Changing Out Breaker

[Don Jarvie]

Bob,

If he only has 2 hours you may want to have him come over for a consult so you and him are on the same page on what needs to be done and what you need. This way you buy the right stuff and do it right so when he comes you can maximize his time.

You may also want to discuss what you could do yourself, running the line, mounting the box, wiring the garage, etc and he can come back and make the connections.

I'm not a code guru but I would imagine you would need to run the wire in conduit if the wire is going to be run outside at all.

The panel I bought came with a 50 amp breaker and a selection of 15, 20 and 20 double breakers. I can PM you the model I got tonight.

For wire, I used 12g for everything with 20amp outlets. You can order them online cheaper than HD or Lowes. For the TS and heater I used 10g with a 30 amp breaker.

[Bob Haskett]

Yeah. Maybe I will just run the 6/3 under the house and bring it to where it needs to be this week. And wait on the rest. He said he can come back out again next weekend, but he only has 2 hrs this weekend. Was hoping I could do everything this week, and have him connect it this weekend, but maybe your right.

On a side note, it will not be outside at all (it will run under the house in the crawlspace) . So I would think no conduit needed.

[Roger Frazee]

And for further reference here is what could be on simultaneously.

Deep Freezer @ 5amps
Dust Collector @ 15amps
Table saw @ 15 amps
Air compressor @ 15.5 amps

Bob

If that is the load that could be running at the same time you have 50.5 amps on a 20 amp breaker....

You need a sub-panel in the workshop...

[Bryan Wellman]

A 20 Amp circuit will only hold 16 amps continuously. Any circuit breaker is rated so that it will hold 80% of its load constantly. It will hold up to 20 for awhile. Really your best option will be to add the subpanel in the garage. This can be done pretty easy if you have access to the garage. Any circuits can be run in conduit or as said, if possible, in the walls in romex. I personnally like conduit and surface mounted boxes as this allows you to always add or change circuits if needed.

BTW. Stick with the square D stuff. The Homline breakers have essentially the same working parts as the more expensive QO breakers.

[Bob Haskett]

I am definately adding a sub panel at this point, I am just trying to gather a list of materials. This is where I am at...

Sounds good. He only has 2 hours on saturday so I am trying to go ahead and get the supplies and run whatever wire I can run so we can get it done. So my plan was to buy whatever wire I need and run it from the location of my main panel to where I want my new panel to be. So sounds like I need 6/3. If I buy 6/3 I was going to go ahead and run it from my panel now, to the new spot, (not hook anything up but just get under the house and run it). To save us time.

So it sounds like I need:

• 60 Amp panel (need to decide what size panel).
• Around 30 foot of 6/3 wire
• A 60 amp 2 pole breaker for the main panel (to run to the new panel)
• One 240v 20amp breaker for the new panel
• 4 20 amp breakers for the other circuits
• and what size wire from breakers to the new outlets?

[Don Jarvie]

Bob,

I bought a GE Powermark Gold TM2010ccu Box at Lowes. It was around 100 bucks and came with a bunch of breakers. You may need to buy a few 20amp doubles and a 60 amp double for the main.

Lowes has all of the GE breaker sizes in stock.

[Bob Haskett]

Is it a pretty safe bet that I am going to need 6/3 cable run? If so I am going to do that tonight (without connecting it to anything). Are there any codes to how close it can be to the door, and how wide of a wall the breaker has to be on? Its an all indoor run. Only around 15 feet.

[Prashun Patel]

Um, not to be a poo-poo here, but don't your wires need to be clamped within 8" of the box?

[Bob Haskett]

Not sure I follow. I am talking about running a sub panel 15 feet away. Off a 60 amp breaker to a 60 amp sub panel. I'm not actually hooking anything up just running the wire under my house to save some of the electricians time this weekend. He is out of town or I would just call him.

[Jerome Stanek]

I would try a new 20 anp breaker or switching one of your other 20 amp breakers sometime breakers get a little weak with age and will trip easier.

[Nathan Dekens]

I would say no you cant put a double pole breaker in a single slot with your panel. Your best bet, like previously mentioned, is to take the breaker that already feeds your outlets and the empty slot and run a sub panel mounted in your garage.

You need at least #8 AWG wire to run 50 Amps. If your doing this yourself be careful and make dang sure your powers off before you start poking around the buss on your existing panel. You can get one of those power sniffers from the HD for about $20 or less, they beep or light up when you get them next to a hot AC powered wire, just to give you peace of mind if you dont have a meter.

[Bryan Wellman]

Bob,

I bought a GE Powermark Gold TM2010ccu Box at Lowes. It was around 100 bucks and came with a bunch of breakers. You may need to buy a few 20amp doubles and a 60 amp double for the main.

Lowes has all of the GE breaker sizes in stock.

Please tell me thats not how your panel really looks all the time.....

[Don Jarvie]

Please tell me thats not how your panel really looks all the time.....

No, I have 3 lines I still need to tie into the panel. Only problem is when I kill the power I kill the heat and lights. So I have to wait until the weekend when the heats been on a while.

I am working on finishing the ceiling before I finally seal up that section of the wall. It will be my luck that I will want to add a line or two after it's buttoned up.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Bob - FWIW -

When I ran the 220v circuits out of my sub-panel, I realized that I would not need 220 to 2 machines at the same receptacle location. So, I ran 4-wire (3-wire + ground) so I could use dual-voltage duplex receptacles like these. Gives me one 220 + one 110 at each receptacle. Worked out very nice.

[Bryan Wellman]

No, I have 3 lines I still need to tie into the panel. Only problem is when I kill the power I kill the heat and lights. So I have to wait until the weekend when the heats been on a while.

I am working on finishing the ceiling before I finally seal up that section of the wall. It will be my luck that I will want to add a line or two after it's buttoned up.

Not to highjack his thread, but you have options. Is there attic space above the ceiling you're finishing? If so, simply run a pvc pipe out of the top of the panel into the attic. I usually do a 1" or 1 1/4". This will be hiddin in the wall but let you drop circuits in from the attic. If not, do the same thing but run it to a j-box in the wall with a plaster ring on it. When you rock the wall just put a blank cover on it. If you ever need to access the panel again, you at least have the option of running surface pipe from an extension box on the one in the wall.