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? asked in Home & GardenMaintenance & Repairs · 6 years ago

No room in breaker box to wire submersible well pump in. What's the best way to do it?

We already ran the service entrance cable into the house & connected to the main breaker box months ago. Problem now is there is no room for a 230 volt breaker in the box, so can we just connect each hot pump wire directly to each hot service entrance terminals & run the ground to the ground inside the box?

Then I bought a 240v Square D disconnect box with screw in breakers that will be under the trailer. Any problems with this setup?

3 Answers

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  • 6 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    It sounds like you are thinking about connecting wires directly from the mains (before any breakers in the existing service entrance) which sounds a bit sketchy, as the wire from there to the new box would have no protection if something shorted before the new breaker. Maybe, it might be easier/safer if you replace 4 regular breakers with 2 of the twin ones (the ones where (2) 15 or 20 amp breakers fit in the space of one regular one) then you will have 2 spaces left over which could fit the one for the pump.

  • KMA
    Lv 6
    6 years ago

    No. Besides being against Code it would mean having to pull the meter and That You can not do! (Yeah yeah, I know you "can" you just shouldn't) lol

    Depending on the brand of panel you have you should be able to make another 2-pole space by using one or more of the following: Wafer, piggy back, tandem or quad breakers. Take a picture of the interior of the panel to a building supply store. Someone there should be able to help you mix/match a combination to allow another 2-pole breaker.

    Source(s): licensed electrician
  • 6 years ago

    That's what I need to do, take out 4 115v breakers & replace with 2 115v tandem breakers to open up a 230v space. I knew about tandem breakers but I also knew that with 230v breakers. every load needed it's own breaker since they are major loads. I had thought about a 230v tandem breaker but didn't know if they made those anyway.

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