Homes today need 100-amp service at a minimum, and many need 200 amps to handle all of a family's electrical demands. That can mean a service upgrade - bringing additional power from the street to your panel box, and then out to the various rooms of your house.
Necessary next steps might include:
- Adding to your existing panel box
- Installing a new panel box
- Upgrading your circuit breakers
- Increasing your circuits
If your home is more than 40 years old, you also might need to upgrade your electrical wiring. Probably the best time to do that is when you're remodeling or building an addition and walls are open for easy access. That's also a good time to consider adding structured wiring - heavy-duty electrical and data cables to handle present and future needs for communication and entertainment.
In an older home, you might need to add protection to address potential fire hazards. Over-current protection, ground-fault protection, arc-fault protection and surge protection are all advised to conform with today's electrical code - and, more importantly, to protect your family and your most valuable investment.
When houses were built in 1950, electricians tied many outlets to a single circuit. Today if you plug in a toaster oven and a coffee pot at the same time in a 1950s house, it will trip your breaker. Additional circuits will give you the overcurrent protection necessary to bring your house up to code.
Ground-fault protection detects a fault between the ground and a neutral conductor. GFI outlets at one time were installed for outlets near water; today they are used throughout a house.
Arc fault measures electrical waves; if a sizzle from a wire is changing the waves, arc-fault protection shuts off the breaker. Initially used only in bedrooms, this latest fault protection is now used more widely in homes. Any new houses built in New Jersey today have to be arc- or ground-fault protected.
Surge protection safeguards your whole house from electrical surges or can be installed at certain outlets to protect your sensitive electronic devices from surges in your system.
It's all about protecting your family and your home. Call S & R Electrical Services today at 973-992-3708 for a free evaluation and our recommendations for your specific needs.