Adding New Circuits

In some respects, doing a major rewiring job is easier than doing intermittent alterations. For one thing, you don’t have to mess with tying into much of your old wiring because you’ll be replacing it. Instead of updating the critical areas such as the kitchen and bathroom and just living with the inherent remaining limitations of the old system, you’ll have upgrades everywhere. In other words, you’ll be up to code (or mostly up to code) and be done with it.
Once your new service panel is installed (a job for an electrician), adding circuits is something most homeowners can do themselves. Even if you simply plan out and install the cable, you’ll be saving a big part of an electrician’s fees. Getting cable from the service panel to the device is the time-consuming part of the job. If nothing else, in a culture where we are increasingly disassociated from physical work, wiring your house can be a source of great pride and accomplishment. As with any alteration to your electrical system, you must have permits and pass an inspection. Some business consultants believe that a messy desk is the sign of an inspired, creative mind, but this isn’t so with wiring. Freudian analysts might have a field day with electrical inspectors’ obsession with neatness, but that’s what they want to see, so don’t disappoint them. Finally, plan your time. You don’t have to do the entire house at once. You can do some of the work alone, but some is best done with two people involved. Check your calendars and pencil in—or punch into your personal digital assistant—a day that works for two of you.

What’s This Going to Cost?

According to Today’s Homeowner magazine, the national average cost for upgrading an electrical service to a three-wire, grounded, 200-amp service is $2,264. For a little over $2,000, you get a safe, updated system and maybe a break on your insurance. If an electrician does the job, it will be done quickly and will be up to code. The electrician is responsible for meeting the code requirements. You’ll have some clout because you won’t (or shouldn’t) be paying the final bill until the system has been inspected and passed by your local building department.
This chapter pointed out at least the major steps and considerations you’ll face when upgrading your electrical service. This is well worth contracting out to an electrician, and I recommend that you do so, even if your local code allows you to install it yourself.

Subpanel Considerations

The most logical locations for a subpanel in a remodeled house include …
➤ In a new addition.
➤ In a garage workshop.
➤ Near an attic converted to finished space.
A small subpanel can hold as few as two single-pole breakers, and a large one can hold up to 42. If the appearance of a larger panel isn’t an issue for you, go ahead and install the larger panel so you’ll have it available for future use.

Subpanel Alternatives

Before installing a subpanel, consider its necessity. Certainly, it’s a convenience in the event of a tripped breaker, but is it worth the expense of purchasing a second panel (albeit a smaller one than your main panel)? The convenience factor aside, what you’re really comparing is the difference in cost between running individual circuits all the way back to the main panel and running a feeder cable to the subpanel, the cost and installation of the subpanel, and the cost of running the branch circuits from the subpanel. Some subpanels are installed because there aren’t any breaker slots remaining in the service panel, even though the panel has the amperage to carry more circuits. In this case, your existing breakers can be replaced with a smaller version of a standard single-pole breaker. These go by different names, including …
➤ Slimline breaker.
➤ Peanut breaker.
➤ Mini breaker.
➤ Tandem breaker.
These breakers are half the thickness of a standard breaker, which enables you to fit two of them into a single breaker slot. Others have two breakers on one single-polesize breaker.

Subpanels—a Real Convenience

Subpanels are smaller versions of your main service panel. They serve a couple of purposes:

• They provide proximity to circuit breakers, especially in large homes, so you don’t have to access the main panel some distance away.
• They can expedite the wiring of a large house because the electrician only has to run one feeder cable from the main panel to the subpanel instead of running cable for every circuit separately the same distance. A subpanel on the second floor of a large three-story house, for example, enables you to control the circuits on the second and third floors. Like your main panel, you have to follow a few rules regarding the location of a subpanel:
• It cannot be installed in a bathroom.
• It cannot be installed in a closet.
• The subpanel must be in an accessible, visible location.

Breaker, Breaker

Circuit breakers, along with fuses, are known as overcurrent protective devices. They protect you, your electrical equipment, and your wiring. They are matched to the ampacity of a circuit’s conductors, and they shut the current down if there’s an overload or a short-circuit. Breakers are clearly marked (15, 20, 30 amp, and so on) and must be used accordingly. You can’t stuff a 20-amp breaker into your panel box and use it on a 15-amp circuit, especially if the circuit only has 14-gauge wire. This is a recipe for fire because you’ll be allowing the wire to carry more current than it’s designed to carry, and the breaker won’t sense the problem and thus won’t trip.
Breakers are either single pole or double pole (sometimes referred to as a two-pole breaker). Double-pole breakers are used for 240-volt circuits and draw power from each of the 120-volt hot wires entering the panel. A double-pole breaker can be either a single device or two single-pole breakers tied together so they’ll both shut off at the same time.

Grounding Your Panel

A big safety advantage in newer service panels over old fuse systems is the fact that they’re grounded. The code is very specific about grounding procedures including
…
➤ The size of the grounding conductor.
➤ What is and is not an acceptable grounding electrode.
➤ Bonding requirements and the use of clamps and bonding bushings.

A service panel is grounded twice when possible: once to your water pipes (assuming they’re metal and not plastic) and once to a grounding rod buried in the ground. When a grounding rod cannot be used due to soil conditions, a length of copper wire can be buried directly in the earth (a minimum of 21/2 feet deep) or encased in concrete at least two inches thick that has direct contact with the ground (usually a foundation).
There also are other means of grounding the system (depending on your soil and house construction). The materials allowed, their installation, and their dimensions are all spelled out extensively in Article 250 of the code. Electricians know this stuff by heart because they use it every day. You, on the other hand, will never use it again, so consider calling an electrician for your panel installation.