Electrical Conundrum
I have a circuit panel rated for 100 amps and if I would like to add several more breakers that will exceed that amount, what is the best course of action and what would you think that will cost for a pro to do it?
I have a circuit panel rated for 100 amps and if I would like to add several more breakers that will exceed that amount, what is the best course of action and what would you think that will cost for a pro to do it?
you surely sound like your house is way underwired…subcode in the kitchen and bath..like the last post indicated you should have way more branch circuits than you do…hopefully you have some wiring chases where you can run new lines to alleviate your overload conditions…btw, i offer a free consultation, contact me at errol832000@yahoo.com
Sounds like you don’t have enough branch circuits.
A house wired correctly will have dedicated 20amp circuits for the fridge, dishwasher, and garbage disposer (if you have one). Then there are usually 2 separate 20amp circuits just for the kitchen counter appliances you plug in. So right there, for the kitchen alone, you should have 4-5 separate, dedicated 20amp branch circuits. If you have an electric stove that would require its own 240v circuit…
A bathroom should have its own circuit as well.
And one other thing, all receptacles near water – in your kitchen, bathrooms, garage, and outdoors should always be outfitted with GFCI outlets. (Ground fault circuit interrupters) These devices detect minute changes in voltage and shut down quickly. An example would be if you dropped your hair dryer in the toilet. A GFCI will trip the breaker immediately which means you are less likely to be seriously electrocuted.
You can find out which circuit breakers control the branch circuits by plugging a radio into every outlet in your house, turn it up loud, and start flipping breakers til its stops. Make a chart and post it inside the service panel. Repeat for every outlet and light receptacle in your house.
Hi Everyone,
As for my service panel, I have at least 8 – 10 unused slots, and I’ve added the total breaker amperage which comes to around 160A. One problem I do have, is it appears that most of the house is wired to two separate 20A breakers that pop when I’m running the coffee pot, toaster and when my wife is using the blow dryer at the same time. Usually when that happens, only one side of the house is out.
As for the other circuit breakers, some are reserved for dedicated AC plugs, dedicated washer/dryer, and a few I have no idea to what they serve. I’m all for the pro, I just don’t have deep pockets and need to save up for the work to be done (staying away from the credit cards if you know what I mean).
Thanks for your responses.
you dont even know for certain how many amps you have at the panel, which woul dbe the first question to have answered.
I think it’s terrible advice to tell this homeowner he/she can do this work themselves.
First of all, how can anyone venture a guess to how much this will cost when we have no idea what it is you plan to do with the new circuits? How far away from the box are they going? How many devices, i.e.switches, fixtures, outlets, will be installed on the new circuits and what are they for? What are the conditions for routing that the electrician will encounter? No one can know anything without a personal inspection.
The point of the breakers is to cut the juice if loads exceed capacity, which otherwise can melt wires and start fires. The breakers also cut the juice if there is a ground fault or a short circuit, which can happen at any point in the downstream electrical path, due to an infinite number of circumstances.
That means you will have the main panel cover off, and you will be routing the individual wire strands from the BX cable [You will use BX and not Romex, I certainly hope.] to the termination posts inside the breaker box. Even if you kill the main breakers there is high voltage and extremely high amperage present where the electrical service comes in to the box. Have you ever done this before? It’s nothing to be casual about – even for a pro electrician, when routing wires inside the panel.
It’s almost a surefire guarantee that a homeowner/handyman will not do the installation to code, if they don’t first electrocute themselves in the process.
I’ll vote with the “hire a pro” crew here, but it sounds like you’re planning to. Sorry I don’t know much more about what is possible and what it costs.
I’m pretty savvy about electrics but for that kind of job I’d hire a pro. I like Super Charged – they’re good & respond quickly & aren’t overly expensive.
An electric oven can use 40-50A and an electric dryer 20-25A, so they constitute a much higher proportion of the load than anything else (CAC excluded.) If OP has neither, 100A is more than adequate.
While not a difficult job, I sense from OP’s question that it’s not for him. You do have to route and torque wires correctly.
As long as there is room for additional breakers you can install them. There are many different manufacturers of breakers so be sure to get ones that match the specifications of the ones already there.
This is not a difficult job. Turn off the main before removing or installing any breakers.
As far as the load issue, are your loads “throwing” the breakers on any of your current circuits? If they are you need to add additional circuits to that source, presumably air conditioners. Even in a kitchen, a coffee pot and a toaster on at the same time will blow a 15 amp circuit.
As far as the overall load of the house, the posters above are correct. Maybe if you were running an electric oven, en electric clothes dryer, 2 ACs, the toaster and the coffee pot ALL AT THE SAME TIME, you might exceed 100 amps.