9 Signs Your Electrical Panel Needs Upgrading (Missouri Homeowner's Guide)
Dimming lights, warm breakers, and a panel full of tandem breakers are all telling you something. Here is how to read the signs before they become an emergency.
First: is it just you?
Look outside. If the street is dark, it is the utility and your electrician cannot help. If your neighbors have lights, the problem is on your side of the meter. This single observation decides who you should be calling.
Second: is it the whole house or part of it?
Partial power almost always means a tripped breaker or a failed circuit. Total loss with the neighbors lit points at the main breaker, the service conductors, or the meter. Half the house dark with strange behavior — some lights dim, others bright — can indicate a lost neutral, which is a call-right-now situation.
Third: check the breakers, carefully
A tripped breaker often sits between on and off rather than fully off. To reset, push it firmly all the way off first, then back on. If it trips again immediately, stop. Do not keep resetting it.
Fourth: check GFCI devices
A single tripped GFCI can kill several outlets around the house, including ones in other rooms. Check the bathrooms, kitchen, garage, basement, and outdoors, and press reset on any that have popped.
Fifth: consider what changed
Did a storm just pass? Did an appliance just get plugged in? Was work done in the house recently? Was there water anywhere near a panel or outlet? The answer usually narrows the problem considerably, and it is the first thing our dispatcher will ask you.
Stop and call immediately if
You smell burning plastic, see or hear arcing, notice scorch marks, feel heat on a breaker or panel cover, see water in or near the panel, or find the service mast damaged. In those cases turn off the main breaker if you can do so safely and call (833) 652-8933.
What not to do
Do not open the panel cover. Do not replace a breaker with a larger one. Do not run a generator cord into a wall outlet. Do not touch anything wet near electrical equipment, and do not go near a downed line for any reason.
Questions about your own place? Call (833) 652-8933. We answer twenty-four hours a day, anywhere in Missouri.