Some people may still call them “fuse boxes,” though most homes and office buildings have circuit breakers in San Jose. These panels are crucial to the function of any modern building, since they prevent circuits from overloading, which in turn prevents damage to the wiring and electrical fires. Only a licensed electrician should attempt to repair or replace a circuit breaker . Find out more about this critical piece of electrical equipment by reading on.
Modern Circuit Breaker Design
The original design for home electrical panels were indeed fuse boxes. Fuses contained filaments that would melt when overheated, interrupting the circuit and preventing a fire or overload. Fuses needed to be thrown out and completely replaced when they “blew out,” so homeowners needed to keep a supply of them on hand or call a residential electrician when this happened. Modern circuit 
breakers contain switches that trip, allowing you to restart the circuit simply by flipping the switch.
Signs of a Circuit Breaker Problem
If you find that breakers in your home or commercial property frequently trip, cutting off power to a certain section of the building, you should call an electrician for an electric safety inspection as soon as you can. This can be a sign of faulty wiring or an overloaded breaker. Beyond the inconvenience of constantly having to visit the breaker box to flip the switches, these problems can lead to sparking, electrical fires, and other serious dangers. The circuit breaker should be a safety feature, not a safety hazard.
Solutions for Breaker Problems.
Often, an electrician can fix your breaker problems simply by rewiring the panel. In some cases, however, your building may need electrical panel upgrades. Today’s electrical usage, with computers, phone chargers, televisions, broadband routers, and much more, far exceeds that of even two decades ago. To bring you up to code, an electrician may install smaller sub-panels, or upgrade your circuit breaker to a larger size that can handle the increased load on the system.