Electrical panel replacement and upgrades in Jacksonville

A panel gets replaced on the First Coast for one of three reasons: the insurer asked (the four-point form recorded a Federal Pacific, Zinsco, Sylvania or Challenger brand, or a panel that showed heat damage), the house outgrew it (a Level 2 charger, a heat pump with strip heat and a pool pump on a 100-amp service from 1968), or it failed. The job is the same in each case: a new panel and breakers, often a new meter can and service entrance, the utility pulling the meter, an electrical permit and an inspection, and, under the 2020 code Jacksonville enforces, a surge protector at the service.

Call or send the form and get connected with an independent local electrical contractor who serves your area. If the panel is hot, smells, or has already failed, go to the no-power page and call; the three safe steps are there.

The panels the insurer asks about

The Citizens four-point form records the panel's brand and model, its amperage, and whether the amperage is sufficient for the house. Underwriters act on the brand.

• Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok: sold from the 1950s into the 1980s, in Arlington, Lakewood, the Beaches, Mandarin and Orange Park. Breakers that fail to trip under fault are the documented problem.
• Zinsco and Sylvania-Zinsco: 1960s and 1970s. The breaker-to-bus connection corrodes and the breaker welds itself on.
• Challenger: 1980s and early 1990s subdivisions. Bus-bar overheating at the breaker stab.
• Any panel with scorching, melted insulation, double-tapped breakers, missing knockouts, or rust from a flooded garage. These are conditions, not brands, and the form asks about them too.

What the job involves

A panel change on a First Coast house is a permitted job with the utility involved, and the quote should say each of these things.

• The electrical permit from the City of Jacksonville (JaxEPICS), or from the Beaches, Orange Park, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, or St. Johns, Clay or Nassau County. The city says electrical work "must be done only by contractors and craftsmen certified in those trades and require separate permits," and the 2026 exemption for small jobs under $7,500 does not cover electrical work.
• The meter pull and reconnect by JEA, Beaches Energy, Clay Electric or FPL, scheduled by the contractor; the house is without power for the work.
• The surge protective device: NEC 2020 section 230.67 requires a Type 1 or Type 2 SPD on a dwelling's service, and the rule applies when the service equipment is replaced. It is a line on the quote, not an option.
• A load calculation if the service size changes or a charger, heat pump or generator is coming: it decides between 150 and 200 amps and it is what the inspector wants to see.
• Grounding and bonding brought to current code: the ground rods, the water-pipe bond, the intersystem bonding terminal for the cable and phone grounds.
• The inspection, and the final that the insurer wants a copy of. Keep the permit number and the passed inspection with the policy file.

Repair or replace

A single failed breaker in a panel from a maker still in business (Square D, Eaton, Siemens, GE) is a repair. A failed breaker in a Federal Pacific, Zinsco or Challenger panel is the point where the contractor should quote the replacement, because the replacement breakers are either unavailable or reproductions of the same design, and the insurer will ask again next year.

A 100-amp service is not wrong by itself; a two-bedroom block house in Lakewood with gas heat and no charger lives on 100 amps. It becomes a replacement when the load calculation says so, and the contractor should show the calculation rather than assume 200 amps.