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A word About Service Changes And Upgrades From A New Jersey Licensed Electrician
A homes electrical service is the main artery in which electricity flows from the utility grid into the internal wiring that supplies all of the appliances and devices that we use every day, yet its also the most overlooked aspect of the home. The service is generally comprised of several components including the lateral which is the cable that connects the utility cable to the meter, the main disconnect and overcurrent protection, and the load center (or panel) and the equipment grounding system. A bad service could mean excessive wear in connected equipment, latent safety defects resulting in energy loss, high electric bills, fire hazzard, arc fault or arc flash hazzards, and risk of electrocution
A good service is free of physical defects with no splitting or deterioration in the lateral. It has a meter that is well protected from rain and the elements, appropriately sized mains and reliable overcurrent protection. The heart of the service is a loadcenter that is appropriately sized for the load of the home, and has the correct type and number of breakers. A good service will have 2 grounding electrodes installed 6 feet apart and connected together at the point where the neutral is bonded to the equipment ground near the main disconnect, and a physical bond between the grounding electrode system, equipment grounding conductor and the metal non current carrying parts of the home plumbing system.
Symptoms of a bad service could include Lights dimming under load, intermittent power loss, hi electric bills, early equipment failure, tripping breakers but usually there are no symptoms at all until its too late. Typically a service should be checked and generally maintained every 5 years by adding deoxidant to aluminum connections and tightening lugs and terminations. The typical life a service is about 20 years, considerably longer with copper conductors. Most reputable contractors will guarantee a service for at least 10 years and a good contractor will guarantee it for 20. I suggest only using only Eaton Cutler Hammer load centers, and avoiding the pitfalls of doing it twice by using a licensed contractor.
Upgradeing is calculated by load and demand factors. If you have added any appliances like tvs refrigerators, or additions like basements attics or pools then typically a new load calculation should be done by a professional. If your home has a service of 100 amps or less, or if it is more then 20 years old a new load calculation should be done to see if the antiquated service is able to handle the new load of modern appliances.
About the Author
For more from Lloyd Mills a Master Electrician From New Jersey visit www.LloydMillsElectic.com
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