It was Thanksgiving and the delicious aroma of the cooking turkey was filling the house, when all of a sudden….POP! The oven shuts down. Argh! It’s the breaker….and what’s up with that? It has to be the oven element, right? I ran downstairs to the panel and reset the breaker and dinner was saved…for another 15 minutes POP! There it goes again. Another reset, and it actually held, until now. I took the oven element in to an appliance shop for a replacement, but it was tested and found to be fine. A weak breaker is thought to be the culprit.

I make a call to my electrician, and he asks for the brand of panel and breaker size, only to inform me that what I have is now obsolete, an individual breaker is hard to find, could cost around $140, and this particular brand is known to be a problem. It’s not a safety issue mind you, but a huge inconvenience and the popping will only become more frequent. Because it’s obsolete, a larger breaker can’t be installed.If we were planning on our dream hot tub, we’d be out of luck The only solution is an entirely new panel at a cost of around $500, which is actually quite reasonable considering an individual breaker in the old panel is $140, plus installation.

What am i getting at here? As a Realtor, I’ll be on the lookout for such things as the offending old panels, and informing my clients of any potential issue. This will be something that will be brought to the attention of the home inspector and they can give their professional opinion, since I am not an electrician. I was also told by my electrician that a panel of less than 100 amps can be an issue for the insurance companies, and could require an upgrade before the home can be insured.

This is just one of the possible costs that a home buyer could face, and just another thing, of many that I must be on the lookout for.

It’s all in a days work……..