Small Projects and meter & loadcenter upgrades
An new appliance. Microwave, copier, computer, heater, convection oven, or hair dryer "tripping" your breaker or blowing fuse? A dedicated circuit is required for these appliances to operate safely.Labor ball park $280 - $560Ceiling fans:Ceiling fans can be a suprising small project in a older building because the original construction usually did not provide a electrical outlet box of sufficient to support the fan. Dont be surprised to find you need a box replaced even if there is already a fan there. Labor Ball park $300.
Lighting indoors or out. Adding a fixture and switch. Ball park price varies widely $130-$340. Costs highly dependent on ceiling type and existing conditions.
Do you you have a "bad panel"? A jumble of old panels or a fuse box and need an upgrade? More information on Federal Pacific, Zinsco and other "bad Panels" here. More info on FPE
breakers here.
A service upgrade: Involves shutting off all power for a day minimum. Replacing meter, mast, fuses, panel(s) and etc new meter can, breaker panel, service conductors and a new grounding system. The Oregon Electrical Specialty Code usualy requires all aspects of the service to be brought up to code. Ballpark cost for a residential 200 amp $1000 and up per meter or panel. Example 1 new 200A meter and 1 new 200A panel = $2000 ball park. All Think Electric services are installed in Rigid Metal Conduit "rigid" or Electrical Metallic Tubing (EMT) or "thin wall". We generally do not recommend overhead services in PVC conduit due to poor performance in fault conditions (see PVC in video below), and because steel is more sustainable than Poly Vinal chloride (PVC). PVC is exelent for underground applications.Other considerations for old services:Your main breaker is what protects you and your property from all the available current in the grid. If the electric company updates the grid (transformer) be more energy efficient there may be more available power than your main breaker can safely "open" incase of a fault.Here is an extreme case:
