Originally Posted by
Robert Mayer
I am actually in Seattle now...updated my location. I had another electrician out and he said I could just do more tandem outlets to free space, but I may do the subpanel anyway. I do not know why they added so many breakers to this house, its only 1200 sq ft. I think his pricing is going to be much more reasonable, waiting on a quote. If it comes back too much I will just do it myself. I have done enough research now, i feel pretty comfortable doing it. Plus the city is pretty quick to do inspections and they are only around $100 I found out.
Wait, you have a 1200sqft house with a 200A panel and its FULL?! Dude, something ain't right there. I have added a lot of new circuits to my 200A panel in a 3100sqft house and I still have a lot of room left.
Do you have a spa in the backyard? Jacuzzi tub in the master bath? Pool? Solar? Those items usually have larger breakers that take up more room. I think you should trace out those circuits and try and figure out what each line actually feeds. Turn off the main breaker before you go actually messing with them! I bet there are some that you could eliminate and or combine into dual 15A breakers and between those two efforts you probably have all the room you need in that panel for your garage/shop circuits.
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!