You plug in a vacuum cleaner and then turn it on, but suddenly the lights go off in your living room, and you are left wondering whether or not there’s a power outage. However, in most cases, this situation isn’t caused mainly by a power outage but by circuit breakers. Circuit breakers are simply safety switches that switch off power automatically to separate your home whenever an overload occurs in your home’s electrical circuit. Homes have multiple breakers, which are all located in one component known as an electrical panel. Therefore, the electrical panel acts like your house’s electrical system brain. But is this the only function carried out by the electrical panel?
Moreover, electrical panels are crucial to every home that has electrical power. That’s because, without electrical panels, your house is usually at risk of experiencing drastic impacts whenever there is a power overload or a short circuit in the power system. Moreover, you should also ensure that your home runs on a high-quality electrical panel to ensure optimal performance and safety. But how can you select the best electrical panel manufacturer to produce your electrical control panel?
Electrical Panels in a Nutshell
Electrical panels, which are also known as breaker panels, are metallic boxes that have a door and are usually installed on a specific wall in your home that is not easily accessible to avoid any accidents. When you open up an electrical panel, you will find various breaker switches that break off current flow whenever there is a power overload in your home’s electrical power system.
You can easily toggle various breaker switches off and on. Moreover, they will also shut down automatically whenever excess current flows through them. That is basically their job.
Within electrical panels, you will find the primary circuit breaker, which has the power to shut off the house’s entire power system. Moreover, you will also find individual circuit breakers, each of which is responsible for the flow of current to various parts of a house. Therefore, whenever there is a power overload in a specific location in your home, the circuit breaker that handles that site cuts current flow to that part of the house. Moreover, these circuit breakers should all bear specific labels that link them to their control location to avoid confusion.
Some elderly houses do not have circuit breakers. Instead, they have different components known as fuses. If a fuse box controls your house’s electrical system, you will not see switches inside your home’s electrical panel. Instead, you will find screw-in fuses. However, if your house still runs on fuses, you might have a challenging time getting insurance. Therefore, you should upgrade to electrical panels to avoid any inconveniences.
Current Flow in Homes
The electrical power of most homes arrives inside the house via a component known as an electrical meter which is located outside the house. After receiving the electrical current, the electrical meter reroutes the power to the house’s electrical control panel. Therefore, to cut off electricity flow inside your entire home, you can utilize the main circuit breaker, which is found inside the electrical panel. The main circuit breaker breaks the current flow for the whole house.
Moreover, the main circuit breaker also lets you know your electrical service’s amperage (your home’s electrical current strength). Home insurance companies are often concerned about your house’s amperage before offering insurance. If your amperage is below 100, you might have to upgrade your system. On the other hand, sub-100 amperage might make it challenging for you to get an insurance company willing to insure your home, or you might end up paying more for the insurance.
Importance of Electrical Panels
Electrical panels play an essential part in the electrical industry. These panels boost the efficiency of various electrical systems. Moreover, by utilizing essential relays, these components are able to offer overload and short-circuit protection to electrical power systems.
Electrical panels are crucial metallic enclosures that display vital parameters such as:
- Current
- Frequency
- Voltage
- Power factor
Moreover, electrical panels have the ability to aid in the regulation of the electricity supply in a power system. These components can achieve this supply regulation via circuit breakers and switches.
The Top Electrical Panel Manufacturers in the Market
Radios, lightings, televisions, and other selected low-energy home appliances were the typical electrical gadgets utilized in various homes before the emergence of modern electronics. During those times, most houses were running on fuse boxes which were efficient in terms of monitoring the current flow to the gadgets at that time. However, as of the 21st century, modern home appliances hit the market, and the power needed to run households has gone up rapidly due to the integration of these devices. Some of the most utilized modern-day electronics include:
- Gaming systems
- Personal computers
- Laptops and so on
When the power being utilized by homes went up, manufacturers had to replace fuse boxes with different components which were more efficient. Hence they built electrical panels.
Electrical panel replaces fuse boxes, and since they hit the market, they have been growing in capacity and size over time.
Top electrical control panel manufacturers offer electrical systems, components, and products with up to 400 amp ratings. Moreover, these organizations don’t just serve residential only. They also cater to property owners.
Electrical control panel upgrades can move your panels from 60 or 100 amps to 200 amp capacities. These high capacities are becoming pretty common due to an increase in electrical demands per single modern household.
Whether you are starting your system from scratch or remodeling the power system, know the types of electrical panels available. Moreover, check the best panels in the market and the manufacturers making them. Of course, before you utilize any gadgets or appliances in your home, learn more about them. That means digging into how they operate and how much power they use. Once you have this information for every gadget and appliance in your home, you can figure out the correct electrical panel for your home.
Things to Consider before you Settle on a Specific Brand
When searching for an electrical control panel or a switchboard, there are several factors that you have to consider before you settle down on a particular brand. These factors include:
Power Requirements
Before you buy a property, you should have a rough idea of your home’s electrical power needs. That is because even though many modern houses are built having a panel that can handle 200 amp and above. That amount of power might not be sufficient for you. Therefore, power is a crucial aspect.
Location
The location where you will install your electrical panel is crucial to the choice of the panel you are going to order. That is because not all electrical control panels can handle rough weather, and not all are resistant to the penetration of substances.
Safety Controls
Before you order any electrical panel to install in your home, you should ensure that the panel can efficiently handle the following:
- Short circuit
- Power surges
- And other hazards that are related to electricity
That means you will have to research the manufacturing company and identify the type of panels they produce, their quality, durability, and reliability. With this information, you can be able to make an order that you will not regret in the future.
Machine Control and Breaker Types
When going through the profile of an electrical panel manufacturing company, you should also check on the materials that they utilize to make their panels. The materials that they employ should be of high quality, and they should also be durable.
Certifications
If you are looking for a perfect electrical panel manufacturer, you should not overlook their ISO certifications. These certifications verify that the company in question has specific processes followed during the designing and production process of their products to maintain consistency in terms of quality. Moreover, these certifications also show that the company undertakes various audits to make sure that its production processes are functioning optimally. What this means for you as their client is that you’ll always receive high-quality electrical panels since their processes are scalable and repeatable.
Top Electrical Panel Manufacturing Companies
Siemens Electrical Panels
Electrical panels from Siemens are pretty popular in the electrical and electronics market. Moreover, the majority of these models made for modern-day houses are not just user-friendly. They also come bearing user guides that you can use to install these panels on your own.
Siemens also provides multiple panel sizes and shapes that you can choose from. Therefore you should not have difficulty selecting the panel that suits your home. Additionally, depending on the power utilization in your home, you can choose panels with ratings ranging from 100 to 200 amps. Moreover, if you are having doubts about whether the 100 amp panel will serve you efficiently but still don’t want to go for the max amp rating. Then, you can go with the P1224L11225CU package, which offers an acceptable and efficient middle ground. The P1224L11225CU can easily handle up to 125 amps and cater to 24 circuits.
To effectively power these electrical panels, Siemens’s manufacturer utilizes metal buses, which are highly efficient and corrosion-proof. Moreover, for the ground and neutral bar, Siemens uses a technology known as instant wire which allows the panel to shorten the board’s installation process via accepting cables.
Siemens electrical panels are pretty popular. Actually, if you consult expert electricians, they’ll probably tell you to try out these panels before you go for panels from other manufacturers. Moreover, most families like these panels because of their:
- Adaptability
- Excellent quality
- Longevity and power of these panels
Schneider Electric
If you are looking for high-quality, reliable electrical panels, you should try out Square D electrical panels by Schneider electronics. Even though there are many electrical panel manufacturers in the market today. The Schneider company is famous for producing high-quality, reliable panels. Moreover, when constructing these panels, manufacturers utilize heavy steels, which makes these panels exceptionally sturdy and durable. Furthermore, this company stocks multiple types of panels, which range from sub-sized panels to heavy-duty panels.
When using a standard square D electrical control panel, you can install up to 10 single-pole or five double-pole circuit breakers, plus the primary breaker. Moreover, these switchboards can also act as supplemental viewing areas.
Standard Square D is efficient primarily when utilized in one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Moreover, they also function well when applied in smaller houses. Additionally, whether you go for the surface mount or flush configuration, you will have an easy time installing the package.
The 125 amp panels are pretty efficient when utilized in an enormous household. That is because they have room for 12 circuit breakers. Moreover, these panels are also expandable, which means you can add more circuit breakers in the future.
Bigger houses
If your household is huge, go with the Square D panel that bears a rating of 200 amps. The 200 amps version of the Square D panels or the Square D HOM4080M200PQCVP has a Qwik-Grip feature which lets you insert various cables into holes with minimal strain. Moreover, the shields of this version can easily snap shut, securing branch cables effectively and helping you save time. Due to this feature, these panels do not require cable connectors and steek knockouts.
Moreover, these panels can effectively support 240/120 AC voltages with tandem and full-size circuit breaker. Additionally, these panels are available in 2 double poles, 30 amp circuit breakers, and three single poles 30 amps circuit breakers.
Conclusion
With emergence and heavy utilization of modern-day home appliances and gadgets, the fuse boxes, pretty efficient years back, are now becoming absolute. That is because they can’t handle high-voltage power surges and short circuits that come with modern-day electronics as efficient as electrical panels. Therefore, many households are now shifting to electrical panels to control their electrical power systems better. However, with the many electrical panel manufacturer in the market today, selecting the perfect one can be tricky. However, if you utilize the tips in this article, you will find your ideal match in no time.
