With Christmas right around the corner, you often wonder if you are truly prepared to celebrate the holiday season without problems. After all, Christmas is supposed to be memorable, not problematic.
Aside from food and invitations, is your home ready for such an occasion? Christmas is one of those holidays where electricity plays an important role. Christmas lights and Christmas music complete any get-together. So before you search “panel upgrade near me,” read on to learn more.
Electrician Service Team has come up with this handy article about your electrical panel. Do you need to upgrade your electric panel before Christmas? While most homeowners might not know the answer to this question, you need to consider several factors before you opt for a panel upgrade in Orange County:
- Are you going to use multiple appliances during the event?
- Are your decorations electric-powered?
- Is a sudden electric surge likely to occur during Christmas?
When you answer these questions, you might realize that you do, indeed, require an electric panel upgrade for a seamless Christmas celebration.
Reasons To Upgrade Your Electric Panel Before Christmas
Before you go all out on your Christmas celebration, ensure your home is prepared to host it. Is the food ready? Have you sent your invitations? Is your ambiance according to your preferences?
Your home’s electric panel is responsible for distributing electricity to your house. It also serves as the first layer of protection against sudden electric surges. That’s why it is important to keep your panel maintained.
It is important that your home’s electric panel can support all the loads you might use during Christmas. So here are the reasons you need to upgrade your electric panel:
Whether for cooking, playing Christmas music, or watching Christmas movies, you often use more appliances at one time than your panel can handle. Using multiple appliances can cause your breaker to trip. So plan. Have a licensed electrician upgrade your panel if you think you’ll use multiple appliances.
From hundreds of Christmas lights to an animatronic Santa Claus or Snowman, your choice of Christmas decorations is endless. However, do note that many of these decorations use electricity, which adds to a load of your electric panel.
If your home is old, your panel is likely as old as your house. Even though you don’t plan on using that many appliances and decorations during Christmas, an older panel is less reliable than newer models.
To ensure your electrical system is in good condition, you need to have an electrician inspect the electrical system. A professional can tell whether you need to upgrade your panel before Christmas. A licensed electrician can also tell if your panel is faulty. Damaged breakers might not trip when they should, causing your overloaded system to heat up and potentially cause a fire.
Symptoms Of A Failing Electric Panel
If you decide to celebrate Christmas without upgrading your electrical panel, you will either: go through Christmas without problems or experience problems with your panel during the event.
Here, we have listed several symptoms that indicate your panel is failing.
- Flickering Lights. The most obvious symptom of a problematic electric panel is the flickering of lights. If the problem is isolated to one fixture, it might just be burnt out, but when your entire home’s lighting system is flickering, you need an electrician to check your panel as soon as possible.
- Frequent Breaker Trips. It is not surprising that you will use many electrical appliances during Christmas. If you didn’t upgrade your panel, expect frequent breaker trips to happen. If you are not using many appliances and the breaker still trips, then an upgrade should be your first course of action.
- Electronics Don’t Work. If some of your electronics sudden;y stop working, your panel might be busted. Every electric panel has a limited capacity; if you go over that limit, your panel will overload, causing the breaker to trip. Call an electrician immediately if the breaker doesn’t trip, and some of your electronics stop working.
You can count on Electrician Service Team to provide reliable panel upgrades for your home. Our licensed electricians will provide options that meet your needs, especially for Christmas. So if you want a seamless Christmas celebration with your loved ones, don’t forget to upgrade your electric panel beforehand. You can call us for panel upgrade cost in Orange County.
Electrician Service Team is available 24/7, even during Christmas, to provide top-notch and reliable electrical service. You can contact us through our hotline or use our contact form to schedule a callback.