Subpanel use in whole house rewiring

I have a 3-story semi-detached home with a full basement that is going to be completely rehabbed. All of the old lath and plaster is currently being removed down to the studs and joists. Then it will get all new wiring, new kitchen and baths, new plumbing, new sheetrock, insulation, etc.

This is a question about the design for the all new wiring. The house is one side of a side-by-side twin, so in our area it is called a semi-detached home. It has a full basement with high open ceilings. Access to all areas of the other walls and ceilings is easy because the interior of the property is being gutted down to the studs and joists.

A new 200-amp service panel has already been installed, and it is located on the front wall of the basement.

The basement goes straight back under the living room, dining room, and kitchen which are on the first floor. The second floor has a front bedroom, middle bedroom, back bedroom, and bath next to the back bedroom. The third floor has a small bathroom in the front corner, a main front/middle bedroom, and a back bedroom.

My question is about how to plan the wiring.

Since this is a long and high house, does it make sense to just run all of the wiring directly from the main panel in the basement? Or, would it make more sense to strategically locate one or two subpanels (such as on the second and third floors), run power to those subpanels, and then run local circuits to each of those areas off of the subpanels?

Reply to
RogerT
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You could save yourself a lot of grief and money if you hire a good architect/engineer draw up the system for you. You have to pull a permit and plans must be submitted anyway, so they will have the knowledge and experience to get it right the first time. Nothing is more disheartening than listening to an inspector as he tags the work, "fail".

Joe

Reply to
Joe

*Having a subpanel on each floor would save a lot of labor and copper during construction and make it convenient later if a circuit was to trip. I would put in the largest panels possible. Murray makes a 20/40 100 amp panel and Square D makes a 32 circuit 100 amp panel and each are sold at Home Depot. Lowes sell GE panels with white covers.
Reply to
John Grabowski

How may circuits would you have upstairs? Usually not that much of an electrical load upstairs. It would be hard to justify a panel for a few light and convenience outlet circuits. I can dig having a sub- panel on the main floor...a lot of people dont like going down into the basement in the middle of the night but its probably not going to save you any money wiring it like this,

Jimmie.

Jimmie

Reply to
JIMMIE

In a new proper well designed home electrical system a ripped breaker is rtare and only when something is broke.

I used to get trips here all the time, added many breakers and its now a rare event..

as such just a main panel is probably just fine.

if someone really hates going in the basement i guess a main panel could be upstairs.

dont save money by maxing out number of loads on circuits.

my ideal would be at least 2 seperate just light circuits intertwined thru home so if one trips theres no all dark floors, a breaker for each bedroom, and each room, one for bath which is code, 3 for kitchen outlets, kitchens are power hungry, a couple at least for the shop, seperate breakers for washer, dryer, stove, fridge, furnace, hot water tank, disposal, basement freezer if you will ever have one, outside outlets, etc etc

sure it costs more but its a one time expense and when a breaker trips you know what room is out. makes trouble shooting a breeze:)

this is over code minimums but worth the expense.

add support now for a generator in times of power outages

Reply to
hallerb

I would go for a panel on the top floor and one in the basement. That way adding extra circuits later would be easier. (attic access)

Reply to
gfretwell

Thanks. It is a single-family home with one meter.

Reply to
RogerT

Thanks. I was thinking that using subpanels would save on wiring during the installation, but I hadn't thought about the convenience factor for tenants/occupants. This will be a rental property as a single family home. I may just use the main panel in the basement for all of the first floor circuits since all of those circuits could be wired from the basement ceiling. That would leave the second and third floors. I may want to just use one subpanel on the second floor for both of those, but maybe one subpanel for each of those two floors would also work.

Reply to
RogerT

where did he say ANYthing about a permit and plans???

Reply to
Steve Barker

and add a line for solar to the roof back to the main panel, or at least a chase with a pull string.

Reply to
chaniarts

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