Is Your Electrical Panel Keeping Up With Your Home?
At Buxton Electric, we’ve been assessing and upgrading panels for over 20 years. Your electrical panel is the heart of your home’s electrical system, and like any hardworking system, it eventually reaches its limits. For homeowners in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, and across the metro, aging panels are one of the most common electrical issues we encounter. The challenge is that the signs aren’t always dramatic. Often, a panel that needs replacing gives subtle, easy-to-dismiss warnings before a real problem develops.
Warning Signs Your Panel May Need an Upgrade
1. Breakers That Trip Frequently
A breaker that trips occasionally isn’t necessarily a problem; it’s doing its job. But if you’re resetting the same breaker regularly, or if multiple breakers trip under normal household use, your panel is telling you something. Frequent tripping often means your panel can’t handle the load your home is placing on it, or individual breakers are wearing out.
2. Flickering or Dimming Lights
Lights that flicker when you run the microwave or turn on the dryer are a sign that your circuits are overloaded. Older 100-amp panels, common in Tulsa homes built before the 1980s, weren’t designed for the electrical demands of modern appliances, large televisions, home offices, and EV charging. A panel upgrade to 200 amps resolves this by giving your home the capacity it actually needs.
3. Burn Marks, Rust, or a Burning Smell
These are not warning signs; they are urgent ones. If you notice any discoloration, rust, or a faint burning smell near your panel, turn off the main breaker and call a licensed electrician immediately. These indicate heat damage or moisture intrusion that can quickly become a fire hazard.
4. Your Panel Has Two-Prong Outlets Throughout the Home
Two-prong outlets are ungrounded, which means they offer no protection for sensitive electronics and no path for fault current. If most of your home still has two-prong outlets, it’s a reliable sign that the wiring and likely the panel dates back to a time before modern electrical standards.
5. You Have a Federal Pacific or Zinsco Panel
Both brands were widely installed across Oklahoma in the 1960s and 70s, and both have well-documented reliability problems. Federal Pacific Stab-Lok breakers are known to fail to trip during overloads, while Zinsco breakers can fuse in place. If either name appears on your panel door, have it evaluated by a licensed electrician. Replacement is almost always the right call.
6. Your Home Doesn’t Have Enough Circuits for Your Life
Adding a home office, a workshop, an EV charger, or a hot tub all require dedicated circuits. If you’re running extension cords to make things work, your panel isn’t the right size for your current needs, and that mismatch only grows over time.
The Buxton Standard: Panel Work Done Right
A panel upgrade is not a job to rush. It involves shutting off power to the home, coordinating with your utility provider, obtaining the appropriate permits, and completing work that must pass inspection to protect your family. We assess your panel and your home’s current demand, give you a clear upfront price, pull the necessary permits, complete the work to code, and get it inspected. You know what it’s going to cost before we start. No surprises. No pressure. Just solid, permitted electrical work done right the first time.
Ready To Help When You Need It
If you’re in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, or anywhere across northeastern Oklahoma, Buxton Electric is ready to help. Call us at (918) 296-4444. Clear pricing. Real communication. Work done right the first time.
