Electrical – Should I use tandem breakers or upgrade the panel?

electricalwiring

I am adding 5 20 amp circuits to this breaker box that will power different parts of my basement. At first review I did not think there would be any issues seeing there were only 18 out of 24 slots being used. Once I opened the panel after roughing in the electrical for all of the outlets and I don't see how I can add any more than 2 switches to this box. The center bus ( I don't know if this is the correct term) only has prongs for 20 switches. How would I add 5 additional switches to this box?

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Best Answer

I'm sorry you got "gypped" by the phantom knockouts. Why do those exist? Because manufacturers make a lot of different panels, but only a finite number of steel boxes.

If this is a young panel, then somewhere in that manufacturer's product line will be a 24-space main-lug panel which actually does populate those phantom covers. It differs from this panel only by the size of the big black thing in the middle. One possibility is to do the research and find that other panel and swap "big black things". This is 90% easier than replacing a panel, because you don't have to mess with any of the wire entrances, you don't even have to take wires off the breakers! Just strip the neutral bars and main feeds, swap, reconnect and you're done.

You still need GFCI in that basement

Your basement circuits which serve receptacles will need to be GFCI protected. That can be done at the receptacle or the breaker. If you're on 2017 Code it might also need AFCI, and that's usually done at the breaker. These are full-size breakers, and they just don't come in double-stuff/duplex/tandem.