"quksilver" wrote in message
...
On Feb 25, 4:39 pm, " wrote:
On Feb 25, 4:23?pm, "Pete C." wrote:



quksilver wrote:

On Feb 25, 2:34 pm, "Pete C." wrote:
jJim McLaughlin wrote:

quksilver wrote:
Hello,
I am remodeling the kitchen in my condo and need some advice
with
regards to the electrical panel. ?Currently, it is located on an
interior wall with access from the kitchen. ?Seems silly to me,
as it
makes it difficult to use that wall for anything. ?What I would
like
to do is remove the current panel and install a larger one in
the same
location, but such that it is accessed from the other side of
the
wall, which faces the living room. ?Also not ideal, personally,
but
better than the current setup. ?Turning the panel this way will
allow
much greater design flexibility for the kitchen remodel, such as
relocating appliances, adding storage, etc. ?I'm wondering if
anyone
might be able to answer some basic questions, like how difficult
a job
is this, how long it should take, how much might it cost (in a
really
rough sense), etc? ?And if anyone has any other advice about the
project, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

? Hmmm.

What, if anything, do your codo rules / regulations say about
remodels
with respect to
? to using icensed contrators for things like electrical / hvac /
plumbing??

Maybe I'm just a little bit conservative i this regard, but I'd
?having
a licensed
electrician doing the electrical, and let his insurance be on the
hook
if anything
went wrong in a multi unit building. ?In the long run the amount
of
money you
save yoursely on a DIY electric job could be very expensive.

YMMV.

I don't see anywhere that the OP has said they intended to DIY it.

As to the issue of facing the new panel to the other side of the
wall,
that would have just about no effect on the cost. Installing a new
larger panel in that location in the wall is the same amount of work
regardless of which side it faces.

Were the OP to hire an electrician to do the job, I'd expect it to
cost
$1k-$1.5k depending on the typical rates in the area, for DIY,
around
$500 or so in materials.

Thanks, not really planning to do it myself. ?I did look into it, but
I don't have a lot of the tools and would rather not incur the
liability. ?I have a couple electricians coming out tomorrow to
provide quotes, but I'd like to have an idea of what to expect. ?Looks
like some consensus is developing around $1k. ?Any thoughts on the
amount of time?

I'm in the DC area and labor is unbelievably expensive. ?More than
half the cost of the kitchen remodel! ?(One reason I looked into
DIY...) ?Anyway, don't have the cash for the entire remodel right now,
so I'm looking into preparatory options first, like upgrading the
electrical panel.

Thanks!

I'd expect it to take anywhere from about 3 to 6 hours depending on the
details. Items like the amount of slack left in the wires and the
mounting height of the existing panel can make a good deal of
difference. If the wires are short and the panel is already at the max
allowed height it will be time consuming and require some additional
materials. If the wires have some slack and the panel is below max
height so you can mount the new one a bit higher to gain slack if needed
it can be easy. If all the wiring is from the bottom it's even easier
since the code doesn't have a minimum height.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

might as well go to 200 amp......... it costs little more. plus will
leave space for the new kitchen circuits/

one for fridge, minimum of 2 and preferably 3 20 amp GFCI general
appliance circuits, one for disposal, one for dishwasher, plus
electric stove if you have one.. plus take a look at all plumbing so
you dont have to do it again anytime soon

if your redoing the kitchhen and it has outside walls your better off
gutting and installing foam insulation. since you will have lots of
holes in walls for electric upgrade anyway

Thanks all for the advice. Upgrading the main service seems like a
good idea since there is no extra room in the current panel and I will
be adding a separate range hood and better lighting, and I know there
are problems with the current wiring/circuits (can't run a hairdryer
and iron at the same time, a/c kicking on causes lights to dim,
etc).

The things you describe above are more a matter of distribution than service
size. If you had a 1000 amp service, you still wouldn't be able to run your
hair dryer and iron at the same time. You need to run new circuits and
outlets for these high amperage appliances, which doesn't necessarily mean
that there isn't enough amperage feeding the panel






The kitchen has two walls that are internal to the building, but
external to my unit. One backs up to a shared common hallway, the
other backs up to another unit. Don't think additional foam
insulation will be necessary, but I'll keep it in mind for when I get
to the point when I can afford the rest of the remodel.

What are you recommending specifically about the plumbing?

Cheers,