James_S
New User
- Location
- Out of here
- Occupation
- Engineer
Apologies if this has been discussed to death but I've been mulling over ideas and have not decided what route to take. I have a 1979 house with the original 200A CH split bus panel, this is one of those where the double pole breakers are all sitting right on the bus with no service disconnect ahead of them and one of these breakers is a 50A that feeds a second set of bus bars for all of the 120V branch circuits. I've contemplated replacing it on a few occasions in the past but I've always up to my eyeballs in projects and have never got around to it. Despite the age and my general preference for having a single master disconnect, the panel is in good condition, clean, tidy and well taken care of it has never given me any trouble at all. I have about 13 branch circuits that I'd like to power with my 2kW generator, that doesn't sound like much with some load management it has proven adequate given the infrequency of outages here.
I've installed several multi-circuit transfer panels for other people and they have always worked out really well however nobody seems to make these with more than 10 circuits and I really don't want to be limited to so few. I obviously can't run everything at once, at least not with the generator I currently have, but I want to be able to do load management by flipping switches rather than running extension cords around to power anything that isn't on the transfer panel. It occurred to me that I could install a pair of transfer panels fed by the same generator but that feels like a bit of a kludge and might raise an eyebrow with the inspector if it's even legal, I have not checked.
Another option that occurred to me is to route the output of the existing 50A main though a separate single circuit transfer panel then back into the main panel to feed the bus with the branch circuits. This also feels like a kludge to me, it would work, I don't see a safety issue with it but I'm not sure the inspector would like that either.
Then there are the mechanical lockout plates that physically interlock breakers. Technically I could install a backfeed breaker in the lower section of the panel just below the main that feeds it, I have not searched extensively but most of the interlock kits I've seen available are for newer panels. I'm a reasonably competent machinist and could fabricate something but again there's that kludge factor, I really like to do electrical stuff by the book.
The final option I've considered is to just bite the bullet and upgrade the panel. I've done a handful of panel upgrades and new installations before (permitted and inspected professional grade DIY jobs, not shady amateur hacks) so I know what is involved and am certainly capable of doing the job, but that's a a lot of effort and inconvenience when it's the house that I'm living in. There always seem to be unexpected surprises lurking once you tear into things and major projects have a tendency to take longer than anticipated.
Thoughts?
I've installed several multi-circuit transfer panels for other people and they have always worked out really well however nobody seems to make these with more than 10 circuits and I really don't want to be limited to so few. I obviously can't run everything at once, at least not with the generator I currently have, but I want to be able to do load management by flipping switches rather than running extension cords around to power anything that isn't on the transfer panel. It occurred to me that I could install a pair of transfer panels fed by the same generator but that feels like a bit of a kludge and might raise an eyebrow with the inspector if it's even legal, I have not checked.
Another option that occurred to me is to route the output of the existing 50A main though a separate single circuit transfer panel then back into the main panel to feed the bus with the branch circuits. This also feels like a kludge to me, it would work, I don't see a safety issue with it but I'm not sure the inspector would like that either.
Then there are the mechanical lockout plates that physically interlock breakers. Technically I could install a backfeed breaker in the lower section of the panel just below the main that feeds it, I have not searched extensively but most of the interlock kits I've seen available are for newer panels. I'm a reasonably competent machinist and could fabricate something but again there's that kludge factor, I really like to do electrical stuff by the book.
The final option I've considered is to just bite the bullet and upgrade the panel. I've done a handful of panel upgrades and new installations before (permitted and inspected professional grade DIY jobs, not shady amateur hacks) so I know what is involved and am certainly capable of doing the job, but that's a a lot of effort and inconvenience when it's the house that I'm living in. There always seem to be unexpected surprises lurking once you tear into things and major projects have a tendency to take longer than anticipated.
Thoughts?
