Warm breakers, a burning smell, or lights that dim every time the dryer starts are not quirks of an old house. Here is what each symptom usually means, which ones can wait, and which one means switching the main off tonight.
1. The panel is a Federal Pacific or a Zinsco
Both makes have documented failure-to-trip records. A breaker that looks fine and reads fine can still fail to open under a genuine fault. There is no repair for this and no test that makes it safe. If your panel door carries either name, replacement is the only sensible answer, regardless of how well it appears to be working.
2. Breakers feel warm to the touch
A breaker running near capacity will be slightly warm. One that is hot, or noticeably hotter than its neighbours, points at a loose termination behind it. Loose terminations arc, arcing carbonises the busbar, and carbonised busbars start fires. This one is worth a call this week rather than next month.
If you can smell burning near the panel, switch the main off and call before you investigate further. The smell means something has already overheated.
3. There are no spare ways left
Tandem breakers buy space, but only where the panel is listed for them and only up to a limit. Once every slot is doubled, adding a heat pump or a car charger means the panel itself is the obstacle. Upgrading now is cheaper than upgrading twice.
A 200A panel with room left for the additions that come later.
4. Lights dim when a large appliance starts
A brief flicker when the air conditioning kicks in is normal. A visible drop across the whole house, every time, suggests the incoming service is undersized for the load or that a neutral connection is degrading. The second possibility is the dangerous one and it is worth testing for.
5. A breaker trips again the moment it is reset
That breaker is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Forcing it back on repeatedly heats the fault, damages the breaker, and turns a straightforward repair into a rewire. Leave it off and get the circuit tested.
What replacement actually involves
- One day on site, with power off for six to eight hours
- Utility disconnect and reconnect scheduled in advance
- New enclosure, breakers, bonding, and grounding electrode system
- AFCI and GFCI protection added where current code requires it
- Every circuit tested, labelled, and written on a printed schedule
Typical cost for a 100A to 200A upgrade on a single-family home is around $2,450 including the permit and inspection. If you are unsure what you have, send us a photo of the inside of the panel door and we will tell you the make and the age.
Send us a photo
Open the panel door, photograph the label, and we will tell you the make, the age, and whether it needs replacing.