When we moved into our house last year, I knew I would soon need to replace
the full, rusting, 35 year old 100A Federal Pacific panel. Last May I took
care of it. When a neighbor had theirs done a few months before by an
electrican it was about $1,200. After doing some research, I decided to
tackle it myself. I've done electrical work before, but nothing this big.
Did a lot of research, several calls to the inspector. Here's the sequence
the city (Westerville, OH) uses:

-Get the permit from the building dept. Take the permit to the elec dept,
they provide the new meter base.
-Schedule the day/time for the cutoff and the later inspection.
-At the scheduled time, the work crew comes by, cuts & covers the overhead
lines and disconnects the meter.
-Homeowner (or electrician) replaces/upgrades the panel
-Inspector shows up, checks everything. If it's OK, he calls the crew to
come back and re-connect the feed.

As far as the panel itself, it wasn't all that hard. I tried to do as much
as I could ahead of time; tagged all the lines, install the ground rod (old
system used cold water pipe only, not acceptable now). Another thing I had
ready was the backing board. The old panel was about 1/3 the size of the
new 40 space 200A SquareD Q0 panel, so I had the plywood pre-cut. Even with
the pre-work, it still took me about 6 hours. There were a couple of minor
things he pointed out (I didn't bridge a ground line across the water meter,
etc.) that I could take care of later, but he was satisfied with my work and
OK'd the reconnection to the main power.

I ended up with about $450 in parts. I shopped around, but ended up getting
most of it from Home Depot or Lowes.

The biggest suggestion I would have is to talk to the inspectors.
Ultimately they're the ones who are going to approve (or disapprove) your
installation. Our inspectors generally stick with the NEC, but take more
conservative limits on some of the wire sizing.

Mike O.




"Cletus Milsap" wrote in message
...

Howdy,

Just got me a new home and some troubles as well. Labor of Love one
should
not wonder.

I could barely insure the home. It has 60A in this 1959 house. They want
125A. At least that's what the insurance said. (Home is in Solano County.)

I went shopping for panels. I'm no wizard with Electricity. (Note the
respectful big "E") But I do get by. I understand what is what in a
circuit. Clear on how them breakers work and wiring in general.

But I'm no expert electrician. Still I know with some good help I can do
this job.

First I got a permit. Was not too tough. And have a call in to PG&E to
talk to an inspector about requirements and the like. What I need is a
step
by step by someone who does this routinely. What's next?

I had conflicting bids from electricians on the upgrade. Some said -
$1200
to $1500. When they had found out the main power is coming in from the
bottom, they just laughed and said "All you need is the panel, Cletus."
The
present panel is a single panel with the meter on the top part and the
breakers under it. Got the Spa wired to 220V on a bridged 40 amp breaker.
The rest is small potatoes. 20A breakers running to simple outlets and the
like. I was told by Home Depot, I need a separate breaker for the Spa,
located 6' or less from the Spa, and that the way it is in the main box,
is
a violation. Ugh. (That'll be tough, as the Spa is on the Patio, away from
the wall by 15' or so.)

I'm willing to buy the box for that as well though.

I need to be pointed to a step by step, or if it's not too much trouble,
post one here. I'd like to be clear on the steps to take.

Can I surface mount the 125A box? The present one is recessed into the
wall. The box I was looking at requires a BIG hole! I'd like to just get
the wires in on the bottom, and cover up the present little hole with the
big box.

All help will be appreciated with extreme prejudice.

Cletus


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