Contributor
I might very well be wrong but I think it is fine to wirenut some runs together inside the breaker panel treating it like a junction box. My house has 2-3 breakers I have turned off, with wires connected and 15 years later I have yet to figure out what is not getting power. When we moved in I turned off one breaker at a time to map out what breaker fed what.
Bill D
Moderator
Bill, even if that's an "acceptable practice", I'd avoid it. Too many unknowns, IMHO.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Contributor
Using a panel as a junction box or wireway is something that is generally forbidden, but there are exceptions. Check with your local AHJ. But in this case there's no need to be splicing in the panel. Putting in a sub-panel is cheap & will be the best solution.
[OP]
Member
Got an electrician coming next week who is much better. Hes likely going to use a couple of tandems to combine some of the breakers. I wouldnt mind a subpanel, but its too cheap to have him do this option and give me one 220v and one 110v dedicated, which is all i really need.
Well done. We all need to fall back and reassess now and again. It is easy to get caught up in the "doing" of something and lose sight of what it is we really need. I have been battling this with the new shop planning. It seems that every time I look at doing something the less expensive way it is always sub-standard and doesn't save me enough money for me to consider waking up to my shop in flames.Originally Posted by Robert Mayer
Last edited by glenn bradley; 09-04-2020 at 11:40 AM.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Moderator
Sounds like a plan.
Of course, I hope you'll be happy with 240v and 120v which is the standard.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
[OP]
Member
My house sits facing the Space Needle which lowers the voltage requirements in my house. Of course if Mt Rainier explodes it will convert back to normal.Sounds like a plan.
Of course, I hope you'll be happy with 240v and 120v which is the standard.
[OP]
Member
Very excited to have this done...My new to me Hammer A3 is going to get running and a new Grizzly cyclone dust collector.
Contributor
Yes, this is allowed. But you do need to be careful. There are certain circuits: small appliance branch circuits in the kitchen, bathroom, garages for instance, that have specific rules of what can or can not be on that circuit. Then, depending on the code cycle the original circuits were installed as, combining circuits may require you to update to the current code cycle wrt arc fault or such.
The NEC does not broach 1,000 pages for nothing!
Comments made here are my own and, according to my children, do not reflect the opinions of any other person... anywhere, anytime.
Contributor
After looking at that picture of your box it looks like every 120v breaker is already a tandem breaker. They do make 240v/ 120v tandem breakers but that would mean replacing all four 240v breakers unless you can find branches that can be combined. I would be a little concerned about combining circuits to free up space as you may find you created a situation where you are now occasionally tripping a breaker because there's too many outlets in use on it. I think personally I would have one the 240v breakers removed, install a sub panel feed off of a 100a breaker, and put the breaker I removed in it as well as any new circuits you want. I'm basing this off of the assumption that you currently don't have a branch for the A3 or the DC. If you don't add a sub panel you will never be able to add any more circuits.
Member
Just put in 400 amp service in my Barn/apartment/shop and it was probably around 4,000 total. Just the stupid arc fault ground fault breakers were 800, electrician 1,200, 3 inch schedule 40 & 80 ( buried 300 feet ) 700.00, wire 500.00, outlets switches fixtures ? 1000? Inspector did not like me putting in 400 amp...too bad.
Member
I am a self employed electrician. Materials would probably be around $200. Let’s be generous and call it an 8hr day, thats $425/hr. I would do this job for around $1000 at most. If you were a friend or friend of a friend much less.
Contributor
Are you able to get other electricians to come out? It is becoming more and more difficult to find qualified tradespeople and those who know their business are getting top dollar. I would certainly shop that price as it does seem high but the trend is only upward for qualified tradespeople. In my industry, hvac/p&h, for every 5 retiring out of it, only one is entering.
Moderator
Electrician sounds like a good thing for a young person to get into.
The spiraling cost is the same story for carpentry, painting, mechanics, septic system work, excavation.
Even farriers who work on horses hooves whose prices have skyrocketed - I pay $120 for about 20 minutes of work (but that doesn't count his driving time). My farrier said he doesn't know any young people getting into that business - the work is too hard (and risky). I guess when he retires I'll have to get rid of the horses.
JKJ
[OP]
Member
Finally got this taken care of! About $650. Added in a tandem outlet and my jointer is up and running. The only weird thing is the 110v dedicated he installed is tripping the breaker pretty quickly whether i plug in my table saw or dust collector. I think the outlet he used must be bad. Got him coming back out soon. The 240v works perfect.
I really am going to reevaluate my career options should anything ever happen to my current job. I am in the wrong line of work if these guys could get $3600 for doing a easy subpanel.
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