Are you planning to renovate your home in a way that requires more electrical power? You may be buying an electric vehicle that requires a charging station, or adding an addition to your home that already has a maxed out electrical panel. If so, you'll want to upgrade to a 200 amp electrical service. Here is what will be involved to make this electrical upgrade.
Request A Permit
Any time you upgrade the electrical panel of a home, it will require pulling a permit from your city. This is designed to protect you as the homeowner, since a permit involves having the work inspected to ensure it is done correctly. When you are doing something as important as upgrading the electrical panel of your home, you want to make sure that the person doing the work did everything right.
Replace The Panel
Upgrading to 200 amp service will require adding a whole new panel to your home. In addition, that panel is going to take up more room because there are more circuit breakers on it. You may need to change the location of the panel if it is already in a tight space, or make modifications to the existing panel's location so that it fits.
Run New Grounding Equipment
Upgrading an electrical panel will involve adding new grounding equipment to the panel. This means running a new grounding cable to your water main that has a copper jumper, which is to protect your home from power surges.
If you do not have grounding rods installed outside your home to ground the main electrical box, those will need to be installed as well. Many older homes may not have these, but it's required as part of modern electrical code.
Masthead Replacement
Outside your home, there is a junction where the main cable connects from the service pole to your home. The box that goes over the connection is known as the masthead, and this will need to be replaced as well. Even if the old masthead is in good condition, replacing it with a new one is part of the electrical code when upgrading services.
Home Rewiring
While home rewiring is not required when getting a 200 amp panel, you may want to take advantage of doing it. You'll have a more powerful electrical panel with more circuit breakers. Rewiring your home will allow you to make circuits that have fewer lights and electrical outlets on them, which lead to fewer circuit breakers being tripped.
Share22 February 2022
There are so many electrical issues you can encounter daily. Are your lights flickering? Is your microwave not working right? Do you need more outlets in your home? What type of outlets do you need? Regardless of what type of electrical issue you are facing and what kind of electrical issue you are facing, we have a resource to address it. At Conquer All Electrical, we want to conquer all your electrical questions and provide you with the resources to make informed electrical decisions. We want to guide you through your most challenging electrical question so you know what to do to fix the issue at hand and who to call to assist you. Let’s conquer your electrical issues!