Electrician Help Needed $100 reward

[ben ttech]

your installing electrician had ocd's...
that boxes wiring is a work of art...

your going to need to buy more pancake breakers like that double 15 amp inorder to free of the space for your bonded 80 amp...

ive never seen a copper rod used to bond the neutral to the ground bus...
i dont even see a MAIN ground wire entering that panel...
the way all the neutrals are insulated from box chassis i would suspect it of being a subpanel were it not for that rod...

neutral and ground should always be isolated from each other at any subpanels...

 

[gdawg]

shit homey did some nice work bro

 

[PharmaCan]

SN - Can you please edit your last post to put a little meore space between the pics and also number the pics, it'll make referencing them a lot easier.

The 8th pic down is your main breaker. The two big black wires leading into the lugs just beneath the main breaker are going to remain hot unless you pull the meter. The rest of the panel will be de-energized. You need to decide if you will feel comfortable working on that panel with those (unfused) lugs hot. If not, call the PowCo and have them take the locking ring off the meter. (See my first or second post in this thread.)

Which end is the top of the box, the one with most of cables or the one with the big black wires?

You need to remove the drywall from over the panel and from the wall directly above the panel on the second floor. Cut the drywall with a utility knife down the middle of the studs on either side of the panel, and the closest corresponding cavity on the floor above. Locate the studs - they're on either side panel on ground floor, up above an easy way to locate studs is to turn a drill on reverse then use a smallish bit to drill holes. The bit will easily pass through the drywall but will not penetrate a wood stud. Use a level as a straight edge to make the initial cuts in the drywall. After you have a deep enough cut to guide you, you can do away with the straight edge. On the second floor, make a horizontal cut about 4" above your base molding, or remove the base, then make vertical cuts up about 2 1/2 feet then another horizontal cut.

Be sure to make your cuts down the middle of the studs. It would be a lot easier to do this with a drywall saw or sawzall, but you don't know where the wires are behind the drywall and if you accidently nick any of them, you'll be in for some costly repairs.

Put on your parts list 2 - 20 amp slimline breakers. (Those are the double breakers the size of a single. This will give you 4 - 20 amp slots/breakers.)

Next you need to drill a couple holes, but first I need to know if the panel is mounted on an exterior or interior wall.

PC

 

[gdawg]

done??

 

[sneakyninja]

Panel is on an exterior wall and the end with lots of wires is up.

Thanks for stopping by pharmacan

SN

 

[PharmaCan]

Panel is on an exterior wall and the end with lots of wires is up.

Thanks for stopping by pharmacan

SN

Yer' welcome.

What you need to do now is determine how big to make the hole. You need to go to Lowe's or wherever and determine what size flex conduit will hold 3-#4 cables plus a #6 ground. You don't want the cable too awful tight in the conduit or it won't bend. Your maximum hole is about 1 3/4", so keep that in mind. Don't buy any wire yet, just get the conduit size. Once you determine the conduit/hole size, buy a hole saw that size. The hole saw will have to pass through a double plate above the panel, so make sure your hole saw and mandrel are at least 3" from where the mandrel exits the drill chuck. Also check the size of your drill chuck before buying the hole saw. Many of those mandrels require a 1/2" chuck.

The 2"x4" plate that you will see at the top and the bottom of the wall sections you cut out will have a rim joist sitting on their outside half, so you only have 1 11/16" to drill your hole through - the rest is solid wood and darn near impossible to drill through - not that you would drill laterally through a rim joist even if you could.

You also need to determine if your floor/ceiling joists (the ones between the first and second floor) are running parallel or perpendicular to the plane of the face of your panel. If they are parallel, no problem, If they are perpendicular, you need to make sure that you stay on the same side of any joist that might be over your panel when you drill your holes to get the conduit between floors.

Once you have the drywall removed, per my previous post, take a pic of the top plate (2x4) over the panel. I'd like to see how crowded with wires that board is.

PC

 

[ben ttech]

route your new branch away from your other cables as soon as possible...

drilling near installed wiring is alway risky... you can double your workload with a simple slip... drywall is far quicker to repair...

id suggest taking your new branch down through the bottom then left or right and up... get out of that crowded bay...

 

[2buds]

Sneaky, I don't see any paste on your aluminum feed wire.