help!!!

jaron001

hi all noob here from NJ came to this web site from a search pretty cool site i must say so i decided to sign up and get some questions answered and help out if i can


i have a 4 bedroom home that is about 100 years old. its been passed down to my great grand mom to my grand mom to my mom. shes had it since i was born my sister is on her way to college and my mom is moving to where shes at so the house is going to be handed to me. im really trying to up date this joint because its not presentable any more cover up jobs throughout wood paneling etc etc

now to the electric problem every thing trips the box u cant have the microwave and toaster on at the same time washer and microwave and the list just goes on

here are pics of the box






service line in



it has to be seriously out dated i see that as too small to run a house this size.
IM planing on starting in the basement and working my way through each room. in the basement i will be adding another full bathroom and other full bedroom and family, room all things that will need new romex ran and IM out of space with breakers and i don't know what amp the breaker is since it don't have any labels on it the power doesn't scare me and IM looking to do my own work just need a lil help

jaron

KUIPORNG

Looks like you need to upgrade your breaker box to allow more breakers... then a lot of rewiring ... don't know if you can use existing circuits as they probably overloaded like you mentioned.... so I would imagine professional would likely say rewire everything and forget your existing circuits...etc.... this is a big job... especially if you don't want to break existing walls...etc.... may be you want to do all upgrades at once so that it can be easier to handle... but then it means a lot of $$...

jaron001

up stairs is fine i just need the down stairs and basment done

JohnJ0906

It sounds like you need some more circuits run. At least it sounds like the circuit breakers are functioning properly.

I can't really tell the size of the service cable, but you might have 100 amps. Then again, you might only have 60.

I think your first step is getting an electrician to look at this service, and get a price on both a panel change, and a service upgrade. This really needs a pro to look at it, see the size of the house, see what all you want to change and add, etc.

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KUIPORNG

yes I agree not to DIY for panel change and service upgrade... once that got done... you can try to DIY for other stuff....

jogr

Your breakers have the amperage right on the switch. I can read most of them from 1500 miles away and they are 15 amp. I can't quite make out the main breaker but it looks like 2 digits so probably 60 or 75 amps. I bet you'll have better luck reading them from 1 foot away than me trying to read a photo through bifocals at 1500 miles.

Your breaker tripping problem is probably because you have too much load on the few (6) 120V circuits that you have. You should add separate circuits for the microwave and washer since these are giving you trouble as well as whatever circuits your planning for the basement. Your box is full so you either need a subpanel added or a new panel of the same amperage with more circuit capacity or and upgrade in service to a larger amp service with more circuit capacity.

A new subpanel would be easiest but only an electrician who actually can examine your house can tell you what's right.

You say that you want to do the work yourself because power doesn't scare you but maybe it should - you didn't even realize the breaker amperage was clearly marked. I mean no disrespect, I'm only trying to keep you or your house from being damaged, but you really need to study and learn a whole lot more before you mess with this. You can't get all the info you need from a forum. Adding a subpanel (or having an electrician add one and running the circuits yourself) is definitely doable for a DIYer if they are willing to do a lot of studying first. But your service amperage may not be adequate if you are adding more load in the basement. You really ought to have an electrician look at this.