Replacing your home’s wiring is a good investment in safety and convenience. Not only are you eliminating old wiring that could be weak or damaged, but you are also creating an opportunity to add lights or receptacles in areas where you really need them.
When most people think of rewiring, they imagine the project as simply replacing all the wire itself as well as the existing outlets and switches. However, it may also be a good idea to update the electrical panel at the same time. The panel is the heart of the home’s electrical system, taking in electricity from your utility provider and distributing it to the various circuits throughout your home. It also provides protection against surges and allows you to shut down circuits for repairs or upgrades.
However, a modern electrical panel can do a lot more than just control the movement of current from the power line to a power cord. There are performance and safety benefits of replacing your electrical panel while rewiring. If you’re planning to rewire your home, consider these points in favor of upgrading your panel as well.
Convenience
Rewiring your home requires that you disconnect all circuits from the breaker panel, then run new wiring right back to the same connections. That’s most of the work involved in preparing a panel for replacement, so it just makes sense to take advantage of a panel that’s almost ready to remove and take just those last couple of steps to remove it and replace it.
Think of it this way. If you rewire your home without replacing the panel, then find yourself needing to replace it later, you’ll have to pay an electrician to repeat all those disconnections and reconnections that you just paid for with the rewiring. In that situation, you’ll wish you’d done it all at the same time.
Upgraded Technology
Electrical panel technology is constantly evolving. We’ll highlight some key innovations, but before we look much further on this topic, let’s pause and address fuses. If your home still has the old screw-in fuses, there’s no further discussion necessary about upgrading. These models are no longer compliant with code and should be replaced with circuit breaker technology.
With that said, there have been advances in electrical panels far beyond just circuit breakers. Today’s home can be equipped with smart monitoring systems that help alert you to problems and allow you to operate the panel remotely. Even if you’re not interested in that level of capabilities, you may still find it worthwhile to convert to a panel that allows for at least a future installation of a backup generator. Again, this will keep you from paying someone to repeat work that was just completed.
Age and Possible Damage
Even if the new panel will be identical to the old one, you may be doing yourself a big favor to replace it. As with any electrical device, panels just get too old after a while. A good rule of thumb is to replace a breaker panel after 25 years of use. After that point, it’s possible that breakers may start to trip more frequently as they weaken. There may also be subtle code requirements that only a new panel will help you meet. Brittle copper components may be prone to failure, creating a risk of fire.
If the panel has been damaged by water or any other outside elements, it’s definitely best to replace it. Broken plumbing, roof leaks, and countless other problems that don’t appear to damage your panel at the time may have left behind corrosion or other hidden hazards. If you know or suspect that such damage has occurred, there is no better time than a rewire project to provide for your family’s safety and replace a questionable panel.
Adding Capacity
When you decided to rewire your home, you were probably counting on adding some space for future needs. It could be for a closer spacing of receptacles in an older home or maybe the addition of some GFCI outlets on a porch or patio. Discuss your version with the team at Mister Sparky to determine if what you add during a rewire might max out your panel’s capacity. If it will, then you may want to go with a heavier service.
Converting to a bigger panel will allow you to look at the future electrical needs of your home. It will make it possible to add features like an outdoor kitchen, swimming pool, or even a new wing with more living space. Those options are all on the table when your panel has enough room for them, so it may be well worth the effort and investment to provide for them now to make a future expansion easier and less expensive.