4 Reasons You May Need a Service Upgrade

You may not have realized it, but your home may be in need of a service upgrade. A service upgrade is a process where an electrician expands your breaker to accommodate a higher electrical capacity. Such a process ensures steadier current flow and reduces risk of electric hazards.

Here are four reasons why you might want to seriously consider getting a service upgrade:

The minimum service in most homes is about 100AMP. If you’re thinking about adding a generator, hot tub, pool, electrical car charger, or similar additions with high electrical demands, upgrading to 200AMP will be helpful.
A service level depends on the breaker panel in your home or business and the amount of power it’s able to provide. Other things to consider? The conduit and wire size coming from the utility company into the building.
Many older houses in Grand Rapids have panels from Federal Pacific which date all the way back to the 1950s! These panels are not only dangerous because they’re old, but also because they were made unreliably to begin with.
If a panel is antiquated and unsafe, a home inspector will point this out to you. You can also inspect the panel for yourself and look out for tell-tale signs of an outdated breaker panel. If it’s unusually warm/hot or you can hear crackling sounds coming from it, you should call an electrician immediately.