Need An Electrician? Types Of Electrical Distribution Boards For Residential Homes | Myrtle Beach, SC

Need An Electrician? Types Of Electrical Distribution Boards For Residential Homes | Myrtle Beach, SC

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It’s fascinating how electricity enters your home or office. Some homeowners rarely think about an electrical distribution board (DB board) that makes this possible and consider this to be technical stuff for electricians. But this should not be the case. As a homeowner, you need to understand the basics of your home’s DB board for safety purposes and know the various types that could be suitable for your home.

For starters, a DB board contains all the timers, ground leakage units, touch breakers, and doorbells. The function of this board is to ensure that electricity is distributed evenly throughout your home in Myrtle Beach, SC.

An entire electric power supply is directed to the whole building through a feeding cable from the network. A DB board keeps your family and property safe from electrical mishaps such as short circuits at bay and earth leakage.

Suppose you are shopping for a DB board. In that case, you can always get one that suits your electrical needs because they are available as ready-to-use wired regular units and empty enclosures. Some are custom-made to meet your electrical requirements.

DB boards are versatile, hence an electrician can install them in various areas of your house by fixing a switch disconnector that controls each board. Read on to discover the types of DB boards that could be suitable for your home, depending on your requirements.

Transfer Switches

Also known as a subpanel, a transfer switch is a home distribution board perfect for backup power generators. It converts the power from the generator to electricity via the breaker panel.

In layman’s terms, this subpanel converts the load between two unrelated electrical sources. A transfer switch guarantees a constant electrical power supply and ensures protection by offering a quality switchboard connection.

Discussed below are the main types of transfer switches

  • Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS)
    This device is commonly used when the utility source fails, and the generator is utilized to deliver electric power temporarily. An automatic transfer switch moves from its primary source to a backup generator when there is an outage or power failure in the primary source until utility power is restored.

    An electrician joins the ATS to primary and backup power sources so that it acts as a go-between for your house and the power sources. An ATS ensures the generator is safely connected to your home and isolates your property from power lines.

    This averts back-feed that may happen when power returns to the utility line, which could destroy the generator and even cause fires. The transfer switch is the easiest way to connect the generator to your home.

 

  • Manual Transfer Switches
    If you have installed a manual transfer switch in your home, you’ll need to start your generator manually and connect it to the transfer switch when there is a blackout. Then you’ll switch your house over to access power from the generator.

    When power from the utility is back, you’ll have to turn off the generator and manually switch the power back to the utility company. Some homeowners still use the manual transfer switch because it is cheap to fabricate, install, and design. Also, it’s small in size and easier to maintain compared to ATS.

Fuse Boxes

For a long time, fuse boxes have protected homes in Myrtle Beach, SC, against excessive current flows and increases in temperatures. Although nowadays most homeowners have shifted to service panel boxes and circuit breakers, it’s still common to find fuse boxes in some older homes.

This kind of DB board controls and supplies all of the electricity in your home and contains a fusible section that can melt, which is sealed inside of the glass fuse body. When there is excess power that the fusing element can’t handle, it will heat up, melt, and render the circuit dead and safe. When the fuse blows, it can’t be reused, thus you’ll need an electrical professional to replace it.

Also, it’s essential to know where your fuse box in your house is located so that you can quickly find it and switch it off in case of an accident as you wait for an electrician to arrive.

Subpanels

This mini service panel supplies power to a specific part of your home. It is like a satellite circuit breaker panel with its breakers powered by the main service panel. Subpanels are commonly preferred by homeowners seeking efficiency, space, and convenience. Suppose you want to extend the wiring for many branch circuits to a particular location of your residential building, such as a garage or outbuilding. In that case, you can contact an electrical company to install a subpanel.

An electrician will run a separate feeder wire from the primary panel to the subpanel. From there, the power will be sorted into various branch circuits serving that area of the house. Also, you can contact a licensed electrician to install a subpanel to help you save construction costs and time running many individual circuits from a remote location back to the main panel.

Main Breaker Panel

An electrician in Myrtle Beach, SC, can install this ED board to safeguard your circuits and regulate the panel’s amperage power. This device has a breaker connected by three wires in each circuit to prevent the circuits from overheating.

Main Lug Panel

Also known as an add-on, downstream, or secondary panel, a main lug panel is connected when a homeowner needs a remote panel.

These systems do not have a main breaker. Instead, their line wires extend to an electrical connector referred to as a lug. This electrical panel needs a separate disconnect. If there is a fire outbreak, the detached disconnect at the meter will make it possible for firefighters to cut the power without entering your home.

Call A Licensed Electrician Today!

If you want to install or upgrade the ED board for your residential property you can contact Mister Sparky of Myrtle Beach. We employ qualified electricians who are knowledgeable in all types of ED boards and will inspect your home to know the kind of ED board that would be suitable for your home.

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