How To Move Or Replace Circuit Breakers
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 лют 2021
- This is a walk through of moving some breakers in an electrical panel.
The reasons could be many, but for me, I need to make room for a larger breaker to act as a transfer switch for a generator. I'll post additional videos installing the interlock kit, and wiring the inlet for the generator later. - Авто та транспорт
Nice TRANSFER of your confidence to give confidence to those who want to learn technique that you shared . Thanks much, sir and cheers !
So glad I fell upon this video. Just the project that I was looking for “how to do.” 😎👍🏽
Whow.. great video.. it was like watching those videos about those people in India doing great things with very few tools and means... 😊 all the uncertainties you guys have to deal with. Respect 🙏
When I installed an interlock I just moved each right hand side breaker down two spaces... starting at the bottom and working until they were all moved. Usually there is enough play in the wiring to safely allow a move of two spaces. This way, wiring does not need to be joined and no 'wiring' work is needed at all for this stage in the process.
Yeah that’s definitely an option, I didn’t want to relabel everything lol
@@shawndavis9276 HAHA!
You are never going to write that novel, you know.... LOL!
Where do the neutral and ground go for the new 30
@@chrisbenson6860 that’s the easy part, just plug it into the rail with all the others, there’s a bank of nuetral and a bank of ground. Find a spot that makes sense and u good
If I just move the breakers down as you mentioned will I have to worry about the neutral overload issue other people have discussed in other comments?
I’m wanting to do this but want to do it as safely as possible
Great video! Gave me a idea for a quick fix for breaker replacement.
Great video. Thanks so much for sharing.
There are a few screwdriver options on the new breaker. While the old breaker allowed only a flat blade, newer breakers (and most devices) allow you to use flat, Phillips, #2 Robertson (square drive), and some combination bits. Now that there are torque requirements for the screws, I find the square drive is the best driver since it will not cam out. Most 1/4" bit sets include #1 and #2 Robertson bits.
Very informative video with great clarity. One of best IMHO.
I have a similar setup, however I have to relocate a 40 Amp 2 pole breaker, so I can install a 50 amp 2 pole breaker for the generator & interlock setup. I have to also extend the 40 amp with wire- lugs.
have two questions, would appreciate your input!
1. what gauge wire would you recommend to use in extending the 40 Amp wire? I was going to use 6 gauge. Please let me know what you think?
2. Also I noticed you ran the 6/3 wire with the sheath from the top knock-out. I don’t have any on the top, instead I have one on the bottom left. Besides the aesthetics, do you know if it’s a code violation?
thank you this is exactly what I needed
I have a 2 pole 20 amp at the top then there is open space then their is a single pole 15 amp then another open space . I like to move those down together to put in a 2 pole 50amp for a inlet plug at the top inplace of the 20amp will that be OK for a genarator inlet plug in case the power goes out.their is two open spaces.in your video you move 2 breaker down. in my case their are three open for the 2pole 20amp and one for the single pole 15amp .I simple have to move two breaker down to open a spot for the 50 amp. please advise.
If the neutral is being shared for two different circuits, i.e. 14-3 or 12-3 with red and black hot conductors, the hots can NOT be on the same phase. That means they have to be kept track of. For half size breakers, one half height breaker needs to be between the hots to establish the correct phasing. For full height breakers, the hots have to be on adjacent breakers.
Ok, so in this case where it’s just one circuit the phasing should not be an issue correct? Thanks for explaining
@@shawndavis9276 That's correct. When sharing a neutral, the phasing keeps the neutral from being overloaded. Half the time the neutral is carrying current for one circuit and half the time for the other circuit. The power coming into the panel are two 120v feeders that are phased 180 degrees from each other. Together they make 240v. If you put a 240v breaker misaligned in the panel you would not get 240v, only two 120v. This can happen when using half height breakers. These are the two main reasons to understand phasing when moving breakers around inn the box. Most people know to phase correctly for 240v breakers, but not many know the shared neutral. And it's not a rare thing. In fact it's probably a rare thing to not have neutral sharing because it saves wire and time on your home runs.
Thank you, I learned useful information.
I dunno... I just find it really funny how you said "don't touch that..." RE the 3 phase live wires. Great video. :)
Ya bro live wires hurt trust me
Very informative!
Just to add, Can't have white wire on a Breaker, Black Tape will correct Code Issue. Smaller wire would go on the 15 Amp Breaker, if both were #12, may as well put on a 20 Amp Breaker, unless equipment needs to be protected by a 15. You would want to follow those 2 Circuits where it exits Panel, if they share a Neutral, need to be on a 2 Pole Breaker to insure on Opposite Phase. Since top was 15 Amp, possibility of 2nd and 3rd Breaker down may be a Multi Circuit (2 20 Amp Circuits sharing a Neutral), If Both Draw 20 Amps, Neutral would draw Zero Amps. If wired I. Same phase, Neutral would carry the total of Both(20+20=40Amps) Over Loading the Neutral
thanks! I have one of my AC breakers with a white and red wire used as hots (of course the clowns that wired mine before I bought it!!! put BOTH AC units one one 50 amp breaker and Both air handlers on one 20 amp breaker lucky my house didnt burn down I guess) -- I will wrap with black tape next time im in there (I wondered about that when I saw it).
I could be wrong but it looked like you used 14 gauge (white jacket) instead of 12 gauge to pigtail the 20 amp. I didn’t see the yellow jacket - 20 amp wire. Again, I might have missed it with dark lighting you were working in.
You are 100% correct and I should probably fix that. Never even occurred to me. Thanks!
unless it was real old 12 gauge wire which had a white jacket also....my house has white jacket 12 gauge... which fooled me at 1st. till I read the jacket.
To avoid 'splicing / pig tail' wires at the Panel...... how about just moving all the Breakers on right side down to allow for the new Breaker...? as long as the wires have enough slack for this.
I suppose. Lot of dinking around. It’s not a problem with r a code violation where I live but it would be a great solution for places that don’t allow splices in a panel
Yes. And that also insures that everything will remain on the same phase it's currently on.
i was about to attempt this, i opted to shift all breakers down to fit 50A breaker in. i didn't have enough slack to move the top , so i had to use pliers to pull wire about an inch.
also, your wires going in the panel from the top, would have made it easier to pull some slack to shift breakers down.
That is the proper way to do it. Never use wire nuts to extend these type of wires.
Great job
great video ... all the other ones already have the breakers moved before they start the videos. Did you record the installation of the wiring inlet and the installation of the interlock kit? If so, can you please provide links to those?
yes, i've got it all, havent posted yet but will get on it asap for you, the interlock device is so simple its silly
@@shawndavis9276 thx!
@@yellow_panther just uploaded it😁
@@shawndavis9276 thank you very much!
Regarding the use of the white wire for extending the hot side of circuit It's not just a matter of matching. I am sure that it is a violation of the electrical code to use white wire for the hot side of a circuit.
Great video
I have two breaker panels, the main one is full and a secondary panel with a few extra slots.
If you had to move a breaker from the main panel to a second panel, do you need to extend their neutral wires along with the hot lines to the second panel? Thanks for your videos!
Good question, I don’t know the answer but I would move both so it made more sense for the next person working in there, and then if you ever needed to work on that circuit again or whatever it’d be easy to find the right wires
@@shawndavis9276 I did some more research and found out that I need to move both hot and neutral for the moved breaker to provide safety against overloading the circuit
@@ItsAlive111 thanks!
@@shawndavis9276 thank you for your video. It helped me set up my generator breaker on my main panel, under the main, that was full and move some breakers to the second panel next to it.
@@ItsAlive111 awesome! Way to go
I'm a little confused with people asking about shared neutrals, and keeping the same phase in the first (main) box, aren't all of the neutrals / grounds tied together anyway? isn't there a jumper connecting the L and R neutral / ground bars together so they are all connected no mater what correct??? -- speaking of a primary or main panel not a sub panel. also IF all 220 (double breakers) sit on top of each other (1&2) with no singles in between the hots are on both phases since the panels alternate phases on each side (left side starts at 1 and right side starts at 2) right??????
I agree, confusing and also keeping them on the same side would negate all the finger wagging.
I’m in the process of doing this myself. Great video thanks for posting. I guess one consideration - did you think about which phase they were on originally and putting it back the same way? In other words if the 15 amp was on the left phase and the 20 amp was on the right phase did you ensure that was the same case when you moved them down to the bottom? Does it matter?
beats me lol i assumed that each side , right and left, would be the same. if not the whole box. i dont know enough about electrical work or what a phase is, just did it how my step dad would have showed me.
@@shawndavis9276 Good video. But always check with a reliable tester or multimeter that there is no power before you touch any of the screws, wires or metal parts, even after turning off the main breaker. As to the 2 sides, they are called legs, similar but not quite the same as phases. You can put on either side, but total load on each side (leg) shoould be approximately equal.
@@shawndavis9276 - Well turns out you could’ve put both circuits on the opposite leg without knowing it. Circuits one and two are on Phase A or leg one and circuits three and four are on phase B Or leg 2. So you would probably want to keep them on the same phase they were on in other words
@@condor5635 thanks for the explanation, I just looked and what you are saying makes sense looking at the panel, the panel backing that the breakers plug in to are staggered every other row.
By dumb luck, mine ended up on the same phase as I pulled them from. So, if you move them an even number of spaces down, your good. Odd, ull switch phases.
Now I don’t know if any of this matters but I’m glad to know I got lucky and they are on the same phase that they came from😁
@@shawndavis9276 hahahaa sometime really weird questions pops up when talking to other people as well. I thought I knew what I was doing too until some questions were asked
I have a 240 amp where your 15 and 20 were. I want to move it to the bottom like you did with your 15 and 20 for my generator breaker. Do I have to move the ground also or just leave the ground where it is and just hook up the hot wires?
I’d say the ground is just fine where it is but without seeing I can’t say 100% all the grounds on mine are off to the side in a rail on their own.
Also I’m not an electrician just an idiot with a video camera on my phone😂
@@shawndavis9276 I appreciate the response. It really helped. Thanks again.
Great video Sir! Part 2?
Check my videos I did a janky ass series on puttin in a interlock switch if that’s what yer lookin for
Why do u need to move the 15A and 20A down to the bottom? Why not just place the 50A at the bottom? I'm kinda new to these stuff so.
Because I am installing a interlock switch for a generator. The 50a will be power coming in and the interlock toggles between the main 200a coming in, and the top two right slots.
If all you were doing was adding a 50 amp service for a new oven or something, You could for sure just add it at the bottom and an open slot, great question
This is exactly what I need to do only o need a single pole 30A up to since my generator is only 120V. Gotta swap the top right one and possibly splice in a piece so its long enough to reach the bottom of the panel.
Apparently some localities don’t allow splicing inside the box, make sure to check first.
If you aren’t allowed to splice u might have to move all the breakers down one of there is not enough extra wire
@@shawndavis9276 thats what i was reading in some of your comments.
do I need a permit to install my own interlock kit and an inlet box in my house here in texas??
No clue but I don’t pull em if I’m doing my own work
No!
So all the breakers can be moved down 2 slots to put the 30 in, where do the neutral and ground wires go
I’d imagine they could stay depending on how your panel is set up, Just move the hot down with each breaker
@@shawndavis9276
I mean on the new 10/3 wire coming into the 30 amp breaker for a generator outside
I'm wondering,
Could you be able to move each breakers down two spots and make room for the new breaker?
Yes
That's what I did, seemed easier to shift all the breakers down 2 slots, there was enough wire on each....I didn't have to splice wire on the 2 top breakers to put them on the bottom
This is why I searched the comments, that's what I thought maybe move them all down two spots.
Be careful when moving circuits around in your panel. Especially if a multi conductor cable is used. Make sure breakers are not on same phase, otherwise the neutral will be overloaded. A sign of overloaded neutral is blackening of neutral at termination bar in your panel, because it’ll get extremely hot.
Thanks I should probably check lol
@@shawndavis9276 Hi, your fine if it’s not a shared neutral.
I need more tutorials on how to fix a faulty breaker
Buy a new one, they’re cheap. Pop out the old, snap in the new. Turn off master power first
I was wondering why you didnt just put the new breaker on the bottom ? Great info , may thanks
I’m adding/swapping for a generator inlet. The bracket that prevents back feeding is made to have the generator power in those slots
I thought you would need the yellow Romax 2 for 20 AMP breaker, White Romax is good for 15 AMP but not for 20 AMP.
wouldn't you go clockwise with the tape also?
I guess but I always go quantity over quality
I’m an electrician. Taping the wire nuts is overkill but I won’t bust ur bxlls because it is safe.
Lmao Ty!
Are wire-nuts in a load-box allowed? I understand it isn't.
Beats me, great question though, I’ll look in to it
Google said it’s not a problem
My instructor told me not to wire nut in a panel but when I search on Google it says totally fine. Confuse me much.
@@FirstNameLastName-fu8ml All depends on building codes in your area it’s fine here where I am
You can have a Boat Load of Wire Nuts in a Panel, it is a Wire Fill Issue. If a wire has a Wirenut, it counts as 2 wires
harbor freight sells PITTSBURGH
Electricians Screwdriver Set, 7 Piece set very cheap. bought mine about $10.00
Thanks but accidentally welding is one of my favorite activities
If you had enough length you could have just moved everything down two and you'd be set with no pigtails but I couldn't really tell. I probably would have tried that.
I have 2 rooms on 1 circuit. I'd like to put each room on their own circuit breaker. Wiring outlets are easy. But I'm learning circuit breakers now. Tutorials plz on how to split rooms to separate circuits.
Surprised you didn't put the interlock on while the cover was off
Not everyone who needs to move circuit breakers needs to install an interlock. I have another video hooking up the interlock
Why not just move all of the breakers down by one instead of moving the top one to the bottom? That way, no extensions would be needed as existing wires would be long enough to move 1 slot down.
You could. I didn’t. Less re-labeling.
Most other channels used a 30amp generator breaker you used a 50amp ,please explain why ?
I would imagine that their generators only put out 30 A, which is fairly common especially for RVs and motorhomes. I bought the biggest portable generator I could find and it’s 50 A and 220 V
@@shawndavis9276 makes sense, thanks for sharing 👍
Above 7500 watts generator- you need 50 amp breaker. Which is better because most of generator now provide higher watts tl generate the the AC and whole house
didn't think you could just use twist on connectors without putting them in a wiring enclosure of box, pretty sure that wouldn't pass any inspection.
U can where I live, see the other comments regarding this
@@shawndavis9276 wish I could where I live...
@@flasha29 you can
Seems like it would have been easier to move all the breakers down 2 spots? Tell me if I’m wrong people I’d really like to know.
Way less rewiring this way. Could have avoided splicing inside the box moving everything, but would have had to move all the wires down 2 as well.
To be fair, moving the top 2 to the bottom is arguably the lazy way.
Btw, splicing instructions de the box is fine by code where I live, some places don’t allow it
Ok just checking. I’ve spliced in wires also but thought I’d ask since it looked like there was enough wire to move all the breakers.🤔
Would you like to test propane quick connect ?
I have. It works great. I can make a video of the plumbing for propane if any one cares
@@shawndavis9276 could you make a video for ours ?
Why don’t you just install the double pole breaker on the bottom? In reading others comments & yours, just disregard my questioning do to lack of knowledge!
I now know just enough to be dangerous. I think I’ll just hire a qualified electrician.
Just shut off the power and test with a volt tester before you start your work…
14 gauge wire on a 20 amp breaker is a code violation.
You are correct. I have since corrected the problem when other viewers pointed it out. Thanks!
Why not just put the new 50 amp breaker down at the free space at the bottom?
I installed an interlock switch for a generator coming into the house, so I needed the 50amp to be there for the switch to work
🤦🏻♂️ dude didn't even use a voltage detector before putting his hands all over everything
I don’t use protection I wish your father would have
@@shawndavis9276 aw someone's little feeling got hurt? You can tell how big of a dumbass someone really is when they get their emotions hurt over someone calling them out for doing something completely irresponsible. 🤦🏻♂️😂😂😂
@@shawndavis9276😂😂
@@shawndavis9276 🤣🤣🤣
This guy spent more time splicing wires and removing knockout fins from the metal cabinet that explain what he was doing.
Haha and you watched it all, and the other videos I made about it, thanks for the ad revenue sucka! 😘
I ALWAYS TURN OFF THE MAIN BEFORE DOING ANY MOVING AND REPLACING...MOVING BREAKERS GONNA BE DETERMINE ON WIRE LENGTH LIMITATION WHERE YOU GONNA MOVE TOO..AND REPLACING IS SIMPLE AS UNSCREWING AND SCREW IT TIGHTLY ...NEVER OVER TIGHTEN ..YOU WILL KNOW ITS VERY TIGHT BY COUPLE TURNS...ITS BEST RE-LABEL..FOR ME..I FORGET WHICH ONE GOES TO WHERE ??
Bro work faster use white wire with black tape label it
It is against code to splice wires in an electrical panel.
Not in minnesota
Here in NY (one of the strictest code enforcement in the nation) it’s not. What your reference?
Is a OK in California but the jump wire should be a #12 on that 20 amp C/B not the 14.
@@stevenchien9656 you are correct, my mistake
@@stevenchien9656 ( the old #12 wire had a white jacket. )😆
Dawg were u rongg
I cannot watch this
Don’t! Thanks!
Inappropriate guidance. Please be careful not to conduct business as presented here...Much more safety should have been demonstrated.
Hahahahaha I guess Darwin was wrong 🤣 roflmao electricians don’t have any work so they run around not liking you tube videos now 🤣🌶👀
@@shawndavis9276 If YOU feel this was a safe and appropriate set of actions, especially considering the tutorial fashion that viewers receive watching this, then I can’t imagine what kind of dumpster fires you potentially create. Alternatively, he accomplished said task, just not code correct NOR safely considering it is a shared TUTORIAL. Responsibility be damned, I wouldn’t put out a instruction video that shows imagery that could harm someone by a lackadaisical action. Let’s be honest, we don’t have a lot of wise brothers and sisters out there and properties left out here could harm someone. Your choice, not mine. I’m glad he’s safe, but can’t condone the actions myself. Cheers.
@@AXNJXN1 k link your own tutorial then captain save a hoe
@@AXNJXN1 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
First of all, twist your wires with lineman pliers, not needle nose. All electricians know that
First of all, im not an electrician. 2nd, thanks for the tip!
@@shawndavis9276 And, do NOT use your wire strippers to remove the knockouts.
@@pawpawraab3294 when all you got is a hammer everything is a nail dog….
I'm not gonna watch this