[Our_Old_House]

I have a Westinghouse B20 2040CT Circuit Breaker Panel with a 200 amp main. I am remodeling my kitchen and would like to correct some of the current wiring problems I inherited when I purchased the house. A number of circuits are current heavily loaded and I want to take this opportunity to correct the problems. Mainly I want to put the Washer, Dishwasher, Microwave, Disposal, and Refrigerator on separate circuits. The previous owner expanded the house by adding a study and tied the study into the garage circuit. Because of my office equipment, TV, stereo and other odds and end, I want to put the study and garage on separate circuits. I am not adding any additional loads. I’m just redistributing the current load onto additional circuits. All 20 slots in the panel is currently full with two 15 amp circuits, six 20 amp circuits, two 30 amp circuits, two 40 amp circuits, one 50 amp circuit, and one 60 amp circuit. What I would like to do is to replace all the 15 amp and 20 amp single breaker s with duplex breakers. This would give me two 15 amp circuits and fourteen 20 amp circuits. I could then use six of the 20 amp circuits for the appliances above and still have two spares. The box is a 2040 which has 20 slots and up to 40 circuits. I have included files show the panel current and proposed new layout.

In the panel there are 2 neutral bars on each side of the panel. Each bar has 20 opening for common and ground leads. When I add the new circuits, as shown in the diagrams, there are not enough lugs in the neutral bar for the new circuits. I read the specification sheet on the panel door and it states the ground bar specification is wire from #4 to #14 AWG, (2) 14 AWG, (2) 12 AWG, (2) 10 AWG. I’m assuming this means you can double up your 14 AWG, 12 AWG, and 10 AWG ground and neutral wires. Is that correct? If it is correct I also assume you should keep your ground double together and neutral (white wires) double together. Is that correct?

I have resisted adding a subpanel because of the current panel location makes this very difficult. It also adds to the expense.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Lonny Lamb

[Our_Old_House]

Here is some addition information. The Westinghouse B20 is at least 20 years old. It does not have a ground bar. There are two neutral bars on each side of the box with neutral (white) and ground (bare) wires connected to them. Outside the house behind the panel is an earth grounding post that is used to earth ground the phone system. I could purchase a ground bar and install it in the panel. Using bare wire I would tie the bar to the phone system ground post and as required tie it to the neutral bar. I would route all my ground wire to that bar. That would increase the number of lugs on the neutral bars and I believe it would solve my problem of having to double up. What do you think and what size bare wire should I use to earth ground the ground bar?

Lonny

[donf]

Lonny,

Some serious work has to be done before you can start rewiring anything.

First on the list is to determine if the panel you have can support half size breakers. Next, you have to make sure that the panelboard can support as many breakers as you want to put into it.

The easiest way is to search for a spec sheet on the panelboard and get the circuit count off that.

Just use Google or Bing either one can get the information for you, then let us know if the panel you have will support the additional branch circuits.

P.S. The "2040" suggests to me that the panel can support 20 full sized breakers or 40 1/2 sized breakers. I did a quick search of the web and did not find any spec sheets for this panel.

[hkstroud]

It sounds like you are saying that you want to run ground wires directly to the ground rod. If so, no you cannot do that.
The existing ground rod if for the electric panel, the phone is just using it also. There should be a ground wire from the electrical panel to the ground rod.
You can put multiple ground wires under one screw. Do not put the ground and neutral under the same screw. If space permits you can change out the existing ground/neutral buss for a larger one.