02
Breaker panel upgrades and service changes
We size the service to the load the house actually carries, coordinate the disconnect with Oncor, and hand the inspection off finished. A panel is the one piece of a house everything else depends on.
Chapter 01
The panels we get called out to replace
Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels come up constantly in housing of this era, and they come up for a specific reason: both have a documented history of breakers that do not reliably trip when a circuit faults. A breaker that fails to open is not a nuisance, it is the safety device quietly not working.
Alongside those, we replace panels that are simply out of room, panels where the bus has been damaged by heat at a breaker stab, and services that were sized decades ago for a house that has since gained a shop, a second air conditioner, an induction range or a car charger.
Not every old panel needs replacing. Some need a repair, a proper regrounding, or a subpanel rather than a service change. We tell you which one you are looking at, and we say plainly when the honest answer is that the existing panel is fine.
Peerless Electric technician beside a finished 200 amp exterior panel install on a brick wall
Sizing the service to the real load
The starting point is a load calculation against what the house actually runs, not a round number picked off a shelf. Square footage, fixed appliances, HVAC, any planned additions like an electric vehicle charger or a shop subpanel. That calculation is what decides whether you need a service change or just a new panel on the existing service.
That distinction matters to the price and the schedule. A panel change keeps the existing service conductors and meter. A service change means new conductors, a new meter can, and coordination with the utility, which is a different job with a different timeline.
We would rather have that conversation before the work is scheduled than discover it halfway through a day with the power off.
Chapter 03
The day itself, and the utility coordination
A panel change means the power is off for the working part of the day, so we agree the window in advance and we start early. The Euless shop opens at seven, and panel work is the first thing on the truck for a reason.
Where the utility has to pull the meter or drop the service, that gets coordinated with Oncor ahead of the date rather than called in on the morning. Grounding and bonding get brought up to current code as part of the work, because a new panel landed on an old ground system is only half a job.
Circuits get re-landed and labelled as they go back in, so the finished panel is a document as well as a panel.
Inspection, and what you are left with
The work is done to the applicable local and national electrical codes and we take the inspection through to sign off. We work Eaton, Siemens and Cutler Hammer equipment and we are an Eaton certified contractor, so the gear going in is equipment we know rather than whatever was closest.
What you are left with is a labelled panel with room in it, conductors dressed so the next electrician can read the work, and arc fault and ground fault protection where the code now requires it. Where a whole home surge protector makes sense on the new panel, we will say so and price it separately rather than folding it in unasked.
Free estimates on most work. Licensed Master Electrician TMEL#26724, Electrical Contractor TECL#20957, Eaton certified, Better Business Bureau accredited.