Call the Electrician Tulsa, OK Relies On for Service

Most of it, yes. Panel upgrades, new circuits, service size changes, generator installs, and hardwired EV chargers all need a permit from the City of Tulsa Development Services. Skipping the permit can mean fines later and can tank a home inspection or an insurance claim down the road.

Unplug everything on that circuit and reset it once. If it holds, you were overloading it and just need to spread devices across more circuits. If it trips again immediately, even with nothing plugged in, that's a short or a ground fault, not something to keep resetting. Call someone out.

Sparking outlets, a burning smell, smoke from the panel, buzzing sounds, or losing power while the rest of the block still has it. If you are experiencing any of those, cut power at the main if it's safe to reach and call us right away. A single dead outlet or a breaker that resets fine can usually wait for regular hours. Our emergency electrician service runs around the clock for sparking outlets, burning smells, or a total loss of power when the neighbors still have theirs.

There are a few causes of flickering lights in a home. A quick dim when the AC kicks on is normal. That's just the compressor drawing a surge on startup. But flickering that's constant, or that hits multiple rooms at once, usually means a loose connection or a panel that's carrying more than it should. We've opened junction boxes in older Tulsa homes and found connections that were already arcing behind the wall.

Upgrade your panel if breakers trip often, your panel is under 200 amps, you're adding an EV charger or a major appliance, the home was built before 1990, or you see rust on the panel itself. We size a new panel to the actual load and handle the electrical panel upgrade and permit from start to finish. If your panel is a Federal Pacific or Zinsco brand, replace it now.

For safety reasons, you should replace your panel if it’s a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel. These were built between the 1950s and 1980s, and independent testing found that the breakers often don't trip during an overload or a short circuit. That's the entire job of a breaker. Insurance companies have started declining coverage or charging more for homes that still have one.

Depends on what your panel is already carrying. A Level 2 charger needs a dedicated 40- to 50-amp, 240-volt circuit. If your 100- or 150-amp panel is already running close to capacity with AC and appliances, adding that circuit will push it over the edge. We calculate the load before you buy the charger, not after.

When you contact us for a backup generator installation, we start by sizing your new generator to your actual load, usually 11 to 22 kilowatts for a typical Tulsa home. Once we know what size generator you need, we'll check to ensure you don't need additional panel work to accommodate the addition. If you don't, we'll coordinate with your gas or propane supply, obtain the permits, and install an automatic transfer switch. That switch is what keeps your generator from backfeeding power onto the PSO grid, which is dangerous for the line crews restoring power. We pull the permit, schedule inspections, install, test a full transfer cycle, and walk you through it.

National Electrical Code Section 210.8, which Oklahoma has adopted, requires GFCI protection at kitchen countertop outlets within six feet of a sink, every bathroom and garage outlet, outdoor outlets, unfinished basements, and anywhere near a laundry sink. They cut power in about 1/40th of a second when they sense current going somewhere it shouldn't, which is fast enough to prevent a shock from becoming an injury.

Have your panel checked for loose connections and corrosion before storm season starts. Add whole-house surge protection at the panel. Test your GFCI outlets monthly. Know where your main breaker is. After a bad storm, check your service entrance for damage and call PSO immediately if you see a downed line. Stay away from it either way.

Check whether it's just your house or the whole block first. Neighbors with lights on could mean the problem is yours. Check with your utility to see if it's reporting any outages in the area. If not, go check your main breaker and every circuit breaker for a trip. All breakers on but still no power? That points to the service entrance or the utility connection, and PSO needs the call, not us. Unplug sensitive electronics so a voltage spike doesn't fry them when power comes back, and leave one lamp switched on so you know the second it does. Never run a portable generator in the garage or indoors. Carbon monoxide doesn't announce itself.

Homes built between 1965 and 1973 are the ones to worry about, since that's when copper shortages pushed builders toward aluminum. The easiest check is your panel: aluminum wire has a dull, silvery look next to copper's reddish-brown, and outlets or switch covers that feel warm are a common tell. If your home falls within that build window and you've never had the wiring inspected, it's worth having someone look at it before you assume it's fine.

They do, and the home's age tells you what to look for. Anything built before 1950 might still have knob-and-tube wiring, which has no ground wire and insurance companies increasingly won't cover. The 1960s and 70s brought aluminum wiring, and most homes from that era are also running 100- or 150-amp panels that were fine in 1975 and aren't fine now. Neighborhoods like Brookside, Maple Ridge, and Cherry Street have a lot of housing stock in these ranges, so we see the same handful of issues over and over there.

An electrical inspection is a thorough look at your home's electrical system, during which our Tulsa electricians will flag any safety or code issues. We start at the panel, checking for breaker sizing, signs of overheating, loose lugs, and corrosion. From there, we check that breakers actually trip under test conditions instead of just sitting in the "on" position looking fine. Visible electrical wiring gets checked for damage or outdated material, outlets get tested for grounding and correct polarity, and GFCI protection gets verified everywhere code requires it. You get a written report afterward that separates what needs attention now from what can wait. It's worth scheduling one before you buy or sell a home, after a bad storm, or if the house is over 40 years old and has never had one.

Commercial work runs differently than residential from the ground up. Larger panels, often 200 to 800 amps. Three-phase power for motors and heavier equipment. Separate circuits for HVAC, lighting, and whatever equipment the space runs. We handle tenant-improvement electrical for businesses moving into a new space, commercial LED retrofits, and energy audits that show where a building is actually losing money on power. All of it gets pulled to City of Tulsa commercial permit standards, not the residential code.

The cost of your electrical service depends on the job, but you'll know the number before we start. No matter if it's a simple lighting installation or a bigger job like panel upgrades for an EV charger installation, you'll get a fixed quote after we've actually walked the site and calculated the load, not a range pulled out of the air.

Whether it's a breaker that won't stay reset or a panel that's been overdue for a decade, schedule online or call Mr. Electric of Tulsa to take care of all your electrical needs. We're available 24/7 for emergencies and can usually get to routine work the same day.