How an Oakville Electrical Services Can Keep the Electrical Circuit in Great Shape
Once the electricity is dropped from the pole, it doesn’t flow straight to the appliances or the electrical sockets in the rooms. It first moves to the electrical panel or the circuit breaker box. So, the service panel, breaker box, or the fuse box can be said to be the “electrical heart” of the home’s electricity supply. Without it, you could have your appliances, bulbs, wires, or other electrical parts, components, and equipment blowing out. You should have reliable Oakville electrical services to inspect these components and make sure they are working properly.
The electrical panel regulates the amount of electricity coming into the house and then routes it safely to the breakers, electrical wires, and to the light fixtures or sockets. You should have a breaker box that resonates with the electricity you consume at home and the appliance types you use. If you just moved to an older home, don’t begin using the electricity straightaway. You may have appliances that draw in more power than what the previous owner had. It’s also possible that the older home never had a recent electrical system upgrade or has never had one at all.
Before you begin to paint the home or panel and add lights to the patio and barbeque areas, do an inspection to ensure you have the right capacity of the breaker box. If the electrical breaker box begins to strain, you could end up in a big mess. The way a human heart would fail, the electrical system can also jam if the circuit breakers cannot handle the electrical demand in the house.
A breaker runs at a capacity of about 80 percent, so you don’t have to surpass that level. If you find that you are clocking 95 percent of the capacity, then you are overloading it. The good thing about the circuit breaker is that when there is excess load placed on it or on the circuit, it’s going to trip so you won’t have power going out. When it acts so, it prevents electrical shocks and fire. But you cannot continue using a breaker that trips every time you put on appliances.
In the old days, you would work with a breaker that had a capacity of 60 amps, but today, people are using more electrical equipment and gadgets than before. You have the large TV screen, smartophones, cell phones, ovens, toasters, play stations, and many others. They all use electricity and although they may be energy efficient, they are just too many to rely on a 60 amp circuit breaker. Even 100 amps circuit breakers may not have the capacity needed to ensure safe electrical use in the house.
When installing a new breaker, you want to estimate how much power you use presently, and it’s expressed as watts divided by voltage or simply amperes. You have to give an allowance of 20 percent. Also, you want to estimate how much electricity you will be needing for the next 20 years so that you won’t need to replace the breaker after say 5 years. The Oakville electrical services you consult with should be able to give you all that information and tell you what kind of circuit breaker you need.