Guide · Wilmington and Cape Fear

7 signs your home needs a panel upgrade

Breakers that keep tripping, a panel that's warm to the touch, or plans for an EV charger or heat pump. Here's how to tell when your panel has reached its limit, and what an upgrade involves.

By PJ Hofer, licensed electrician (NC U.35874) · October 26, 2026

Your electrical panel is the heart of your house. Every circuit starts there. When it's undersized, worn out or overloaded, it shows up in small ways first.

Here are the seven signs we see most often in homes around Wilmington, Castle Hayne and the rest of the Cape Fear region.

1. Breakers trip more than they should

A breaker that trips once in a while is doing its job. A breaker that trips every time the microwave and the coffee maker run together is telling you the circuit, or the whole panel, is being asked for more than it can give.

2. Lights dim when something big starts

If the lights dip when the AC, the dryer or the well pump kicks on, your service may be running close to its limit.

3. The panel is warm, buzzing or smells hot

A panel should be quiet and cool. Heat, buzzing, crackling, a burning smell or scorch marks around a breaker mean you should stop and call an electrician the same day. Don't open the panel cover yourself.

4. You have a 60 or 100 amp service

Many older homes in New Hanover and Pender counties were built with 60 or 100 amp service. That was plenty when they were built. Today's homes run more air conditioning, more electronics, and often an EV. A 200 amp service is the common upgrade.

5. Your panel is a brand inspectors flag

Some older panel brands, including Federal Pacific Electric (Stab-Lok) and Zinsco, are regularly flagged by home inspectors and some insurers. If yours is one of them, have it evaluated, especially before you sell or refinance.

6. You're adding a big load

An EV charger, a heat pump, a hot tub, a pool pump, a shop or an addition can each add a lot of demand. Before you add one, have an electrician run a load calculation. It tells you whether your existing panel can carry it, or whether an upgrade comes first.

7. You're out of spaces

If every slot in the panel is full and someone has added "tandem" breakers or doubled up wires under one breaker to make room, it's time to look at a bigger panel.

What a panel upgrade involves

• A look at the panel and a clear price. We look at your current panel, your service and what you plan to add, then agree the price with you before any work starts.
• A permit. Panel and service upgrades need an electrical permit. We pull it.
• Coordination with the power company. Duke Energy disconnects and reconnects power for a service upgrade, so we schedule that with them.
• The install. The work itself is usually done in a day.
• Inspection and hand-over. We meet the inspector, then walk you through the new panel and label every circuit.