Hi all, My Daughter just bought a house that was a mobile home, double
wide, that was
put on a foundation. Outside there is a service entrance panel with a
200A
main breaker.
That feeds into the basement to an empty box where it is bolted to an SE
cable that runs
the width of the house to the rear and up into the kitchen. There she
has
a 200A main panel
with all the branch circuits.

I want to finish the basement for her. Assuming there is plenty of juice
(there are 7 spares
in the panel upstairs), here is what I would like to do if it is legal,
safe and compliant with
NEC (in Maryland),

Shut off the Main 200A outside
Undo the bolted "feed thru" in the basement
Rebolt it along with another set of 4ga/4 wires and put another panel
there
to feed the basement.

I know I could just use a subpanel in the basement and feed it from the
kitchen, but
if TWO main panels in parallel is legal, it would save me a lot of wire
($$).
If I can do this, I would use a panel with say a 70A main breaker in it
in
the basement
and not just a subpanel with main lugs.


*I'm not sure if I am understanding the entire scope of what you want to
do.
I'm thinking that you want to tap off the 200 amp line from the junction
box
in the basement with #4 wires. I haven't read the rules for taps in the
current book yet, but I think that would be acceptable. You would have to
bring those #4 wires directly into a 70 amp breaker and they would need to
be close to the junction box. Also the junction box would need to be big
enough for all of the wires. There are insulated taps that pierce through
the insulation of conductors. You would not need to take apart the
existing
splices and then put them back together and retape them.

They exist, but you'd never catch me using them. Junk. Fire waiting to
happen.


*Clare that's the first time I have ever heard anyone say that they were a
fire hazard. Do you have any supporting information on this. They are UL
listed.