No Room In Electrical Panel - Quick Fix

How's it going ?

You guys , it's Scott with everyday home repairs .

And I want to approach a very common topic that many of us homeowners are going to have to deal with in the near future .

As we start to add electric car , charging solar panels , power walls , we start to max out our electrical panels and now we need to make more space .

Now , before you just start stabbing a bunch of wire breakers , I'm going to bring in my friend Joel Walls from Jefferson Electric out at Indianapolis , Indiana , one of the best in the business to walk us through how to do this safely and to code .

So if you're a homeowner frustrated or confused about how to add circuits to your panel , let me show you how to do it .

In fact , I've seen many home inspectors wrongly call out breaker code violations .

So let me address that as well and how you can overcome that challenge .

In this case , we've got a 200 amp disconnect on the exterior of the home , make sure you turn off main power so you safely remove your electrical panel cover .

Now , one little trick for you is I'm using my left elbow to secure the electrical panel cover with pressure while I'm removing this last screw , what I don't want to do is drop my cover and damage it or knock off a bunch of breakers .

I want to remove it in a controlled fashion just like that , rocking it off the surface .

First , let's go over assessing our situation .

A lot of electrical panels are not labeled or are incorrectly labeled .

Next , we're gonna go over your three options for combining circuits and this does depend on the brand of panel you have and some of this even pros don't know .

And finally , we're gonna do it .

I have four circuits .

I'm gonna combine down to two on this eaten panel because this homeowner is getting some massive upgrades and needs more space .

Assessing .

First , my go to always for combining circuits is lighting loads .

Old incandescent lighting loads were 10 times heavier than modern led loads .

So when you're looking for lightly loaded circuits to bring together led lights and lighting circuits are the first key .

What do you do if you don't have any lighting circuits ?

Look for other lightly loaded circuits .

In this case , I've got smoke detectors which are dedicated but are not required to be dedicated by code in this jurisdiction .

Check with your local standards and photocell .

Bedroom three .

So it tells me there are a few exterior lights on with bedroom three .

I'll be combining those into a circuit things to stay away from some pumps , furnaces , kitchens and bathrooms .

You want those circuits to be strong and in fact , by code required , check out national electrical code article 2 10.50 and 52 for detailed explanation on that option one .

And I'm gonna show you this .

So stick around is using a pigtail properly sized to your circuit and a wa 221 .

Laverne least intimidating option if you're a homeowner , if you've got a square D panel , unlike my Eaton brand panel , square D panels allow for two conductors per breaker in some common instances .

That's both home line and square E Q O .

Now , if you've got a square D panel and you've been called out by a home inspector , they blanket that that's always called out .

However , if you need to prove it and support what you've just done in the panel , you go to the manufacturer's website , pull the data sheet and there on the data sheet , it will list the number and size of conductors that that breaker is rated for .

Now , the third one is the part I see a lot of pros getting wrong and its use of piggyback is the nickname or tandem breakers in an electrical panel like this to create additional circuit space .

And I'll show you the violations and issues that I come across there .

So here's option one with the panel and the breakers off using a number two square drive screwdriver to loosen the terminations from there .

I'm gonna use my and pig tail .

It's a 14 gauge pigtail because it's a 15 amp circuit matches .

I remove my conductors and slip them under the wa give a tug test to make sure they're fully seated .

And also I don't want any exposed conductor here .

So I'm happy with that if you've never seen a waggle before , check out the link in the description Scott's Amazon Store .

There's gonna be starter kits there with two port , three port wao lever nuts to get you going on them .

I'm gonna bring my pigtail in , landed on the breaker using my number square two square drive and tighten it down .

Don't want to over tighten it just snug approximately 15 inch pounds .

Now , we've got an available breaker .

The breaker just gets rocked out of place if it's too tight to do that , sometimes you can use a little extra leverage with a flathead screwdriver to get it started .

Now , if you're adding a 2 40 volt double pole breaker , you might need to reshuffle the deck once your circuit combinations are complete to get two spaces side by side , make sure you update your panel labels to maintain currency .

If you're just going to keep this open for future use , make sure that you need to put a panel K O closer in place to protect accidental contact with life parts when you're done .

Third option is using tandem or piggyback breakers and I'm going to drop two more nuggets that pros don't know right at the end .

So let me show you something about electrical panels , check this out .

This component back here is called the bus and the bus is dissimilar as it goes down , it actually transitions .

But there is a point at which it does not allow for tandem piggyback breakers .

You can see the separation where tandem breakers are allowed , that notch indicates approved and the lack of notching there disapproved , proved disapproved .

So inserting this eaten breaker into any slot in the bus , other than the bottom five on either side is a violation of the national electrical code because it's a violation of this panel's manufacturing listing and labeling .

So up here , what you get if you try to jam the piggy back breaker in is oh oh , can't do it without field modifications , which is a violation down lower in the bottom five slots .

The piggyback fits combining circuits is so common .

At least 50% of the jobs we do because of the ever increasing power demands in a home .

One of those components that I think every home will have in the next 10 years is called a smart panel .

If you want to know what it costs , how to do it and some killer features , check out this video here and thanks for joining us today .

Catch you on the next one , guys .