How to Install a Main Circuit Breaker Panel in a Wall
The main breaker of your house is what interfaces with the power company and all electrical circuits in your house lead to the main circuit breaker. Before you can wire your house for electricity you need a panel. Once this panel is mounted the proper grounding and wires can be connected to allow you to use the circuit cables in your house.
Materials needed:
- Hammer
- 4 2-inch bolts
- Screwdriver
- Socket wrench
- 3 knockout clamps
- Channel-locking pliers
- 10-gauge ground wire
- Ground rod
- Sledge hammer
- Ground clamp
- Turn off the main power line prior to instillation. They can either be disconnected from the meter or you can have the power company turn the service off to your house.
- Measure a place on the wall to accommodate the panel. Make sure there aren’t any obstructions that will be in the way from you opening the panel door. A laundry room or basement is good place to keep a panel. Just make sure the cables can reach to the electric meter.
- Drive a 20-inch bolt through one of the boltholes in the back of the panel. Make sure it goes into the wooden framing of the wall. Tighten the bolt with a socket wrench.
- Place a level on top of the panel to and level it out. Drive another bolt that sinks into the wood in the wall behind the wall. Tighten the bolt with a socket wrench. Add and tighten two more bolts to have a total of four bolts that hold the panel to the wall.
- Push out three knockout holes at the top or bottom of the panel using a hammer and screwdriver, depending on where you want the cables to enter the panel. In each of the holes insert knockout clamps and tighten the nuts using channel-locking pliers. Feed the three cables through a clamp and use a screwdriver to tighten the clamp.
- Use a screwdriver to loosen one of the main brass lugs. Insert either the red or black hot cable end and tighten the lug. Feed the remaining cables through a clam and use a screwdriver to tighten the clamp.
- Knock an additional hole in the panel at either the bottom or side. On the ground bus bar connect a 10-guage bare copper wire to the main lug. Lengthen the cable through the hole and pull it to the basement or outside at a location you can pound in a ground rod.
- Use a sledge hammer to pound a metal ground bar 8 feet into the ground. Put a clamp on the bar and use a screwdriver to tighten the nut. On the clamp feed the ground wire to into the lug and tighten the lug.