8 Signs You Need an Electrical
Panel Upgrade

A breaker trips because a circuit is drawing more current than it can safely carry. Once in a while, that's normal. If you're resetting breakers every week, though, the panel is overloaded. Running the microwave and the toaster at the same time shouldn't knock out your kitchen.

Frequent tripping often means the panel doesn't have enough circuits to distribute the load properly. A 200-amp panel upgrade with additional circuits solves this permanently.

Fuse boxes were standard up through the 1960s. Some homes in older neighborhoods around Vancouver WA still have them. A fuse box isn't automatically dangerous, but it was designed for 60 amps or less. That's nowhere near enough for a modern household.

Fuses also create a temptation to "overfuse," putting in a 30-amp fuse where a 15 was intended. That's a fire risk. If you have a fuse box, upgrading to a breaker panel should be a priority.

When you turn on the vacuum and the kitchen lights dip, that's a voltage drop caused by too much load on a shared circuit. Small dips on startup are normal for high-draw motors. Consistent dimming every time you run a major appliance means the panel can't distribute power evenly across circuits.

This gets worse over time, not better. The connections inside an aging panel corrode and loosen, which increases resistance and makes the flickering more noticeable.

A panel should never feel warm to the touch. If the cover is warm or you hear a buzzing or crackling sound coming from the box, something is wrong inside. Loose connections, corroded bus bars, or failing breakers can generate heat. All of those are fire hazards.

Don't wait on this one. Call a licensed electrician immediately. Ryan's crew can usually get out within 24 hours for an assessment.

An EV charger pulls 40 amps on a dedicated 240-volt circuit. A heat pump needs a 30 or 40-amp circuit. A hot tub pulls 50 amps. If your panel is already near capacity, adding any of these will require an upgrade first.

This is the most common reason Newman Electric does panel upgrades in the Vancouver WA area. Washington's push toward electrification means more homeowners are switching to heat pumps and buying EVs. Your panel has to be able to handle it.

If every room has a power strip daisy-chained to another power strip, your home doesn't have enough outlets. And if there aren't enough outlets, there aren't enough circuits. That points back to a panel that was sized for a time when a house had a TV, a fridge, and a few lights.

A panel upgrade creates room for additional circuits, which means you can add outlets where you actually need them instead of running extension cords across the carpet.

Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) panels and Zinsco panels were installed in thousands of homes from the 1950s through the 1980s. Both brands have a documented history of breakers that fail to trip during an overload. That means the breaker stays on while the wire overheats, which is exactly how electrical fires start.

If you open your panel door and see "Federal Pacific," "Stab-Lok," or "Zinsco" on the label, that panel needs to go. This isn't a "someday" project. It's a safety issue. Newman Electric replaces several of these every month in Clark County and Cowlitz County.

Any remodel that involves new circuits, whether it's a kitchen, bathroom, or ADU, needs a panel that can support the added load. Contractors won't start framing until the electrical capacity is confirmed.

If you're selling, an outdated panel shows up on the home inspection. Buyers either ask for a price reduction or walk. Upgrading before listing removes a major objection and signals that the home has been well maintained.

Every panel upgrade is a little different depending on your home and what you need. But most residential upgrades in Vancouver WA follow this process: