Electrical Panels & Wiring: Amperage and Materials

Your service amperage is the total electricity your home can draw at once. A 100-amp service was standard for decades and still suffices for a modest home with gas appliances. But add central air, an electric range, a hot tub, or an EV charger, and 100A runs out of headroom fast. A 200-amp service is the modern standard, giving room for today’s loads and future additions. Many older Metro Detroit homes on 60A or 100A panels are upgraded to 200A precisely to support modern living safely.

Copper is the gold standard for branch wiring — conductive, durable, and what virtually all modern homes use. Aluminum branch wiring was used in some 1960s–70s homes and is a known concern: it expands and loosens at connections over time, which can overheat. It is not automatically dangerous, but it needs proper handling — specially rated devices and connectors, or remediation. A licensed electrician can identify aluminum wiring and tell you whether it needs corrective work, which matters for safety and insurance.

Knob-and-tube is the original early-1900s wiring still found in some pre-war Metro Detroit homes. It is ungrounded, was never designed for modern electrical loads, and after a century is often brittle or unsafely modified by past work — and many insurers refuse to cover homes that still have it. Replacing it with modern grounded wiring is one of the most important safety upgrades an older home can get. It is a job strictly for a licensed electrician, done with a permit and inspection.