Question for an electrician - HELP!

[shilala]

Brian, if your breaker box is in the crawl space, and you have empty spaces for breakers, it doesn't get any easier than running some romex and setting some surface mount outlets on a dedicated circuit.
That would take the load off and wouldn't cost but a couple bucks for material.
I wish I was closer, we could knock it out in no time.
Even if you hired a guy to do it, it's not a big job at all. It'll take longer to drag tools back in the crawl space than to get it done. Literally.
Have someone take a look at what you need done. Tell him you want a dedicated circuit and some easy to place surface mount outlets. Just a couple would help. Three would really take the load off.
If you got really fancy, you could set a couple circuits worth of outlets and never have a problem again.
Mind ya, I'm imagining a ranch style with the breaker box in the crawl space. Even if it's two story, breakers on the floor above the crawl space would help, I'd think.
It really depends on the layout of the house and the extent of the crawl space.

[Hitagain]

Originally Posted by Starz26

3. Add up all your breakers and make sure they do not go over the total amps for your service.

If you have a 42 circuit 200 amp panel, you could install 42 20 amp breakers if you want. This is because most circuits are not continuous loads.
Breakers are sized to protect the wire. Wire is sized to serve the load.

DO NOT PUT A 30 BREAKER TO FEED 15/20 AMP OUTLET.

Originally Posted by Hitagain

If you have a 42 circuit 200 amp panel, you could install 42 20 amp breakers if you want. This is because most circuits are not continuous loads.
Breakers are sized to protect the wire. Wire is sized to serve the load.

DO NOT PUT A 30 BREAKER TO FEED 15/20 AMP OUTLET.

what he said...more than likely you need to run additional circiuts to split the loads..the size of the service doesnt really matter if you have 100a you can always add a sub panel 100 amps you are allowed 24 poles [circuit breakers] however they do now make 30 circuit 100 amp panels,when your house was built, it was not wired to accept all the load demands of today , especially plugging in heaters, like mentioned before breakers size is directly related to the size of the wire #12 wire is rated for more than 20 amps but a 20 amp breaker is all the code allows etc...placing a larger breaker in place to solve the tripping problem is a sure fired way to a fire ....the problem is probably due to internal house wiring problems ,[to many things plugged into said circuits..the only way to fix this problem is to run new circuits to the affected areas and split up the loads ..hit the laundry with a 20 amp circuit
the idea is to get the heavy hitting appliances on their own,,micro,,coffee..laundry...etc...the original circuit is probably fine for general items like tv,,lamps stereo..etc.....for now dont run to many things at once...hope this helps...

Some seriously bad advise given here (a few with good advise). Hire an Electrician and pay him to do the work or you could burn your house down and/or die. I've been an electrician for 25 years and have seen homeowners fu** up more wiring than you can imagine. We are currently rewiring a house that burned because they doubled/tripled up circuits on oversized breakers. Wire size determines breaker size. Why risk your families safety getting advise from cigar smokers or off the internet.

Do your own plumbing get wet, do your own electrical you can die.

If your breaker box is a Federal Pacific or Zinsco GET IT CHANGED NOW, google Federal Pacific or Zinsco breaker to see what I mean. This should run $1500-2500.
http://www.inspectapedia.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm
http://www.inspectapedia.com/electric/Zinsco.htm

[BORIStheBLADE]

You can get some really good ideas on the internet from people about your options and how to go about them, but the reality is the potential for you to get hurt or killed is pretty high given your knowledge of electrical.

Me personally.... if you don't know anyone that is an electrician I would hire a local electrician to come buy and spend an hour or two investigating your options and whats going on.

He will know how to open the panel and close it up. It sounds simple, but if the past owner hired a shotty electrician he could have created a hazard behind the panel cover and done something to get by which in reality you wouldn't know whats up or how to react to it.

I've been an electrician for 12 years so thats my

[Starz26]

Originally Posted by cf2112

Some seriously bad advise given here

I resemble that remark......

Thank for all the good information posted here...I learned a lot...

No offense meant to anyone. Somethings are best left to those who are trained in the field you need. Safety should always trump cost.

I own rental properties and can do alot of different repairs but almost always hire a certified contractor. I know it costs more but the safety of my family and the families I rent homes to is more important than saving a few $$. I hire my own company to do any electrical on my rentals and rarely work on them myself, mainly for liability and the inspection that goes with it.

A good friend just installed his own water heater in a rental he owns, it leaked causing some major damage. His insurance is pitching a fit and refusing to pay for lost rent since he did the work himself and did not get it inspected. You are allowed to do work on your own house (if you get it inspected) but not any rental property.

[Rabidsquirrel]

If it says Federal Pacific, don't even open anything. It's not worth dying over.

[cbsmokin]

Good luck with your project. i'd love to see some pictures of the place.

Thanks for all of the replies, both good and bad advice

The friend we were helping out moved out of the attic and the breaker can easily handle the load now that there isn't a computer, clock, heater, and god-knows whatever else he had plugged into that attic outlet.

It's still a concern that needs to be addressed, but not immediately (my lack of funds really appreciates that).

I'm smart enough not to tackle repairs that I know nothing about, especially when it comes to electricity. I've taken enough shocks from car batteries to know that I don't like getting shocked. Burning down our house because I wanted to save a couple of dollars is ridiculous.

As it stands, I'll probably have somebody out in spring to look at the box and see if there are any options outside of wiring in new outlets to the areas where there will be higher draws.

The house is 90 years old, but from the looks of the wiring in here, it looks like they rewired it sometime within the last 30 years.

Luckily the crawlspace is about 4.5' high, so it's not real difficult to get around down there. I'm building my homebrew draft system down there in 2 weeks (running the lines up into the liquor cabinet on the floor above). I've got my priorities straight

[Silound]

Originally Posted by cf2112

Some seriously bad advise given here (a few with good advise). Hire an Electrician and pay him to do the work or you could burn your house down and/or die. I've been an electrician for 25 years and have seen homeowners fu** up more wiring than you can imagine. We are currently rewiring a house that burned because they doubled/tripled up circuits on oversized breakers. Wire size determines breaker size. Why risk your families safety getting advise from cigar smokers or off the internet.

Do your own plumbing get wet, do your own electrical you can die.

If your breaker box is a Federal Pacific or Zinsco GET IT CHANGED NOW, google Federal Pacific or Zinsco breaker to see what I mean. This should run $1500-2500.
http://www.inspectapedia.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm
http://www.inspectapedia.com/electric/Zinsco.htm

That.....DISTURBS me....greatly. Almost every house I've lived in have Federal breaker boxes in them. Is that a problem specific to a range of models or dates, or is that a general problem for all FPE boxes?

If it's a FPE BREAKER box change it, we call them the "Fire Starter". They went out of business rather than be sued out of business. Fuse panels re not as bad if they are fused correctly but everyone uses 30 amp fuses instead of fusing according to wire size.

[Rabidsquirrel]

Anything FP made is a deathtrap. Nobody in the local while throw a breaker on the switchgear if it's energized, let alone work on it.

[rack04]

The house we just bought had a 100 amp FPE panel. It was noted as a fire hazard during the inspection. I had an electrical change out the panel and upgrade the service to 200 amp. $1600 for piece of mind was well worth it.

Originally Posted by Rabidsquirrel

Anything FP made is a deathtrap. Nobody in the local while throw a breaker on the switchgear if it's energized, let alone work on it.

They made an ok fuse panel (see above comments on fuse panels) but the "stab-lock" breakers are a fire hazard.

We reccomend replacement, if they can not afford it or do not want to do it we make them sign a letter stating we asked, gave a price and they refused. About 50% will call back and have us replace the panel within a week.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Rabidsquirrel

If it says Federal Pacific, don't even open anything. It's not worth dying over.

My stepmother lost two bedrooms and four or five months in her house over a Federal breaker panel. Fortunately no one was hurt and they caught the fire quick.
For no apparent reason, it just cooked one of the bus bars and melted right through the back of the panel.