Electric Panel Full? Try This Simple Fix 

❤Guys, a few of your are going crazy so please read this and don't live with wrong info. First, please watch the whole video as I am showing 3 options when you run out of circuit space. Also there are misconceptions about what is legal, code and/or a good idea. First is what is the national electric code? It's not a law or even a set of rules. It's a published set of guidelines written by the NFPA and quite sensible which is why most, but not all states and counties accept the national electric code as their "rulebook" and locally have the power to not allow or disallow work or portions of it. This is why enforcement varies across the US. Two wires into a breaker is not against the nec code, if the breaker mfg allows it. Two wires pigtailed into 1 breaker is also allowed under the nec, or more correctly it is not prohibited and if a breaker only allows 1 wire, this is the only compliant way to do it if a breaker only is rated for a single wire. 👍 As stated in the video this is only for minor small, circuits, i.e. doorbells, single outlet to be combined to then allow one real breaker opening for the new circuit need. As shown, tandems are a better choice, and so on to the sub-panel. I may do a follow up on this since my videos will never encourage illegal or wrong behavior, it's to understand options and you decide what you want to do. A real world example is a 85 year old woman needed a stair lift in her home (needed dedicated circuit), she had no breakers left (45 year old panel). Tandems were not available, the electrician combined a doorbell and single outdoor light circuit into one with a pigtail to free up one standard circuit breaker to be used for the lift. This was code compliant and fit the situation. *Always use your own judgement, hire an electrician, the goal of the video is to help you understand there are a few ways to do things*

Retired electrician here. If you look at the decal on the door of your panel or manual you should see a diagram. That diagram denotes where it's permissible to install tandem breakers. Unless it's a GE panel with mini breakers those tandems are usually only allowed to be installed in the bottom spaces. The diagram will also tell you the maximum amount of poles or tandems that you can have. Inspectors will take issue if they see tandems installed in the wrong spaces. For example a square D 42 space panel can have 52 circuits so you are allowed to install 10 tandem breakers at the bottom 10 spaces. Another pro tip is that you can purchase additional ground and neutral buses and install them, so you have more places to land your wires. Another option is to replace an existing panel with a larger one should you need more room.

I just discovered these Wago electrical connections, bought a few boxes of them. And installed a new Siemens sub panel out in the garage, as my panel is full too... Going to need to purchase a couple of those breakers too... Thanks for the video!

Thanks for the informative video. That'll definitely help me find more space in my Circuit Breaker.

Great explanation. Simple and easy to understand voice. Thank you Sir for your efforts to explain us this topic!

SC, thanks for this video: I'm moving into an older house, and these ideas are very timely. It would have been nice if there were a short mention about balancing the total loads on the two hot phases. In the video near the end with the new subpanel, all the new circuit breakers are on the left; however, I am used to see them being installed top to bottom -- certainly OK depending on how the panel divides out its slots for the two phases. How about an informative video on converting three daisy-chained fuse boxes (no ground wires!) to a circuit breaker panel? This would not be a DIY project for most people, but the info would help us to understand the issues involved.

Don't you know?! This is RU-vid! You don't have to ask people what you did wrong... They will tell you... Loudly... Unprompted. Lol 😀

Thanks for the knowledge

Stopped the video immediately after you mentioned double-tapping the breaker and went to post a comment about using a Tandem breaker. . . I feel foolish now as you explained that moments later in the video. Great video!🙂

I'm not a licensed electrician, but I've done enough electrical work, and worked with enough inspectors to think this is sketchy as hell. Will it work? Of course, especially if you're combining LED lighting circuits. Will it pass inspection? Ask your local regulatory organization to be sure. Anyway, thought provoking and probably controversial topic! Thanks! Dave J

fantastic man thank you for sharing.

When lighting in the home was incandescent bulbs, I would expect a multi-bulb fixture to be hundreds or even a thousand watts. So this led to many 15A circuits feeding lighting through the house. It seems that LED bulbs will drastically reduce the load and make it easy to combine a couple circuits into one. So would you recommend making LED bulb conversion the first project and then combining circuits after that?

Good evening I’ve got a question, I’ve disconnected 3-14/2 wires to replace a light fixture! Without labeling them! What there are, a source that feeds two more loads, what being managed by are two switches/ some outlets and bunch of pot lights!! So far I’ve been able to reconnect one of the switches that control pots and all outlets, what I’m missing is a light and switch that energizes the closest! So again at the moment I’ve a 14/2 hanging! Any advice? Thanks

I always make sure the panel is balanced when running double/tandem breakers

Never thought of pigtailing always used the tandems. Thanks. Learned something new today

Using the Wago as your video showed, can you apply the same method if you need a neutral terminal? My subpanel has space for one more single pole breaker, but no terminal for the neutral. I do not want to double lug a neutral. Thanks for your great, informative video.

My suggestion (applicable to both the US and UK and maybe other countries too) is if your property is large in floor area, install one main panel with say 50-60A (US) or 50/63A (EU) breakers feeding sub panels close to the loads , the larger wire is expensive but not compared to long home runs of thinner cable, and it helps with voltage drop. And also for work in future, it's not so far to go to isolate a circuit. And be kind to the next person. Label the outlet/switch with the panel and breaker number. For residential, a sharpie label on the inside of the outlet coverplate could be all the clue the next person needs. It's frequently done in the UK on commercial, but should be common even on residential, it saves inconvenience to the customer. The number of times as a sparky, we have to randomly turn off breakers to find out which one is supplying that accessory is staggering. And yes i know circuit breaker finders exist, but theyre not perfect

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Good video and thanks for stressing the breaker must be designed/rated for two wires. It is absolutely critical the breaker have this design rating, if not anyone attempting this on a breaker not designed for this purpose could be creating a serious issue for their home. With two wires connected to an improper breaker, it could overheat if those two wires are not seated properly, and secured with sufficient contact force from the breaker terminal. Loose electrical connections over an extended period will overheat and may eventually arc or worse start a fire. Even if the breaker is designed to allow for 2 conductors, it is important those 2 wires be the same gauge and type. Manufacturers go to great lengths to test and design electrical panels for their intended purpose, and this is also why qualified electricians are valuable professionals to insure a safe installation if a homeowner has any doubts doing this themselves. One other quick point, the majority of standard circuit breakers have a full load current rating (rating stamped on breaker i.e.: 20A) and continuous load rating of 80% for a maximum of 3 hours per the NEC. Manufacturers test to UL standards (in the U.S.) and the 100% rating is achieved under open air conditions (no enclosure) where the ambient temperature is held to 40 degree C (104 F). This is done for various reasons, breakers can be utilized in a variety enclosure sizes, density of breakers can vary, etc.. The enclosure size will alter ambient temperature. NEC also sizes the cables appropriate to this. So that 20A breaker actually has a continuous load rating of 16A when mounted in an enclosure. Just one other thing to keep in mind if adding another circuit to an existing breaker, even if that breaker is designed for this.

What if you have three wire circuit ( two hots & one commend ) shearing one commend wire & the commend could be over loaded. The commend should only carry the difference between the two circuits, but if the brakers are side by side shearing one commend they would be overloaded. Please respond.

Great info! Surprisingly most haven't heard of WAYGO.

Good to know! Thanks!’

Another option to consider. If your breakers are 1" wide (example GE, CH), you could replace the 1" wide breaker with two SlimLine breakers. Yeah the two slimline breakers will fit in the same space as one wide single pole breaker.

Excellent topic mentioning the "splice" within the enclosure, which is "legal" or "allowed" or "not prohibited" per the NEC aka NFPA70. Thanks

Thank you

What about using a wago and pigtail for the neutral and ground wires when using tandem breakers?

Do I need to turn, the main power off. Going into the panel. First? Or just turn off each individual breaker. Before removing.

You are so right about the tandem breaker. I work in the rv industry and they are the worst at loading a circuit panel full with them

It's amazing how many circuits North America has... here in the UK, an average house even now, may have a 12 way panel, upstairs power, downstairs power, kitchen power, downstairs lights, upstairs lights, garage, shed, hot tub (if rich), car charger (if richer) and a few spares... Of course using 32A 240v circuits helps a lot with this. And for anyone complaining about the 'double tap' on the breaker, it's fine, Square D QO breakers are (from memory) UL listed for it..... Odd fact SC, we don't have the double tap rule, all breakers are rated for as many conductors as will fit physically. One of the most extreme examples is split concentric cable, where the live conductor is surrounded by neutrals/grounds... the neutrals are individually insulated strands, and there may be 10 or so shoved in the same breaker. It's no different than using stranded cable in a breaker (which ours are rated for)

That cable management in the backgroubd tho 😍

The next question is about grounds and neutrals… If you can double a hot to a circuit breaker with a pigtail or Waygo can you double a neutral or ground with a pigtail to a single spot on the neutral bar?

can you put two neutrals in a wago then to the bar

My AC and heat are on the same 30amp circuits. Just bought a home, been doing quite a bit of work(really sleuthing.. damn old and sloppy wiring!). Inspector eluded on this saying “you won’t be running the electric baseboard heat AND ACs at the same time, so it only pulls from the circuit when one or the other is on”. Obviously don’t want to run both at the same time but there’s a real-world example of how it’s used. Also, my home is a 70’s built.

Tandom breakers are basically obsolete at this point. If you're modifying a circuit like this (not just replacing like for like), you almost certainly bring those circuits into modern code reqs, which means AFCI and/or GFCI breaker, which aren't available in tandems. It also means 50$+ a breaker.

What ya think bout conductivity grease on breaker wire terminals?

Although Square D Hom(line) breakers have two slots to connect conductors to, NEC and most if not all local municipalities fail inspection if doubletapped and also for-sale inspections will note it needing to be corrected by a “licensed electrician” once observed. If never selling the place, you can do whatever you want.

for 10 amps that Wago is very very likely fine. they do raise resistance. i've also found out the ire insertion needs to be PERFECT. Also the wago can do things wire nuts can NOT like combing 5 wires.

Can a second 42 space panel be connected to the existing 42 space panel an both be protected by the existing 200 amp breaker? If so, how? Thanks.

I have a square d homeline box. I have learned it's a 30/60 panel. I have three openings left with plans to fill them. It has a maximum capacity of 60 circuits. How many tandem breakers can I safely run?

Many home inspectors would flag double wires in one breaker as an issue even if the breaker is rated for two wires. I also think that many local codes are against this. It would be safer to use a tandem.

Whats the deal with the breakers that don't have SQD brand markings on them? Are those breakers safe / counterfeit? etc

"Only use one or two tandem breakers" - LOL! Someone should have told this to the previous owner of my house. The house has 100 amp service and a small panel and the entire thing is packed full of tandems!

I would never combine circuits on one breaker I would use a tandem breaker two in one basically

So youre telling me that if i get the tandem breakers i can make space for my 100 amp breaker to run my subpane?

There are rules on how many outlets or devices you can have on a breaker where I live. You could accidentally double the count by combining onto one breaker. Be careful

When you remove a wire from an adjacent breaker and combine it you've just changed the phase of that second breaker. If it had a common neutral to a phased circuit between those two Breakers you've just overloaded the neutral

why only 1 wire is going to the breaker? its not closing the circuit. hot wire? wires arent disinged to go hot

my electrical service panel turned off in one room and opened by itself is it normal?

I'd go for the ghettofabulous solution, that being; using tons of tandem breakers and cutting holes in the breaker panel to add PC case fans for airflow to prevent overheating.

This is not a good idea unless you know what you’re doing and the draw of the devices on each one. Breakers don’t just trip at 15 amps there is a curve that they operate on. It’s possible that you could draw much more than 15 amps between both circuits and the breaker not trip leading to fire hazards.

When u purchase those additional breakers to parallel heat loads make sure to purchase a fire extinguisher and set it next to the load center

Nice ideas. Would like you to show how you added the neutral & grounding to the sub panel too.

Where I live, you can only have so many things on one circuit. So make she you follow your local electrical codes.

Why risk it , when you can get tandem breaker .

Excellent information. Suggest adding a comment not to ever double tap (two or more wires) neutral (white) grounded wire to the same neutral bus bar tap. Each hole in the neutral bus bar should contain only one white wire. A fire hazard. The NFPA distinguishes between the green grounding wire and the white neutral grounded wire...and many folks erroneously interchange the word ground wire for both the green and white wires. Be careful...safety first. Green grounding wire bus bar can be double tapped.

there is a thing called space saver breaker, which gets manufactured two conductors into a single breaker with 2 individual poles

The prior owner of my first house did that. When I went to sell it, the inspector accused me of “double lugging” and failed the inspection. Although I could’ve corrected it myself, I was required to hire an electrician to correct it and an electrical inspector had to check his work prior to the city inspector’s return visit.

So what happens when my breaker box is the opposite? 9-10 circuits for the whole house and have a bunch open? Lol

I prefer to pull the breaker out then remove the black wire otherwise you hands are in proximity to adjacent breakers that are hot.

I’m just here for the popcorn

JESUS! if i ever build out or redo, i'll just get big ass tall boi breaker panel with like 80 circuits!

2 circuits on a single breaker is illegal in most states....also if you have a fire and it is found your homeowners insurance will likely deny your claim.

I'd like to see an electrician explain load balancing and its importance here.

I'm a big fan of your channel and a subscriber but I'm also a Local 134 IBEW electrician. The National Electrical Code (NEC) doesn't have a specific code that states a double-tapped circuit breaker is illegal. But Code 110.3(B) says, “Equipment that is listed, labeled, or both shall be installed and used in accordance with any instructions included in the listing or labeling.” you're sharing a fix that is hazardous an unsafe

these breakers dont look correctly for me

Buy a tandem breaker instead if your panel supports it.

In some states (Texas is one) it's not in code to make any wire connections inside the breaker panel.

I thought you are supposed to be using AFCI breakers nowadays

YOU CAN USE TANDEM BREAKERS

Why not use double breaker? 5:00 - Never mind. LOL

You didn't touch on the biggest issue. You look at the panels total amperage rating and count what your using before doing anything.

If I ever place 2 wires on 1 circuit breaker, I deserve what comes next! 1 breaker = 1 wire/circuit. Period! Tandem breakers are acceptable but only where the manufacturer states AND where code allows. ONLY! There’s reasons these codes exist. To protect the public. That being said: I do like this channel. Lots of advise that I have used and work.

Just rip,it out and put in a new large one easy

Master Electrician and inspector here. This video pushes the code and will violate many articles most likely. Most areas in a home have specific requirements for a dedicated circuit, and randomly mixing them as shown is very risky.

I don’t think that wago is rated for 30amps or #10

You my friend are invaluable. An asset to RU-vid.

To be honest, for people who are qualified to work on breakers, this is not new info, but if this is new info for someone, then that person is definitely not qualified to work on a breaker...

Yikes SC, I realize that you have solar and dual back-up capabilities ...but man, that is one complicated and chock full electrical service. A packed main panel, a packed sub-panel and second sub....all that for a single family.

What did they do in your house is every outlet on its own circuit breaker

Can you use waygo the ground and neutral too

I'd wait and buy a dual 15/15 and sleep better.

Thanks - electrifying....(Dad joke #1 today)

Chicago electrician here, DON"T DO THIS!!! If you're a home owner don't do this. This only works if you can calculate the load of both circuits to equal to or less than 80% of the breakers headroom. That's the only way a professional would do this; if the breaker taking a load that was at or under 80% of it's capacity. If you don't know how or why you'd need to do this calculation than you shouldn't be doing this at all. The only acceptable solution in this video that a non-electrician should be doing is the tandem breaker.

The thumbnail has a 30 amp breaker next to a wago that has a max wire size of 12awg. That is all.

Uhm, right now I am looking at a 20 amp tandem breaker at Home Depot for $16.00. Why are they costing you $70? What am I missing

OHHHHHH

My solution is an extension cord

wires arent color coded corectry

I have a healthy respect for electricity...fear. I'll leave something like that for the license pro.

please verify with a meter with what youre working on is dead!

Oh gaud!

Those breakers must be trippin' bro

My insurance company will not accept pigtailing circuit breakers

Double tap is a no no … Splicing wires should be done outside the panel in a junction box , due to specifications on box fill .

people who don't belong in panel's stay put of them

This is a bad idea. Use the tandem, you have some in the panel. A QOT1515 is the same price as 2x QO115.

Just upgrade your service to a 400 amp I go behind homeowners like you often. Folks, make sure that money you saved doing this goes in a jar for when you burn your house down.

2-4000$ for a sub panel.....???? Man are you getting screwed

It is completely prohibited and very dangerous to work on a live electrical panel. Also, it is prohibited to make connections in an electrical panel as you did, except, and only except, when replacing an electrical panel. There is also another problem in your electrical panel. I see a circuit breaker of 100 amps at position 24-26. This circuit breaker should have been installed as close as possible to the main circuit breaker.

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