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Electrical Load Calculations
A panel directory nobody can read costs the next electrician an hour and the owner the bill for it. A panel is the one part of a house every other circuit depends on, so it is the part worth measuring before anyone touches it.
Electrical Load Calculations in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Owner-operated by Clint Ehman. Seventeen years in the trade, four of them running his own shop.
5.0 from 94 Google reviews · BBB A+ since 2022
What this work actually involves
The load gets calculated against what the house actually runs, not against a rule of thumb. If the existing service carries it, you hear that.
The measurement happens before the number. You hear what the reading says in plain words, then what it means, then what it will take to fix. Where the fix is small you are told that rather than sold past it.
Permits get pulled where the municipality asks for one, and the work is left ready for the inspector with the panel labeled. The same person does the diagnosis and the repair.
When people call about this
- Breakers that trip under normal load
- A panel brand an inspector flags on sight
- Scorch marks, heat or a smell at the cover
- No room left for a new circuit
Why people choose Clint for it
There is no dispatcher taking a description for someone else to act on, and no commission riding on what the visit totals. The person who measures it is the person who fixes it.
Seventeen years in the trade and four running Infinity Electric out of O’Fallon, with 5.0 from 94 Google reviews and BBB accreditation since 2022.
Where this is done
O’Fallon first, then the rest of St. Charles County, St. Louis County and the City, and out to Lincoln and Warren. If you are just past that, the call is still worth making.
See the full service area, or the rest of our panels & service work.
What the utility controls and what you do
Everything from the transformer to the meter belongs to Ameren. The meter base, the service entrance conductors, the mast and everything inside belong to the house. The split matters because it decides who pays and who schedules.
Work crossing that line needs a utility disconnect on a scheduled day, which is the single biggest factor in how long a panel job takes. That date gets established before the work is booked, not discovered on the morning.
What a panel directory is worth later
An accurate circuit directory is the cheapest thing in a panel and the one most often missing. Without it, every future visit starts with twenty minutes of somebody switching breakers off and shouting down a hallway, and you pay for those twenty minutes.
Every circuit gets identified and written on the directory as part of the work. It is also one of the first things a municipal inspector looks at, because an unlabeled panel is a hazard to whoever opens it next.
What a load calculation actually produces
It is an arithmetic exercise on the house’s real connected load: heating, cooling, range, dryer, water heater, charger, measured against the service’s rating, done to the method the code sets rather than by eye.
The output is a number and a decision. Plenty of houses that feel short on capacity are carrying what they ask of them, and a calculation is the only thing that tells you that before you pay for new service.
Who actually does the work
Clint Ehman does the diagnosis and the repair himself. There is no salesman writing a scope for a technician to execute, and nobody paid on what the visit totals.
Seventeen years in the trade, four of them running his own shop out of O’Fallon, licensed, bonded and insured with workers compensation coverage, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and A+ BBB accreditation held since 2022.
What makes this harder in older housing stock
Across this metro the recurring complications are predictable: no equipment ground, aluminum branch wiring from the mid-seventies, knob-and-tube buried in blown-in insulation, panels that have been added to several times, and splices in places the code has not allowed for decades.
Those turn a simple job into a decision about scope. The decision gets put to you with the reading behind it rather than made quietly and billed.
“Clint did an excellent job installing two bathroom exhaust fans. He installed high-quality fans that were far superior to the ones I had purchased from a big box store. I highly recommend his services.”
David Hinners · Google review
How the visit goes
- The call
You describe what the house is doing and what prompted it: a tripping breaker, an inspector’s note, a planned addition. That shapes what gets measured first.
- The measurement
Load across the service under real conditions, voltage at the main, the condition of every lug and the bus. On an older panel, the breaker brand gets identified, because some have no listed replacement still made.
- The finding
You get the number and what it means. If the service carries what the house asks of it, you hear that, and the conversation becomes a sub-panel or a single circuit instead of a service upgrade.
- The work
Permit where required, utility coordinated for the disconnect, new equipment installed, every circuit identified and labeled, and the site left ready for the inspector.
What the job includes
- A load calculation against what the house actually runs, given to you as a number
- Permit application where the municipality requires one
- New panel, breakers and a legible circuit directory
- Utility coordination for the disconnect and reconnect
- Grounding and bonding brought to current requirements
- The site left ready for inspection, and the inspection attended
What it does not
- Drywall repair beyond the panel opening
- Appliance repair, which is a different trade
- Work on the utility side of the meter, which is the utility’s own
Anything that is not an electrical problem gets identified as such and handed on. Recent jobs are worth a look before you call.
Related panels & service work
Electrical Load Calculations across the metro
The same job is not the same job in every part of this metro. Same trade across five jurisdictions out of O’Fallon, with a different inspection process in each.
Warren County
Which of those you have changes the entire conversation, so the first visit establishes what is actually there rather than assuming from the address.
St. Charles County
The subdivisions here were wired correctly for what houses drew at the time. A charger, a heat pump and a finished lower level later, the arithmetic no longer works out.
St. Louis County
This is where the genuinely old wiring lives: cloth insulation, no equipment ground, fuse panels and the mid-seventies aluminum. Each has an accepted remedy rather than requiring a whole-house rewire.
The whole working radius is mapped on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
Will the power be off all day?
A panel change means the service is off while the work happens, usually most of a working day. You will be told the window before the day starts, and the utility and inspection timing are arranged around it.
How do I know if my panel brand is a problem?
Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco both have documented failure-to-trip histories and no current listed replacement breaker, so the panel gets replaced rather than repaired. The label on the door identifies it in seconds.
Do I need a permit for panel work?
In every municipality in this footprint, yes, plus an inspection and a scheduled utility disconnect. That is why a panel change is a planned day rather than a same-day call.
What do your reviews say?
5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and A+ accreditation with the BBB held since 2022. The reviews are on the reviews page with links to where each was posted.
Who actually shows up?
Clint Ehman. Infinity Electric is owner-operated, so the person who answers the phone is the person who measures your panel and pulls the permit. There is no dispatcher and no commissioned salesman.
Find out which problem you have.
Several causes, very different prices, and only a measurement separates them. Electrical Load Calculations in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Mon-Thu 8-5 · Fri 8-4 · Sat 10-3. Emergencies outside that are still worth the call, or message instead.