Installing A Circuit Breaker Sub Panel

If you don t see a circuit breaker labeled service disconnect or main in the panel it is likely in another.

Installing a circuit breaker sub panel.

Enjoy the videos and music you love upload original content and share it all with friends family and the world on youtube. Either way its job is to protect the home s wiring from overload via either fuses or circuit breakers. This panel may be a fuse panel or a circuit breaker panel. To install a new circuit you will need an open slot in your breaker panel for a new circuit breaker.

The fuses are designed to take a predetermined amount of current and then the fuse link will melt. If you need more 15 or 20 amp breakers a simple solution is to install a tandem breaker. The overall size of a tandem circuit breaker is the same as that of a standard breaker but instead of a single breaker it has two narrow side by side breakers. Install a electrical circuit breaker sub panel when your main circuit panel is full and you need to add more circuits.

Sub panels are installed and used for several reasons including expanding the circuit breaker capacity of the main electrical panel. Measure the room or rooms where you ll be installing the circuit and draw a detailed accurate floor plan. Snap the breaker into place by clipping it to the hot bus bar. The feeder breaker in the main panel acts as the main disconnect for the subpanel.

Identifying panel circuits and connected loads. Plan to work during the daytime as you will need to shut off all power in your home during most of the project. These panels have certainly changed over the years. Clear a knockout panel install cable clamps in the hole and feed the wires through the clamp.

Learn more about wiring a sub panel. Route the afci neutral pigtail and ground wires to empty screws on the neutral bus and tighten. A subpanel connects to the main service panel with a thick three wire cable. Turn off the power supply to the electrical panel.

Tighten the clamp to secure the wires. Planning for an electric sub panel. On a main panel you connect the ground wire from the new cable and the neutral white pigtail from the afci to the neutral bus. If you re installing a breaker on a sub panel place the neutral and ground on separate bus bars.

If the service panel does not have room for new circuit breakers and you cannot use tandem breakers a subpanel may be the answer. Locate the service disconnect or main circuit breaker in the panel and set it to the off position.