changing out breakers.

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Well it looks like you have a twin breaker in that location and you have extra slots available. It also verifys that is not a gfci breaker as those are all singles. The breakers to fit that panel are snap in Sq D Hom or Challenger style.
 
It looks like you would have enough amps to run a 30 or 50a circuit for a welder as well as a 20a dedicated circuit.

Doc said:
It doesn't back up against the garage, but the utility room and the garage share part of a wall. So simple enough.
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I'd run a dedicated circuit for the freezer. While you're at it, run some extra circuits into the garage for future expansion.
 
I may call a few electricians and get some estimates. That may help me decide how much of this I want to do myself.

My dad is an electrician, but he's 14 hours away. If I can manage to live with it for a few months I think they are planning a visit next spring/ summer. He likes projects anyway, hates to just sit around and relax- it's really kind of annoying.
 
Doc said:
My dad is an electrician, He likes projects anyway, hates to just sit around and relax- it's really kind of annoying.
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Doc
That stuff didnt rub off on you ?
My old man was a carpenter, so was his father and grandfather back when they did everything plumbing ,concrete ,electric , hot tar roofs ,slate,tile, you name it they did it . That s*** got put into my DNA so now he comes to me about it now :cool:
 
Koffer said:
Doc
That stuff didnt rub off on you ?
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My dad thought the best way to teach somebody something was to throw them into the middle of it, yell at them for being incompetant and then make fun of them for not getting it done the way he would have done it.

The first time I tried to change out a combo dimmer switch I nearly blew the switch out of the wall. I bought a book on it and I can now do simple things (like changing out dimmer switches) but panels scare me.
 
Doc said:
My dad thought the best way to teach somebody something was to throw them into the middle of it, yell at them for being incompetant and then make fun of them for not getting it done the way he would have done it.

The first time I tried to change out a combo dimmer switch I nearly blew the switch out of the wall. I bought a book on it and I can now do simple things (like changing out dimmer switches) but panels scare me.
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They used to scare me too, hell electricity scared me in general. Then I wired my own shop and now know enough to be realllllllllllly dangerous. ;)
 
if u dont wanna mess with the box, you should at least get the metal conduit, a few boxes, connectors, outlets (the first one in the string should be a GFCI and u can wire it to protect all those following), and the wire and pull the wire yourself. you dont even have to connect the outlets...just do the grunt work and let him attach everything. sucks to pay an electrician for idiot work when u can do it.

but working in the box is very straightforward.
 
So, if I run the conduit and wire myself, does each outlet need it's own wire? Or can I just run one wire from the box to feed all 12 new outlets?
 
one set of wires from the box for the whole string. i'd also add a ground wire..but i dont know what code is where u live. that would be the unsheathed wire connected to the same neutral bar in the box as the white and connected to the green nut on each outlet
wiring.webp
 
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:eek:Holy s*** :eek:
I didn't know I had 2 brothers , let alone both of them named Eric :confused:


Doc said:
My dad thought the best way to teach somebody something was to throw them into the middle of it, yell at them for being incompetant and then make fun of them for not getting it done the way he would have done it.
.
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Your dad wasn't very imaginative, was he?
 
. Ground wire is required in conduit or not in any state, county, and city is the US
. Illegal to connect the "white" wire to the green screw on any device
. The ground wire is not always connected to the neutral buss. They are required to be separated after its 1ST means of service disconnect.
. Code requires all general use outlets in a garage to be GFCI protected and if you wire per instruction above with a GFCI it will not work.

Wait for your Dad, in the mean time show him this thread I'm sure he will get a chuckle out of it.
 
well, Phil, I've looked at wiring in california and there was no ground. that's why i stated that. i dont know the code there. here in ny, the ground wire is required...and i would only tell him how to wire it as such. my diagram was a very very simple one to illustrate that only 1 wire goes to the box. if he wanted to tackle it, i would have gone over it with him in much more detail...including how to wire a GFCI to protect the outlets after it in the string. did u look at the pic i put in post #15 which shows the GFCI with the tester in it....... 2 yellow lights means it's wired properly and protecting the line. ive done a lot of wiring..all of it good. trust me, i know how to do it.

not gonna get in a pissing match. Doc, he's right, hire a pro...it's safer.
 
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If you are going to run that many recepticals you should go with two circuits. The romex will run into the box be cut and a additional wire connected to each wire and those will go to the recepticals. Do not run the romex into the receptical and then out because if it fails the whole circuit will be dead. Black goes to gold screw lug and white to the silver screw. This will apply after the GFCI receptical.
A third circuit for the freezer. That looks like possibly a hundred amp panel so be cautious adding. The label on the door should confirm. Also not seeing a main break up top unless its one in the middle.
 
Am I missing something? It seems that for the time being he can just relocate the space heater to a different outlet that operates off of a separate circuit. That or the freezer. It's probably tripping when the heater fires up overloading the circuit. Definitely wait until you can get some experienced help either way though. It's not worth starting a fire
 
Okay, so here's the deal-eo.

Wife called an electrician in using our home warranty program. (which, frankly I was upset about because I figured he'd just tell us we were overloading the circuit and charge us $60).

Guy came out today and said "you're overloading your circuit, that'll be $60.."

But, I convinced him to at least call the warranty company to explain that the garage was on the same circuit as the living room/dining room. See if we can get approved to put in another line because that is not code/typical.

Dude was not from this area so he didn't know the code but managed to get approved to add another circuit to the garage anyway because he told them it was not typical.

So new circuit to the garage.

If anyone is interested, the freezer was the problem. We went though everything on the circuit and amp'd it out as we turned things off/on. The freezer is drawing 9/9.5 amps when the compressor kicks on. (15 amp circuit)

Dude is adding a 20 amp dedicated circuit to the garage just for the freezer. I think I may use that for my compressor as well.

Damn commercial freezer! (Thanks slipshot!) :)
 
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