When it comes to regular maintenance for your home, you might think about your HVAC system or your roof. However, you don’t want to forget about your electrical system, which you rely on daily.
Why Are Electrical Panel Inspections Important?
Your electrical panel box is the hub of your entire electrical system. It’s where all the power comes into your home from the power line and is safely routed to multiple circuits to power all sorts of appliances, lights, and electronic devices in your home.
A professional electrical inspection of your panel and everything it’s connected to is a great way to detect any potential problems with your panel box and discover when a replacement will likely be necessary. This will give you adequate time to properly prepare your budget to do a panel replacement at a time that is most convenient for you.
How Often to Get a Panel Inspection?
How often you should have your panel inspected depends largely on the age of your home and electrical system. If you have a newly constructed home, most experts recommend getting a professional inspection every three to five years. If your home is over 20 years old, you need to have your panel inspected more frequently or at least every two years.
Rather than simply hiring a handyman, enlist the aid of a licensed electrician, who has the industry experience upon which you can depend to correctly assess your panel, determine its safety and efficacy, and provide you with the most up-to-date recommendations for your needs and safety.
The National Electrical Code (NEC) has set regular inspection interval requirements for certain areas of the country. These tend to be confined to bigger city areas. Your local area may have specific code requirements with which you should familiarize yourself so that you don’t miss a mandatory electrical inspection. Doing so could leave you with a hefty fine to pay.
Circuit Breakers
The first place that your inspection will start is at your panel box. Your electrician will inspect all the circuit breakers to ensure that their screws and lugs are tight so that the breakers are tight to the box. They’ll also test every circuit breaker to ensure that its on, off, and tripped positions work.
Each breaker will be examined to verify that it isn’t double-tapped. This means that more than one wire is going to the breaker. Double-tapping is not legal and can overload your circuit breaker, resulting in an electrical fire.
Wiring
They’ll inspect the wiring in the box to verify there’s no corrosion, exposed wiring, brittle insulation, or visible burn marks. If you have aluminum wiring in your home, the electrician will likely apply an antioxidant coating to help protect the wiring from corrosion.
Additionally, the gauge of the wiring will be checked following the size of the circuit breaker to ensure that it isn’t too high to handle the potential power that can flow through it. Furthermore, the SEC power cable coming into your home from the local power grid will be inspected to verify that your panel box matches the amperage of the SEC cable.
Outlets
All the outlets throughout your home will be evaluated for a few different things. These include open grounds, loose connections, correct polarity, and even neutral wires. Testing for all these things is imperative to ensure that the outlet is working safely and effectively. Furthermore, all GFCI outlets will be tested thoroughly to ensure that they work and can effectively be reset.
Surge Protector
Because surge protectors aren’t necessary to meet local building codes, you may not have one at your home. However, if you decide to invest in a whole-home surge protector, it will be inspected as part of your whole-home electrical panel inspection service. Our electrician will check to ensure that the surge protector is functioning appropriately and is of adequate size to protect the devices within your home.
Neutral and Ground Bars
All the wiring coming into your panel box from the various circuits in your home will connect to the neutral and ground bus bars. This allows the electrical current to return safely to the ground to prevent electrical shock. Our electrician will ensure that all the screws holding the wires in the neutral and ground bus bars are snug and have no corrosion. Furthermore, they’ll make sure that the bars themself are securely adhered to the panel box.
Panel Box Housing
Another aspect of a whole-home electrical panel inspection will include examining the entire panel box housing. This is the metal case that all the wiring, circuit breakers, and bus bars sit in. Our electrician will look over the box for any signs of visible damage or potential corrosion. A weak point in the box can allow moisture to seep in and further corrode the box and its internal wiring.
Main Breaker Switch
The main breaker switch in your panel box kills all the power to your electrical circuits. It’s located near the top of your panel box for easy access. Our skillful electrician will test the main breaker switch to ensure it’s effectively killing the power to every circuit breaker in your panel box.
Voltage Testing
A necessary part of any great electrical inspection will be proper voltage testing. Each circuit will have its voltage tested to ensure it has a proper voltage level. This test will help to detect any irregularities in voltage levels so that they can be remedied before a major problem, like an electrical fire, develops.
Grounding System Check
When excess voltage runs through your electrical system, it should be immediately redirected to your grounding system. This typically comprises multiple wires and a grounding rod that gets placed in the ground outside of your home. Our electrician will inspect your ground system to ensure that all components are securely in position. Then, they’ll proceed to test the system to ensure that there’s a very low impedance path leading to the grounding rod.
Check Labels
All panel boxes should have clearly visible labels for all their internal circuits. This helps homeowners, electricians, and even emergency personnel locate the appropriate circuit breaker when they need to turn off the power to a particular circuit. As part of their inspection service, our electrician will ensure that every breaker has a readily distinguishable label for optimal safety.
Top Benefits of a Whole-Home Electrical Panel Inspection
One of the most crucial benefits of getting regular panel inspections is that they help to extend the overall longevity of your panel box and household electrical system. This service will catch problems while they’re small and relatively inexpensive to fix. When your panel box receives the care that it needs, you’re going to experience fewer interruptions in your power service due to a minimal breakdown risk.
Reliable Panel Inspection Service
Liberty Comfort Systems offers reliable electrical inspection service for the Anoka, MN area. We can also assist with all your plumbing, electrical, cooling and heating services, indoor air quality, basement finishing, humidifier, dehumidifier, new construction, commercial, and duct cleaning needs. Simply give us a call today to book your next service appointment.
