🎄 A Holiday Tale: Why Your Home Needs Dedicated Circuits for Holiday Appliance Demand

December 2, 2025

Bay Area Holiday Electrical Safety Guide – Dollens Electric (C10 – ELECTRICAL, B – GENERAL BUILDING,  C46 – SOLAR LICENSED)

Understanding Holiday Electrical Overload in Older Homes

The holidays bring warmth and celebration, but they also push your home’s electrical system harder than any other time of year. Space heaters, electric toys, outdoor lights, ovens, microwaves, hair dryers, chargers—everything is running at once.

In many older Bay Area homes, the wiring and panels weren’t designed to handle today’s holiday demand. That’s where dedicated circuits and panel upgrades make all the difference.

This Christmas Eve story from a local family shows how quickly a small overload can turn into a full house emergency—and how a simple electrical upgrade can prevent it from happening again.

🎄 The Christmas Eve Electrical Breakdown

On Christmas Eve, the house was filled with everything we all recognize from a busy holiday gathering:

  • A packed oven cooking dinner

  • Multiple space heaters keeping guests warm

  • Outdoor lights running full blast

  • Kids’ electric toys charging

  • Hair dryers and bathroom outlets running nonstop

And then—without warning—both bathrooms went dark.
Lights off. Outlets dead. Fans silent.

This kind of failure happens constantly in older homes throughout San Jose, Santa Clara, and nearby cities. With so many appliances sharing the same circuit, the system simply gives out. Sometimes a breaker trips. Other times, a hidden GFCI kills power to several rooms at once.

☃️ How Dollens Electric Helped

The family tried calling around, hoping someone might pick up. Most calls went to voicemail—holiday schedules, closed offices, no luck.

Then they reached Dollens Electric.

Josephine answered and listened patiently while they described the chaos: kids everywhere, dinner in the oven, guests arriving the next day, and both bathrooms suddenly out of commission. Instead of pushing an emergency visit, she walked them through safe steps they could try themselves.

When the basics didn’t restore power, she contacted Jason, one of our licensed technicians. He guided them through:

  • Checking the breaker

  • Unplugging the space heaters drawing heavy load

  • Testing outlets and load points

  • Looking for a hidden GFCI—common in older California homes

They eventually found it: an outdoor GFCI tucked behind a planter.
One reset, and the bathrooms lit up again.

No emergency charge. No holiday surcharge.
Just help—because that’s what we would want for our own families.

🌟 Why Dedicated Circuits Matter (Especially During the Holidays)

After the holidays, the family asked us to take a closer look at their panel and circuits. What we found is extremely common in Bay Area homes:

  • Space heaters and outlets shared the same overloaded circuit

  • Kitchen appliances were drawing more power than the wiring could safely support

  • Bathroom GFCIs were tied to outdoor outlets

  • The panel was outdated and under-sized for modern electrical use

To solve the problem for good, we installed:

✔ Dedicated circuits for high-demand appliances
✔ A panel upgrade with room for future expansion
✔ New GFCI protection in safer, more practical locations
✔ Capacity for EV charging and future solar battery storage

Today, the home handles holiday use without flickers, trips, or unexpected outages.

🎄 Do You Need Dedicated Circuits? Look for These Signs:

  • A space heater trips the breaker

  • Lights dim when appliances turn on

  • Bathroom or kitchen outlets lose power

  • GFCIs trip often

  • Half the home loses power unexpectedly

  • You rely on extension cords

  • Your electrical panel is 20+ years old

If any of this sounds familiar, your home may benefit from dedicated circuits or a panel evaluation.

Holiday Safety Tip from Dollens Electric

Your holiday celebrations should be full of joy—not electrical hazards. Dedicated circuits ensure everything runs safely and smoothly, even under heavy seasonal demand.

This winter, protect your home, your appliances, and your family by investing in a safer electrical system.

Book Before December 31st and receive 10% OFF your Holiday Electrical Service. 🎄

Dollens Electric provides:

  • Dedicated circuit installation

  • Panel upgrades

  • Holiday load troubleshooting

  • GFCI repair

  • Space heater circuit evaluations

  • EV charger installation

  • Whole-home surge protection

Serving San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Campbell, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Cupertino, and Saratoga.

📞  Call Now: (408) 929-6100

Book a Service Request Online:

Let us light up your holiday season—safely, efficiently, and beautifully.