Your electrical system supports most of the home comfort systems and appliances in your home and although it might seem mysterious, it’s an important system to understand.
How Your Electrical System Works
The meter – Your meter is the glass-covered device that shows how much electricity you use. It’s also where electricity enters your home. Most meters consist of a spinning wheel and a row of numbers, but more modern meters have digital displays.
The circuit breaker panel – After entering through the meter, your electricity flows to the building’s main breaker panel, also known as the electrical panel. This is a panel on the wall covered by a metal door and containing switches called circuit breakers. One main breaker controls the electricity for the entire house, while smaller ones control each individual circuit in the house. These breakers automatically shut off the flow of electricity when the circuits are overloaded, preventing fires.
Circuits – From your electrical panel, bundles of wires run through your home carrying electricity to your outlets. When you plug something into an outlet or flip an electrical switch, you complete a circuit and allow electricity to flow into the device or appliance.
Remodeling Considerations
If you’re planning on remodeling your home, even if it’s just a few seemingly small upgrades, you’ll need to take your electrical system into consideration.
The amount of electricity your home can use depends on the size of your electrical panel. Most modern homes have a 150-amp or 200-amp service, but homes built before the 1970s could have 100-amp or even 60-amp services. If you want to add a large appliance to an older home, you might need to upgrade your electrical panel first. This is also something to consider if you’re planning on buying an older home.
If you’re doing DIY work, you’ll need to avoid potentially dangerous wiring problems such as using the wrong size of wires, incorrectly securing wires or installing ungrounded lighting fixtures.
Before you dive into a remodeling project that will involve your electrical system in any way, consult with an electrician.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about electrical systems and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 928-723-3183.
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