Electricians! I need help!

[Pilotscrappy]

Seeing if there is any electricians that can answer a question for me. I'm needing to wire in a 240 volt plug for my garage and opened up my breaker panel to make sure I had room for a 60a breaker and I don't think I have any open slots , there does appear to be two on the very bottom of the board but I'm not sure if those are supposed to be left open ?

Assuming my board is full, is the best option to wire in a subpanel?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ronws]

It is common for companies to make dead fronts with more knock-outs than the actual buss bar length.

Best thing is to wire in a subpanel. Like a Siemens 8-16 indoor next to it. Feed some #6s or #6/3 romex on a 2 pole 50 amp. You will have to move circuits to that subpanel in order to fit in a 60 for what you want.

We have to do this stuff only on days that end in the letter 'y'.

In fact, on Tuesday, we are going to a house where the person who installed an electric water heater and did not provide enough power. The heater needs two 40 amp circuits and the panel is full, including the 40 amp breaker and first circtuit installed to the heater. So, We have to install a subpanel to make room for that.

 

[Long Range 338]

Alternatively I would look into this.

https://breakeroutlet.com/circuit-breakers/bqc2502120-eaton-quad-br-circuit-breaker-2pole-50a-2-1-pole-20a/

 

[chevy_man]

Looks like a CH BR 40 space panel. They're sold with a main breaker 42 space also, but they use the same insulators and dead-front for either leaving to 2 spaces with no stabs.

Just install another BR 24 space panel next to it. BR2100 breaker in your current panel, feed it with #2 AL SER.

Then the fun job of moving at least 2 of those circuits over to the new panel.

Keep the ground and neutral separate. You may need an add-a-lug for the neutral buss to get a #2 in there.

Or, if you're never planning on another addition, you could pick up 2 BR2020 breakers, replace 4 of the breakers on the left, and add a BR260.

Just make sure you don't land a #14 on a 20A breaker if you use the second option.


And please for the love of God don't mix and match brands of panel and breaker types. Drives me up a wall when a customer calls me out and sends me a picture of a SQ D panel only to find out it's in a CH sub panel.

 

[Im2bent]

Please tell me its something cool like a welder and not an ev charger. Oh and yes your panel is full . If you want to you could remove some of your 20 Amp breakers on the left and replace with skinnies to make room for a double pole 60 Amp breaker.

 

[Im2bent]

@chevy_man beat me to it.

 

[hollowoutadime]

Put in a subpanel. My house will have three of them. (four if you count the generator subpanel).
If you're doing a lot of new construction/remodeling, it's easier to do one run for a subpanel than a bunch of separate runs.

Your home may end up with two EV's at some point, so putting a subpanel gives you flexibility.

 

[Pilotscrappy]

Awesome SH delivers again, thanks for the good info guys , exactly what I needed

 

[eklarsen]

I guess it was an EV charger...

 

[Pilotscrappy]

I guess it was an EV charger...

nailed it .....

Got the wife a new pacifica hybrid minivan and it's a plug-in setup where it needs to charge everyday

 

[W6SPK]

I wouldn't bother adding another panel. You should be able to replace some of the full size single pole breakers with twins to free up the space you need. Could also use a BR quad breaker.