Electrical Panel Upgrades in Buxton, Maine

No town in York County leans on heating oil as heavily as Buxton, where about 74 percent of occupied homes burn it. That makes panel capacity a central question here: when an oil boiler is joined or replaced by cold-climate heat pumps, the house's heating load moves from the oil tank to the electrical service. A panel that has run an oil burner, a well pump, a range and lights for decades may have no free spaces and no spare capacity. The oldest houses, about 19 percent built before 1940, can still have a fuse box and a 60-amp service, and many homes from the 1960s and 1970s were built with 100 amps.

Small multi-family buildings are a real part of the town, with about 10.5 percent of homes in structures of two to four units. Each apartment usually has its own meter and panel, and a building upgrade has to consider the meter bank and service conductors as a whole, not one unit at a time; the town's permit fees for permanent services are figured per meter. Mobile homes, about 8 percent of homes, are a separate case, with a pole or pedestal service and a feeder that has to be sized for any heat pump added later. A load calculation at the start tells you which of these situations you are in. Some older two-family houses still share a single service with a subpanel for the second unit, which changes both the permit and the upgrade.

Because Buxton runs its own electrical permitting, the upgrade is permitted through the town and inspected by the town's inspector, with at least 36 hours' notice to schedule. Goodnow Electric files the town application, including the CMP account number it asks for, schedules the utility disconnect and reconnect, and is there for the inspection. Typical work is a move from 100 amps to 200 amps with a new panel, meter socket and service entrance, fuse box replacement, or the removal of a Federal Pacific, Zinsco or Challenger panel, and whole-home surge protection can be added while the panel is open. Every job begins with a free written estimate. Upgrading before the heat pumps go in, rather than after a January of tripped breakers, also lets the new circuits be placed once.