Any Professional Electricians here?

[rod_b]

I want to upgrade my electrical panel. Actually, I want to start rewiring my whole house but my panel is old and I just want to upgrade it. Anyone know what this runs?

I have 1 circuit that powers my washroom appliances, dishwaher, fridge, stove, microwave and on an opposite wall all my home theater stuff. So, every weekend this breaker blows several times just from all the stuff going on. Anyway, if anyone is a professional electrician and can tell me how much I should expect to pay for a job like this...I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

[bbomar]

Is your box inside or outside?

[rod_b]

It's on the outside. Power comes from the pole...if that makes a difference. Thanks

[bbomar]

Originally Posted by rod_b

It's on the outside. Power comes from the pole...if that makes a difference. Thanks

This makes a difference in cost. You more than likely need a new box, and exterior boxes are more expensive.

How many rooms in your house?

Central Air?

How old is your house?

Do you have a detached garage?

[yamatitan]

Yea outside is more expensive. I think my boss pays 130 for an 30/40 outside panel. But he gets a discount from summit cause he buys soo much stuff. Not sure how much it would cost without the discount.

In order to rewire your house your going to have to take all the sheet rock and crap out. Probably way more work then its worth especially if it does not need it. Since your breaker is tripping maybe run an extra home run and cut the circuit in half and add another breaker.

[bbomar]

Chances are he doesn't need to re-wire.

More than likely upgrading his box and breakers would help greatly.

And then seperate out the rooms, and give each room it's own breaker.

I don't think he has all of that on one circuit. The stove more than likely has it's own as it would be a 220.

Ask around, sometimes friends know electricians that will do work on the side.

[yamatitan]

Your right he most likely does not need to re-wire. But he says that all that crap is on one circuit and is causing the breaker to trip. In order to keep this from happening just run another home run and make that one circuit into two.

But you make a good point i didnt see his stove was on that circuit which should be 220. All the rest would be fine with 110. So i think he is misinformed on how that circuit is wired. At least i hope so because that is a crazy amount of load for one circuit.

in our house we usually run one circuit in the kitchen for the fridge and a couple of receptacles. Than another for the microwave. Another for the rest of the receptacles. Than another for the dishwasher and garbage disposal. than a 220 for the stove/ range.

[bbomar]

I am lucky, I guess...

My house has a three phase box.

Good in some ways, bad in others.... LOL

[BobNYC]

We recently re-did the electrical in my mother-in-law's house...it was totally antiquated! We put in a new 200 amp, 48-slot load center (Cutler-Hammer) and did a LOT of new wiring. The total bill, including hanging some new ceiling fans and lights and underground service to the garage, was about $7,000. It was a very old house and the electrician had a tough time snaking some of the new wiring but he did an outstanding job. I have no idea if this was a bargain or not but he did it on time and didn't leave the place a mess.

[rod_b]

Yes, you are right...I was mistaken. The stove is not on the same line. My kitchen and washroom are right next to each other on the West side of the house. The washer, dryer, dishwasher and another outlet (that my cordless phone base is on) are on the western most wall. On the other side of the kitchen is the stove and microwave. The microwave is on the same circuit. I know this because it's usually the thing that trips the breaker. On the opposite side of that wall is my living room and my tv and stereo and stuff are all connected to that outlet. All this stuff goes out when that breaker trips. It's pretty messy and a long time ago I wanted to try to put in GFCIs and rewire all the rooms to their own breakers. I figure the house could benefit from a new panel. The panel is really old. The house was built in '54. The breaker itself looks like it could benefit from being replaced. It's only a 20A breaker. Should I go up in rating?

[skyhammer]

If your 20 amp breaker is tripping, going to a larger amp rating will only help if you have a large enough wire. #12 is only good to 20 amps, if you have #12 wire and bump up to a 30 amp breaker, all you will accomplish is melting the wire and possibly burning your house down.
If your home hasn't been rewired since 1954, you probably don't have plastic insulation on your wire and it will also probably just have a hot and ground without a neutral wire. All of this needs to be upgraded.
Wiring a house is technically pretty easy. A 200 amp box is usually runs $200 or so. But, you can't just replace a smaller rated box with a larger one and be good to go. You may need the power company to install a larger transformer on the pole to handle the increased load and you will need a new meter. You will also need to get a permit to get a larger rated box. Since your house is so old, building codes have changed and you may also have to change out your mast and run larger wire from you mast to the box to handle the larger load.
Never use a larger breaker than the wire size can handle.

[yamatitan]

Yep he is right 12 guage needs to have a 20 amp breaker. If it is 10 guague than i would say put a 30 amp in there.

I still say go with my first sugestion and run another wire from the panel and cut the circuit in half.