If you have an older home, you might need to think about doing some home electrical upgrades. There are more electric devices owned by consumers these days, and many of us try to get as much power out of the same single plugs as we could back 30 or 40 years ago. Here are some electrical upgrades you might want to think about making.
The first is the fuse box panel itself. Most of the older models were built to handle 100 amps of power, but these days most of us need 220 amps or more. The newer panels know how to handle all the electrical needs better, because some of our electronics are quite powerful compared to what they were back then. The cost for this is fairly high, mainly for labor, because this is something you definitely want a professional to handle.
Next: the number of electrical outlets. Most of us don’t have nearly enough for all the things we have, which means we put great stress on our outlets. I know I’m not the only person who has, in some places, triple extension cords coming off one outlet. By adding a new fuse box panel, your home can now handle up to 5 times as many wall outlets as you used to have. Don’t go crazy, but try to evaluate how many electrical appliances you have in each room and then add as many as you need. You may still not come up to as many as you need, but you’ll reduce the worry of one outlet suddenly cracking under the stress and taking out many of your electrical appliances with it. While you have your professional at your house to install your new fuse box, ask him about a whole house surge arrestor, which protects the entire house against strong power surges.
Something else you want to think about is having all the freedom you want with wall switches to operate certain things. For instance, you might want separate switches to operate the fan in your bathroom from the lights, if right now both come on at the same time. Or you might want the ability to turn on and off more than one light in your room, and from multiple locations. It’s easy enough to either add multiple switches, or a wall panel you can label that can address all of them. These days, you can even add wireless technology and run all of these things through your computer, or remotely; how’s that for a modern house?
If you live in cold areas, or areas where power usage is so high that you’re always putting up with brown outs, you definitely need to add a generator to your house. Depending on your needs, you can buy a relatively inexpensive one that will give you a few hours of power or a larger one that can run half a day. Some of them run on gas, while others store energy from other sources and becomes available when you need it. Those are more expensive, but if you’ve ever been caught in an ice storm when the power’s gone down and the roads are inaccessible, you might find this a lifesaver.
These are only a few home electrical upgrades you can consider, but they’ll give you a lot of peace of mind.
