When an insurer or a 4-point report prompts a panel change, the new panel may be connected to parts that are still the builder's: the meter base on the outside wall, the cable from the meter to the panel, and the connection to the ground rod.
Those parts carry everything the house draws. A lug that has worked loose in the meter base, or corrosion where the service cable lands, heats up under a heavy load, and it sits ahead of the main breaker, where no breaker in the panel can shut it off.
Bayonet Point was built fast. In Beacon Woods, the land was purchased in 1971, and by 1976, the streets of the first two villages had been turned over to Pasco County. The electrical systems in most houses here were installed in the same two decades, and they've had the same heat, humidity, and use since then. So the year a house was built says little about how it differs from the one next door. What has been replaced since says more.
Finding out what has and hasn't been replaced means opening that equipment, which is an electrician's job. Leave the meter and its seal alone, and mention any panel change when you call.
A panel that has never been changed can carry a Federal Pacific or Zinsco label, and we recommend replacing those panels.
Aluminum wiring in houses from before the late 1970s
A house from the 1960s or from the 1970s, Bayonet Point's biggest building decade, can have aluminum wiring at its outlets, switches, and light fixtures. How to check for it, and the repairs we make, are covered on our page about aluminum wiring in Bayonet Point.
