Why Your Breaker Panel Is Dangerous and How HVAC Adds To The Challenge

Certain aspects of your home are behind the scenes. Out of sight, out of mind. 

If you’ve ever peered behind the door of your breaker panel, it may seem like a simple conglomerate of switches with numbers and labels for control. Yet if power goes out in your house, you’ll have to rely on it to bring it back to life. 

The switches inside your breaker panel control every aspect of modern life inside your home. Want electricity? Want your appliances to operate? You can’t have it safely without a breaker panel in place. Including operating your HVAC system. 

You’ll find your breaker panel in a garage, a utility room, or outside of your home. It’s the gateway between electricity from the power company to home operation inside your location. Behind the metal door, you’ll find a series of switches marked with various zones. In some cases, individual appliances will have their own switch.

Electricity isn’t a consistent flow. At times, surges might occur for a variety of reasons. They can come from items inside your home – too many appliances operating in one circuit – or outside of your home – an electrical storm. 

When a surge is detected and overloads one of the circuits, the breaker panel is designed to automatically cut power to that circuit. It prevents damage from occurring from the surge. The switch inside the breaker panel moves to the off position, meaning power will no longer flow to anything in that circuit. 

In older homes, problems can arise where you try and operate too many appliances within one circuit. It can’t handle the load, and turns the circuit off to protect the system. Today’s HVAC systems should be on its own dedicated circuit because of the draw that occurs every time your furnace or air conditioner operate. 

We recommend a dedicated circuit specifically labeled for appliances like a furnace, air conditioners, and even radiant heating. Things like convection ovens and ranges require dedicated circuits as well. Because they have substantial draw, having their own circuits help ensure they operate safely. It can also protect individual appliances and ensure they stay operational for the life of the appliance. 

Take a look behind your breaker panel door. The older it is, the more potential problems may exist. Have you noticed an acrid smell? Do you see evidence of buried wires? Does the panel feel hot to the touch? All are reasons to have a specialist out today and determine where the problem lies. 

If you don’t have high powered appliances on a dedicated circuit, now is the time to make modifications. Your breaker panel is the key to all electrical activity inside your home. It shouldn’t be ignored. We can evaluate it and make any necessary corrections today.