The electric company powers your home through your service entrance. Before getting to your electrical panel at home, wires from outside first go to an electric meter and possibly a service disconnect. After which, they go to a fuse panel or a circuit breaker in your house.

These panels are what protect your wirings from overload using circuit breakers or fuses. Fuses usually have a preset limit to how much current they can take. If surpassed, the link of the fuse will melt or ‘blow’ and will then have to be replaced. On the other hand, circuit breakers also have a predetermined limit. However, they ‘trip’ after exceeding the limit but can still be reset and reused.

Subpanels are like remote circuit panels. They are smaller panels that send out electricity to a designated area in the property.

Picking the right size of subpanels based on your expected power load can be difficult. You’ll have to think of how much power your main service can offer and how much you will need. For example, you won’t have any trouble adding a 60-amp subpanel for the garage if your main service has 100-amp. However, you’ll need a bigger main panel if it can only support 60-amp and nothing more. Once you’ve figured out what you need, using a subpanel has a lot of advantages.

Additional Room And Space

A subpanel is a convenient solution when there is no more space in your main service panel. Adding a circuit breaker panel with 12 slots to your subpanel can provide enough room for general circuits and lighting. Using a lot of appliances with 240 volts, however, needs more openings and a larger rating for the main breaker.

Convenience And Proximity

Subpanels provide the ease of minimizing circuit wirings by centralizing the panel. You can just run a large set of feeder wires from the panel to the area needing power distribution. It is more advantageous than connecting multiple wires from a far distance which generally causes voltage drops. Moreover, it’s more convenient to control the circuits at a nearer location than going back to the main panel. For example, if a circuit breaker trips in the shed, it’s easier to reset it from the subpanel.

Time And Cost Efficiency

Not needing to go back to the main panel saves you a lot time and effort. Furthermore, installing subpanels can also save you quite an amount of money. A main circuit with high amperage and subpanels generally cost less than running individual circuits for each remote location.

An important tip when adding a subpanel, make sure to turn the power off before beginning any electrical projects. Safety should always be your first priority. Shutting the power off doesn’t take long but getting shocked takes an even shorter time. If you aren’t confident about doing it on your own, there are a lot of companies that offer Electrical Service Melbourne wide. Connect with licensed professionals to help you out. Go to http://www.easton-bell.com.au/ to get more information.