. This allows power to flow freely from the positive terminal of the power source, through the wire, and back to the negative terminal. This allows us to provide on-demand electricity to our light bulbs, televisions, appliances and other electronics.

Types of Circuits

The simplest type of circuit is the series circuit, because it provides only one possible path for electrical current. If this circuit is broken at any point along this path, none of the devices on the circuit will work. A parallel circuit, on the other hand, contains more than one path for electrical current. If one of the paths is broken, electricity can still flow to other portions of the circuit. A series-parallel circuit combines these two circuit types. Some portions of the circuit are parallel, and some are attached in series. If one of the series circuits breaks, it will shut off power to anything in that circuit. If a parallel circuit breaks, all other parallel circuits will continue to function as normal.

As an electrician Santa Monica, The Electric Connection installs and maintains electrical circuits on a daily basis. For more information, or questions about our services, visit our main website at www.theelectricconnection.com.

Is Your Electrical Panel Safe?

Posted on April 25, 2012 | by K Hopkins

If your electrical panel has fuses rather than circuit breakers, safety can be an issue. Even some electrical panels equipped with circuit breakers can pose safety hazards and need to be upgraded.

Another reason to upgrade your electric panel is if it’s too small. To say it’s “too small” means it doesn’t supply enough power. One sign of insufficient power is that fuses are frequently blowing or circuit breakers are flipping off. Or possibly, a contractor has told you that your home or business needs more power for a new air conditioner or other installation.

What is an electrical panel?

The power from the electric utility company flows through large wires to your home and into the panel, a large metal box with fuses or circuit breakers inside. The panel controls the flow of electricity throughout the house, cutting the flow with fuses or circuit breakers if power levels rise too high.

If you think of your home electrical system as having branches and twigs like a tree, your electrical panel is the tree trunk. From the panel, the current flows into major electrical branches which dwindle into smaller and smaller branches and twigs, serving every part of your home.

An electrical panel may also be called a:

Breaker box
Circuit breaker panel or box
Power breaker
Fuse box or board
Electrical box or service
Panel board
Residential service
Service panel
Main panel
Distribution board

These all mean the same thing.

How do fuses and circuit breakers work?

If too much power were to flow into the wires in your home, they could melt and a fire could start. If you were to accidentally touch a damaged overloaded wire, you could receive an electrical shock.

To prevent more electrical flow than the wires are designed for, your electrical service panel is supposed to detect the problem and stop the flow immediately. In older electrical panels, a fuse blows. In newer ones, a circuit breaker flips off. Both fuses and circuit breakers are designed to break the circuit and cut the power to wires. Properly functioning circuit breakers (or fuses) are vital for your family’s safety and the safety of your home. Click here for more information about how to get the power back on if a circuit breaker has flipped off.

How do I know if my electrical panel is too small and should be upgraded?

If circuit breakers are flipping or fuses are blowing often, it likely means that your electrical system needs enlargement, including possibly a panel upgrade. Here are common situations which call for enlarging an electrical system:

A move to a house with an old undersized service
Adding central air conditioning
Adding an oven, hot tub, spa, power equipment in your garage, etc.
A room addition
A kitchen renovation

Fuse Boxes

Older electrical panels have fuses rather than circuit breakers. In the days when fuse boxes were installed, homes needed considerably less power. Many fuse boxes were designed to handle 30-60 amps of power whereas the appliances and electronics in today’s homes often require 100-200 amps of power or more.

Fuse boxes may become overloaded, blowing fuses and shutting down your appliances. This is an inconvenience, and there’s a temptation to buy larger fuses so that they won’t blow so often. But, oversized fuses can allow overloading and overheating of wires. Occasionally, someone will have put a penny in the opening to replace a blown fuse. This can really create a fire hazard because a penny can’t break the circuit.

A little known danger of fuse boxes is that homeowners can accidentally stick their fingers into the fuse opening, possibly while changing the fuse, and be electrocuted. The safe solution is to upgrade with modern circuit breakers.

Circuit Breaker Brands

Specific brands of circuit breakers, especially those installed in earlier decades, have been found to deteriorate with age and pose a safety hazard. You can go to the free website Inspectopedia and search on the brand of your circuit breaker to check its safety.

If you want to learn more about electrical panels, including some unsafe brands, click here. You can also ask us to check out your electrical panel. Call us 8-5 at (818) 446-0888. The Electric Connection provides free over-the-phone estimates and free home inspections, including checking the safety and sizing of your panel, with every electrical job. We look forward to talking with you.

Kim Hopkins

CEO, The Electric Connection

What is the Difference between a 100amp panel and a 200amp panel?

Posted on January 15, 2002 | by K Hopkins

100amp vs 200amp Electricity become a major part of our lives from the day it was introduced. Electricity has remained powerful, relevant, and dangerous in some situations and at the same time, our demand for it increases. The way power is used now is highly different from how it was used in the past, and this only means that conversations on upgrades will often occur.

What is a 100 amp and 200 amp panel?

The electric panel in your home distributes power through the circuits to every outlet, light bulb, and appliance. These panels come in different sizes ranging from 60 to 400 amps. It could be more or even less depending on what is needed.

A 100 amp panel is equally equipped with circuit breakers or fuses and is ideal for homes with normal or regular electric demands. A good example is a home of up to 2500/3000 sq ft. with heat, gas, water, and one air conditioner.

A 200 amp panel suits average to large homes. It is ideal for a home of the same 2500/3000 sq ft. but with enough coverage for a hot tub, more outlets and other power demands. Homes of 3500 sq ft. and above will, however, need a 200 amp panel and an additional panel for their electrical needs with power demanding appliances.

The Difference

The major difference between a 100 amp panel and a 200 amp panel is capacity. With a 100 amp panel, you can do a lot but never too much because overloading circuits can compromise your electrical safety and lead to damages and even loss of life and property. A 200 amp panel, on the other hand, enhances electrical safety because it gives you enough room to include a hot tub, a pool, a few power demanding appliances, or expand your home.

You can get along fine with either panels or even larger ones depending on your usage. What are your electrical needs and what is the size of your home?

If you have a 100 amp panel but are not sure of an upgrade, an electrician can provide you with professional insight on what to do. If you have a panel with even less capacity than 100 amps, then an upgrade is needed for sure. Modern homes use either 100 or 200 amp. Some use more. What’s important is to ensure safety and comfort.

What does a panel upgrade take?

A panel upgrade is never a small task. It is financially demanding, and it is also vital to hire only a licensed and experienced electrician to get the work done. This electrical technician may also be required to pull a permit for this project. Depending on the electrician you hire and if services like repairs are needed on your electrical system, the upgrade can take from up to 10 hours to a few days.

If you have questions on your home’s electrical panel it is important to speak with the experts. Reach out to us.