Electrical panel upgrade
 

Hello,

My wife and I are purchasing a house that was built around 1952. It has
two 60 amp circuit breakers that we want to upgrade. The sellers have
central AC and I guess the 120 worked for them but we want to upgrade the
panel to 240. Do we need to also change the internal wiring in the house?
i.e. the wiring to the receptacles, ceiling lights, etc.?

Thank you,
Vito

-------------------------------------




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Electrical panel upgrade
 

"Veets" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

My wife and I are purchasing a house that was built around 1952. It has
two 60 amp circuit breakers that we want to upgrade. The sellers have
central AC and I guess the 120 worked for them but we want to upgrade the
panel to 240. Do we need to also change the internal wiring in the house?
i.e. the wiring to the receptacles, ceiling lights, etc.?

Thank you,
Vito

-------------------------------------




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Building Construction and Maintenance Forum
Web and RSS access to your favorite newsgroup -
alt.home.repair - 369730 messages and counting!
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You may be mistaking voltage for amperage. If the panel has 2-60 amp
breakers, it is probably a 100 or 125 amp -120/240 volt service, possibly
even larger. You may be wanting a 200 amp service, and I would certainly
recommend talking to a local electrician first, just to determine what you
have, and what you want. When increasing the amperage of a service, you
typically don't do anything with receptacle outlets unless you have some
areas that are spread a little thin and may need more circuits. Often,
houses of that era were wired with non grounding cable and wiring devices,
which is something you may want an electrician to check out as well.

Electrical panel upgrade
 

Veets wrote:
Hello,

My wife and I are purchasing a house that was built around 1952. It
has two 60 amp circuit breakers that we want to upgrade. The sellers
have central AC and I guess the 120 worked for them but we want to
upgrade the panel to 240. Do we need to also change the internal
wiring in the house? i.e. the wiring to the receptacles, ceiling
lights, etc.?


Assuming "... has two 60-amp circuit breakers..." means that's ALL there is.

First things first:

Well, what you've got sure ain't right.

Circuit breakers protect the wire. In your case, if one of your outlets has
an overload, the wire in the wall (almost surely rated for 15 amps) will
melt and start a fire. Inside the wall.

The previous owers probably installed central air and swapped out the two
20-amp breakers for 60-amp ones so they could keep cool, not realizing fires
will overwhelm the capacity of the central air.

Second things next

I'm not familiar with a central air unit that works off of 120 ac.

No, you do not need to upgrade existing wiring, save for getting it on the
right-sized breakers. Your new service will include something like dual
50-amp breakers for the air conditioning

Electrical panel upgrade
 

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parasitically in order to generate free
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So the first thing you should do is write them
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Then try to find your way here through proper
channels. Please do a google search on "Usenet"
and post the regular way.



--
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Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Veets" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,


Thank you,
Vito

-------------------------------------




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Electrical panel upgrade
 

Veets wrote:
Hello,

My wife and I are purchasing a house that was built around 1952. It has
two 60 amp circuit breakers that we want to upgrade. The sellers have
central AC and I guess the 120 worked for them but we want to upgrade the
panel to 240. Do we need to also change the internal wiring in the house?
i.e. the wiring to the receptacles, ceiling lights, etc.?

Thank you,
Vito

-------------------------------------




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Just to echo HeyBub, no you don't have to have the outlets
replaced, although you might want to check if you have grounded
outlets. That is a whole different story.

But if you just get the panels replaced the electrician will
just extend the existing circuits from the current box(es) to
the new box and put all the breakers in one box.

If the existing box(es) are mounted in a closet or other
enclosed space a new box will have to be mounted someplace
where there will be no impediments to access. There has to be
a 3 foot clearance in front of the box. So it may wind up on
an outside wall, probably near the current meter location.

Bill

Electrical panel upgrade
 

bigtoe1340 had written this in response to
http://www.thestuccocompany.com/main...de-389775-.htm
:

Veets wrote:




Hello,

My wife and I are purchasing a house that was built around 1952. It
has
two 60 amp circuit breakers that we want to upgrade. The sellers have
central AC and I guess the 120 worked for them but we want to upgrade
the
panel to 240. Do we need to also change the internal wiring in the
house?
i.e. the wiring to the receptacles, ceiling lights, etc.?

Thank you,
Vito

-------------------------------------




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http://www.thestuccocompany.com/
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Web
and RSS access to your favorite newsgroup -
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and counting!
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-------------------------------------

Do to the age of the home you might want to change the internal wiring.
Many homes built in this area did not have a grounding wire included in
their wiring. As far as the new main service panel goes you most likely
need a 200-amp 120/240-volt single-phase panel. If it is outside make sure
it is rated for outdoors. You will probably have to add new grounding for
the panel itself. This will include ground rods, a bond to the cold water
pipe and also to the gas meter. As a professional electrician in Phoenix I
would highly recommend hiring a skilled professional in your area to do
the work for you.
Tony Dolce
Meade Electric
http://www.meadeelectric.biz/An_Elec...l_For_You.html



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Electrical panel upgrade
 

In article .com,
(bigtoe1340) wrote:

Stop spamming a.h.r. from your ****ing sucko company.