Found out my home panel was only rated for 100 amps after a 50 year old house

I was doing a service call last Tuesday in an old house from the 1960s and noticed the main breaker had no label. I looked up the model number on the panel cover and found out it was a 100 amp rated panel from a brand that went under in the 80s. Turns out the homeowner had added a hot tub and an electric car charger over the years without upgrading. That panel was running way over its limit and it surprised me how many people don't check the ratings on older gear. Has anyone else run into undersized panels in older homes around here?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_campbell4623d ago

Did the homeowner even blink when you told them they were running a 100 amp panel with a hot tub and EV charger?

taylor1223d ago

I mean, come on, 'didn't even blink'? Half the homeowners out there probably don't know what a 100 amp panel is. They just see the stuff working and think it's fine. Unless their lights are flickering or the breaker's tripping every hour, they're not gonna panic. I've seen way scarier setups that somehow held up for years without a fire or anything. It's not ideal, sure, but people act like a 100 amp panel is a death sentence when it's usually just a 'keep an eye on it' thing.

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joel_martinez22d ago

Wait hold on, did the homeowner actually say they installed the EV charger and hot tub without looking at the panel rating first? Or did they just not think about it at all? Because I've seen guys who know exactly what they're doing but still slap a 50 amp breaker into a 100 amp panel without checking the load calc. The whole thing about a house from the 60s is that those old panels were built for a time when nobody had more than a fridge and a TV running. Now people plug in space heaters, grow lights, and all sorts of junk without realizing that panel is living on borrowed time. I'm genuinely curious if that homeowner had any idea they were pushing past 80 amps on a daily basis with everything running at once.