Electrical Panels Retrofitting

Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, West Toronto

Old rental apartments and condominiums may still be using older electrical panels which still use fuses. While these provide the proper protection, they can make any troubleshooting costly, difficult and possibly dangerous.

Why should I consider updating/replacing my electrical panel?

Changes in the Electrical Load

If you have an electric panel that uses fuses, then your home or building was likely built many years and many changes to the building code ago. There has been a lot of changes in your home since you bought it. You may now have several TVs instead of just one, you will have lots of kitchen appliances as opposed to just the few you had twenty-five years ago (see below a list of common electrical household items). 

In most cases you are actually using less electricity than 25 years ago because modern technology is more efficient, however, the distribution will have changed a lot.

Common modern house electrical items

• Indoor and outdoor lights
• Entertaining devices: TVs, stereo, home theatre, video games
• Large Home Appliances: vacuums, heaters, fans, furnace, air conditioner, air filters, humidifiers, battery chargers, washer, dryer
• Kitchen Appliances: fridge, freezer, wine cooler, stove/oven, dishwasher, microwave oven, blender, food processors, rice cooker, slow cooker, coffee makers, etc.
• Home Office: Computers, tablets, printers, networking equipment, etc.
• Electrical Tools: drill, screwdriver, saw, etc.
• Electrical Gardening/Outdoors Tools: mower, blower, trimmer, snowblower
• Electric/Hybrid Car Charging Station

Selling your house

Are you thinking about putting your home on the market? By having an updated electrical panel you will be adding value and avoiding conditions or objections from buyers or home inspectors that will result in reducing your selling price.

Insurance Company

Insurance companies can increase your premiums or reject your application if they consider your electrical installations unsafe.

Convenience and Safety

Modern electrical panels designed and installed with the updated Ontario Electrical Code regulations. The code gives you a more convenient and organized way to manage the electricity in your home while at the same time will provide you with additional safety.

Electrical Panel Evaluation

Our certified electricians can come to your home and do an analysis and let you know if your panel is OK or if we recommend any kind of changes or upgrades.

Colony Electrical Inc. offers service panel upgrade/repair/installation of electrical panels that can bring your home’s electrical system up to code and increase the safety and efficiency and safety of your electrical service.

Please contact Colony Electrical for all your electrical panels' needs.

What is the difference between fuses and breakers?

Fuses

Vintage Fuse Holder

Breakers

Fuses: A fuse is protection placed in a circuit to avoid that circuit to carry more current (amperage) than the maximum current the circuit was designed for. When a circuit carries more current than the circuit was designed for then the wiring gets overheated and this can lead to a fire. So a fuse is a "weak link" that will blow up when the maximum current is achieved and will cut the power to the circuit.
Once the fuse is blown, the only solution to make the circuit operational again would be to replace it with a new one. Before it’s replaced it’s important to find why the fuse blew up in the first place and solve it, otherwise the fuse will blow again.

Breaker: A breaker offers similar protection than a fuse does. The main difference is that the breaker is a mechanical device so when the current goes over the maximum current allowed for the breaker it "trips", cutting the power to the circuit and avoiding wire overheating eliminating the possibility of fire. The advantage of a breaker over a fuse is that you can easily (and safely) reset it. If the breaker "trips" again after you reset it, you need to troubleshoot to find the cause of the problem before resetting it again.

WARNING: Troubleshooting a blown fuse or a breaker should be done ONLY by trained electricians. Electricity is not visible and could lead to shocks, injuries, fire and death. The only troubleshooting we recommend is if the cause of the problem is quite apparent and there are no wires exposed. i.e. You turned on the electric mower and the garage breaker trips, then you reset the breaker, try the mower again and if the situation happens again you know the mower is broken and don't try to connect it again until taking it to the supplier for repair.

Please contact Colony Electrical for all your electrical panels' needs.