Panels and service
Electrical Panel Upgrades in Sammamish
On the plateau the honest answer is often that you do not need one. That is worth finding out before you spend.
Full is not the same as undersized
This is the most over-sold job in the trade and the plateau is where it happens most. A panel with no free slots looks like a panel that needs replacing, and quite often it is not. A full panel with a healthy 200 amp service has several answers: tandem breakers where the panel is listed for them, a subpanel fed from the existing service, or load management so two large loads share capacity. A genuine service upgrade is sometimes right — older Pine Lake houses on 100 amps, for instance — but it should be the conclusion of a load calculation, not the opening offer.
What is included
A load calculation, not a glance
Real demand worked out against what is planned. The only honest basis for choosing a service size.
The cheaper answers checked first
Subpanel, tandems or load management assessed before anyone proposes replacing the service.
Utility coordination where it is needed
Disconnect and reconnect arranged, and the meter base addressed if it has to be.
Permit, inspection and a readable panel
Filed, inspected, every circuit identified as it transfers, and labelled properly at the end.
Why it comes up
No spare slots
The usual trigger up here, and the one most often solvable without a service upgrade.
A known problem panel brand
Some panels from the sixties to the eighties have documented failure issues and insurers increasingly ask.
Two large loads arriving
A charger and a heat pump in the same year forces the capacity question properly.
A sale or refinance flagged it
Inspection reports routinely call out aged services; addressing it beats arguing about it.
How the work runs
Assess
Service size, meter position, grounding, and what is on the panel today.
Calculate
The load calculation gives the answer, in plain terms, with every option.
Coordinate
Permit filed and the utility booked, if the answer is an upgrade.
Change and inspect
Panel swapped, circuits transferred and identified, inspection signed off.
Questions about this work
How long is the power off?
Most of a working day for a straightforward change, agreed with you beforehand. Where the utility disconnects and reconnects, their timing drives the day.
Do I definitely need a bigger service?
Frequently not. A great many plateau houses have an adequate service and a full panel, and those are different problems at very different prices.
Will my old circuits still work?
Yes. Existing branch circuits transfer and are identified as they go. If we find one already faulty you hear about it then.
Get the capacity question answered
The load calculation and the estimate are the same free visit.