Electrical Panel Change-Outs...Why it Matters 😎

Why panel change outs might be a smart move for homeowners and businesses? 

Here in NYC (Queens, Manhattan (New York City), Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island) old electrical panels and standard circuit breakers are becoming obsolete and can no longer meet the new standards of the National Electrical Code (NEC) 2020 (w/ NYC amendments).  Most Arc-Fault breakers and Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupting breakers are required in panels and take up a full space in electrical panels.  Making a strong case for electrical panel change-outs…the more space in a panel the better for future use and anticipated equipment requiring electricity.  Also, changing out small or outdated panels to a larger panel, allows for a larger buss size rating, which allows for more Solar Photovoltaic power to be generated and stored.  This benefits homeowners in so many ways.

To start off, over-current protection devices, mostly known as circuit breakers are protective devices that manage ampacity and automatically turn off power if there is a fault or too much of a draw in amperage on the wire or wires connected to them.  Usually in the form 15 amp and 20 amp breakers (for residential applications). 

These days, you could easily go to a local home-store or hardware store and purchase a cheap breaker and replace it with no problem.  In addition, if you didn’t want to add a sub panel or do a panel change out…you could even buy space saving circuit breakers to accommodate new circuits for additional electrical equipment in your home or small business. 

Currently, NYC (Queens, Manhattan (New York City), Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island) has adopted the 2020 NEC electrical code, with NYC amendments.  The requirements for electrical panel safety have improved and the demands for new updated circuit breakers have changed. 

Arc-Fault protection reduces fire hazards by detecting electrical arcs due to loose connections or old wiring. The new 2020 (NEC) National Electrical Code, 210.12 Arc-fault protection is required for all 20amp and 15amp circuit wiring at dwelling units (homes/apartment units) in kitchens, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreations rooms, closets, hallways, laundry areas, or similar areas. This means all the wires from the circuit breaker must be arc fault protected.  In additions, NEC 2020 210.8 requires “ground-fault circuit-interrupters” for all receptacles outlets at dwelling units in bathrooms areas, garages, crawl spaces, basements, outside, kitchens, and boat houses. Ground-Fault Circuit-Interruptors reduce the hazard of shock from electrical equipment. Which is good for children or elderly people, who may not have the physical strength to let go or break free from electrical shocks.

Another important reason why a panel change out should strongly be considered is because of Solar photovoltaic systems. Not to get too scientific, but how much you give back to grid, which reduces to your energy bill greatly, is dependent on electrical panel buss ratings and the size of your main breaker in your panel.  Having a 200 amp or more rated electrical panel buss means you can feed more back into the grid and reduce your energy bills significantly.   Furthermore, when NYC slowly becomes for comfortable with batteries, you will be able to store energy and utilize stored energy during high time of use parts of the day to reduce your energy bill to almost zero.  This is a real thing…not play play!

Panel Change outs have lots of benefits and are a less expensive option to a complete service upgrade.  Not to mention, Smart-Electrical Panels offer all the benefits discussed earlier with the bonus of load management.  Load management controls simultaneous running loads to not trip breakers.  For instance, you have a dryer and a car-charger running at the same time, a smart panel will throttle down the car charging until a heavy draw of the laundry load cycle is complete and then the Smart-Electrical Panel resumes normal power distribution.