Summary:

• Over half of San Mateo homes are over 50 years old and have dangerously outdated electrical systems. Old wiring and panels were never designed to keep up with modern devices, so they can overload and start fires.
• San Mateo’s electrical problems started at the end of World War II when developers built thousands of homes with 60-amp fuse boxes. The city mostly stopped building new single-family homes decades ago, and older systems didn’t always get updated.
• Homes in the 1960s only used an average of 0.05 kWh of electricity per day. Today’s homes use around 29.36 kWh per day—almost 600 times more!
• If you’re experiencing power problems like flickering lights, outages, and tripped breakers, or you have an FPE or Zinsco panel, it’s probably time for an upgrade. Smelling burning plastic or seeing smoke is an emergency—call us right away!
• Upgrading to a modern 200-amp panel keeps your home and loved ones safe, gives you more wiggle room for using multiple devices, and increases the value of your home. It may even help you secure lower insurance rates.

Here’s a little-known fact: around half of all homes here in San Mateo are at least 50 years old. These older homes may look solid on the outside, but often have a dangerous secret hiding inside their walls: badly outdated electrical systems.

Old wiring, panels, and outlets can’t handle the amount of power flowing through modern devices like heat pumps, microwaves, and high-efficiency appliances. So, when people try to use them, lights flicker, breakers trip, and sometimes the whole house goes dark.

Symptoms like these are a red flag that your system is severely overloaded, which can start a fire. We’ll explain why this happens, how you can tell if it’s time to upgrade, and how to make your home safe below.

About San Mateo’s Aging Electrical Infrastructure

San Mateo’s electrical problems didn’t come out of nowhere—they’re actually a byproduct of our region’s post-war building boom. To understand how we got here and why so many homes still have issues, we need to take a walk through history.

• Before 1940: Homes in San Mateo largely relied on knob-and-tube with insulated wires for power. Some of this wiring still exists in untouched areas of older homes.
• Late 1940s-1960s: As World War II ended, demand for new housing in San Mateo exploded. Developers focused on building large tracts of single-family homes with 60-amp fuse boxes that had no grounding and very few branch circuits.
• 1960s: A copper shortage forced developers to consider working with aluminum wiring and panels, but this led to problems. Wiring, circuitry, and connection points caused overheating and started fires, leading to electrical code changes.
• 1960s-1980s: Single-family homes slowed to a crawl in San Mateo due to strict zoning rules and a general lack of space. Meanwhile, NEC code evolved to make safer 100-amp panels with better grounding, the standard for new developments.
• 1990s-2000s: Developers mostly focused on building multi-unit apartments and low-income housing, not single-family homes. Some homeowners choose to upgrade to 150-amp or 200-amp panels that could support more high-draw devices.
• 2000s-Present: The average age of single-family homes in the area continued to climb as new developments all but stalled out. Electrical safety and systems continued to evolve, but multi-family units saw the most benefit.

The key, here, is the fact that San Mateo largely stopped building new single-family homes decades ago, and older homes don’t benefit from new technologies unless they upgrade. But most homeowners don’t prioritize making the switch until they start having problems.

Read More: Is Your Old Electrical Panel Putting Your Home Insurance Coverage at Risk?

How Much More Power Do We Use Today?

Today’s homes draw far more power than they did back in 1960. Back then, 60-amp panels were more than enough for a few lights, a fridge, a stove, and maybe a washer or dryer—so homeowners really didn’t need anything more powerful.

Now, even the most basic devices we use draw way more power. That means we consume more electricity and put more stress on home electrical systems.

To give you some perspective, the average home used around 18 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year in the early 1960s. That works out to about 0.05 kWh per day, which translates out to around 2 watts of continuous draw. This figure is quite low because rural electrification wasn’t yet complete at the time.

But even if we double that figure to 0.10, it still pales in comparison to what the average home consumes today. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, that number falls in at around 10,791 kWh per year, or 29.36 kWh per day.

The Typical Power Draw of Today’s Home Appliances

When you see the numbers in the chart below, it’s easy to understand just how much power consumption has increased. They’re rough estimates only, because the total amount of power used depends on everything from the brand to how long you run it—but they’re a good place to start.

Understanding how much devices like these consume is about so much more than just seeing how much life in San Mateo has changed. It’s also a great way to be aware of how much power you’re using each day so you can future-proof your home and save money on energy bills.

Warning Signs That It’s Time to Upgrade

Not all electrical problems are obvious. But your panel will usually let you know when it’s struggling—you just need to know what you’re looking for. The most common red flags include:

• Dimming, flickering, or flashing lights. If it’s happening to a single bulb, try replacing it. If it’s happening all throughout your home, it’s a strong sign that something’s up with your panel.
• Constantly tripping breakers. Breakers are designed to trip in the event of arcing, short-circuits, or overload. If it happens once in a blue moon when you’re literally using every device at once, it may not be an issue, but anything more frequent is a red flag.
• You smell burning plastic or hear strange noises. Buzzing, whining, clicking—it’s all bad news, and so is seeing smoke or smelling something burning. These are all common signs of short circuits, arching, and impending electrical fires, so call us right away.
• You still have fuses or knob-and-tube wiring. These older electrical systems are some of the most outdated in our region and the most prone to sudden disasters. Give us a call right away if you find them in your home. Find out how to identify knob-and-tube wiring.
• You have an FPE or Zinsco panel. There’s a reason both of these brands don’t exist anymore: they have dangerous known defects. FPE’s Stab-Lok breakers fail to trip as they should, and Zinsco’s aluminum connection points can overheat, causing arcs. 
• You see visible corrosion, rust, or burn marks. A little rust on the door is no big deal. If you notice it on the panel itself, take action right away, because you can’t know how deep the corrosion goes just by looking. Ditto for water stains, mold, and cracks.

Want a full breakdown of which panel types are considered unsafe, how to know when yours is about to fail, and how the upgrade process works? See our electrical panel upgrades guide.

The Top 5 Reasons to Upgrade Your Panel

If your current panel is outdated, overloaded, or more than 10 years old, it’s probably time to have it assessed and consider an upgrade. Moving to a newer device will give you so much more than just more capacity and headroom for your favorite tech:

1. A safer, more secure home. New panels are safer, more reliable, better at handling power efficiently, and less likely to start a fire when you’re asleep or away.
2. Higher capacity for modern appliances. More capacity gives you plenty of room to run the wash, turn on the AC, plug in your EV, watch TV, and heat your pool without risking an overload.
3. A more marketable home. Even if you don’t plan to sell now, an upgraded panel still helps ensure your home value stays high. It also makes your house more attractive to buyers.
4. Serious savings. Tax credits, rebates, lower home insurance rates—a new panel can help you save money all around, and most are slightly more efficient at distributing power, too.
5. Greater peace of mind. You won’t experience issues like tripped breakers or outages anymore, but the real win is knowing your home, pets, and loved ones are safe.

We strongly recommend installing a 200-amp panel if you decide it’s time to move forward. They provide a massive capacity boost, but they’re also necessary for certain renovations and for Level 2 EV Chargers.

Resolve Power Problems For Good With Caccia Home Services

Math isn’t easy for everyone to wrap their head around, but in this case, it’s simple: a 60-amp panel or knob-and-tube wiring can’t possibly power a modern lifestyle. If you’re still relying on one of these older systems, or know someone who is, we strongly encourage you to contact us now to find a solution.

Taking a proactive approach to upgrading is safer, smarter, and far more cost-effective in the long run. But it also helps to keep you safe, and that’s what we care about the most.

Don’t take risks with your life or your home when there’s a solution a telephone call away. We can help you resolve power problems for good in as little as a single appointment. Call Caccia Home Services at (650) 294-8606 for help!