When you are remodeling your house, there are a lot of things that you are going to have to do. One of them is to make sure that your electrical systems are up to date. There is a good chance that the standards have changed since your house was originally built, and that what is going on with your wiring now isn't necessarily the best choice for your wiring altogether. This is especially true if you live in a much older house that had the electrical system all jerry-rigged in order to work. When you hire an electrician to do the work on your electrical system, there are a lot of things that they are going to evaluate. One of them is whether or not you need to have a new electrical panel put in. 

Electrical Panel

The electrical panel in your house is the place where the electricity comes in and then spreads out to the rest of the house. Every circuit in your house runs through the panel, which is either a fuse box or a circuit breaker. When a circuit overloads, it causes the fuse or breaker to trigger. That breaks the overall circuit, which means that there won't be any juice running through it, which will keep it from overloading and damaging either your house or your possessions. While fuse boxes and circuit breakers act in a similar way, they do it in different ways. 

Fuse Box

A fuse box has sockets in it that accept fuses. They look like flat top light bulbs. Inside each fuse is a small strip of metal. When the fuse is screwed into the socket, that piece of metal completes the circuit. As long as the metal strip is intact, the circuit is closed and working. However, when the strip of metal breaks, then the circuit is open and won't work anymore. 

Circuit Breaker

Instead of having removable fuses, the circuit breaker has switches on it, just like a light switch. When the breaker is in the on position, you have a functioning electrical circuit, but once it gets flipped to the off position, then the circuit no longer works. Circuit breakers are slightly more responsive than fuse boxes, and are the current standard when it comes to the building codes. They are also easier to use since all you have to do is flip the switch to reset them, you don't have to match the fuses to make sure you get the right one in the right place. 

If you are remodeling your house, it's very likely that you are going to have to work on your electrical system as well. For more help, contact a company like Cole Electric Inc.