CIRCUIT BREAKERS & ELECTRICAL PANELS

From New Circuits to Old Repairs, Hickerson Brothers Has You Covered!

Your electrical panel controls and regulates all the power in your home. It carefully protects the wires and interconnects from ever exceeding their ratings, making it one of the most important parts of your home’s electrical system. When the circuit is overloaded by too great a power demand, it will trip, preventing permanent damage to any devices on the circuit. But if your circuit trips repeatedly, it’s time to call a professional.

At Hickerson Brothers Electric, we only use Cutler Hammer electric panels for our installations and upgrades. We feel that it’s important to use quality parts in all of our work and these panels include internal surge protection for better safety. Each panel comes with a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty as well!

Panel Dangers

The electrical panel is the heart of the electrical system in your home. If the heart (panel) malfunctions or stops working, you have big problems and quite possibly a safety issue for you and your family.

Replace all Zinsco and Federal Pacific electrical panels. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, these two companies manufactured many electric panels for buildings across America. Unfortunately, these electrical panels are prone to failure, with many documented cases of injury and damage. Take the time to verify the safety of your current electrical panel.

Why is My Breaker Tripping?

Circuit breakers are designed to trip and disconnect the circuit in the event of a:

Short Circuit
Ground Fault
Circuit Overload

All of these events can be severely dangerous for any devices found on the circuit. That’s why your breaker is designed to trip before damage happens. Each breaker is built to hold a certain level of current (typically a 15 or 20 amp circuit, with higher amperages for circuits devoted to climate controls or heavy-duty appliances). When the amperage is exceeded by too high a demand or a short, the breaker faults and opens the circuit before it exceeds the minimum safety rating of the circuit.

So your breaker is operating properly if it trips when you run too many devices on it (the most common causes of a trip are microwaves and space heaters). But if your breaker continues to trip it could be a sign that the breaker is wearing out or that there is a problem in the wiring. When this is the case, the dedicated team at Hickerson Brothers Electric Service has the tools and experience to help you find, repair, or replace the damaged components to restore your circuit to safety.

Signs of Needed Electrical Panel Repair

Not every electrical problem makes itself known by a dead plug. Strange smells, sounds, even a warm light switch or outlet can be tell-tale warnings of further problems. If you see any of the the following, you should hire a professional immediately:

Hear buzzing, sizzling or crackling noises in your outlets
See Flickering lights
Outlets that only work sometimes
Outlets that don’t work at all
Outlets/Switches hot to the touch
Outlets with burn marks
Home is 20 years or older
See sparks when switch is turned on
No power when switch is turned on
Breakers trip frequently
Fuses and not breakers
Exposed wires
Loose breakers or screws in panel
Multiple wires attached to one breaker
Burnt marks on wires in panel
Aluminum wiring
Major renovations

Panel Upgrades

In some cases, the best option is to add a new electrical circuit to your home. This is especially true of older homes with lower-amperage wiring. Appliances such as washing machines, driers, and air conditioners are usually on their own circuits to prevent heavy load demands, but placing too many small-scale appliances in your kitchen or living room can cause a breaker trip. When this happens, it’s not a bad idea to have a new circuit installed on its own breaker, giving you more flexibility in the home.

For any and all electrical panel and circuit breaker repair, replacement, or maintenance, call Hickerson Brothers Electric Service at (703) 594-3913!