The manuals nobody reads, rewritten.

A breaker that trips is doing its job — the question is why. Nine times out of ten it is one of three things: too much on one circuit, a worn breaker, or a real fault in a device or the wiring.

In our service area: yes, a hardwired Level 2 charger needs an electrical permit and an inspection. A plug-in unit on an existing correct outlet does not — but very few garages have that outlet.

For most homes in our area, a 200A panel upgrade lands in a range that depends on three things: the condition of your grounding, the utility connection, and how far the panel is from the meter.

Aluminum branch wiring from the 60s and 70s is not an automatic emergency, but the connections are where it fails. There are two honest paths: approved connector remediation at every device, or replacement.

One good surge — a lightning strike down the street, a utility switching event — can take out every board in the house: furnace, fridge, garage opener, the lot. A panel-mounted surge protector is cheap insurance against exactly that.

They protect against different things. A breaker protects the wiring from overload and short circuits. A GFCI protects you — it trips when current leaks somewhere it should not, like through water or a person.