Thank you so much. My panel is a hot mess and needs expansion and replacement. After watching this I'm confident I can do it myself in a day. I do have enough experience, and now have the confidence to tackle a big job like this.
I’m an apprentice. I was working with another electrician with more experience. We spent about 2 days correcting the panel schedule on a house we were roughing in. The panel needed to be changed so beforehand i asked “can you please label the wires before removing them?”. Long story short, he didn’t. And now that the house is nearing completion we now have to go through the process all over again. The mofo already quit and didn’t leave any comprehensive information about the wiring. I’m glad to see that I wasn’t crazy to ask about labeling the wiring beforehand.
You'll run into many, _many_ people in your career that try to cut corners or are simply not critically thinking and trying to do the best job they can. Keep your mindset. Be better.
Great job young lady, keep up this great work. You are a role model to all the young ladies out there. Love seeing young ladies like you doing this work. It shows young girls can kick butt in this field
A lot of great info. I will be replacing my panel soon, (I'm not connected to the grid) so this video is gold for me. Thanks for all the hard work, and educating us for basically free.
Can anyone please explain to me why this is safe to have live feeders cut and operate like this? I thought the first thing to do is to shut off the power from the main feeders but do not look like lexi did it in the video, from what i can see at the beginning because she turned all them off so that tells me the main feeders are live. Is that ok to do this?
I decided to remove a main panel once while the service conductors were hot. I found out the insulation was so weak that the tool I was using to handle it pinched through into the conductor. It touched the chassis of the panel and the arc removed part of my tool. I'm hindsight, I should have checked no current on neutral and removed that and grounding first. Cost me a pair of pliers. Luckily I was using popper PPE, so I was not injured, just had to change my underwear. Nothing a little bleach can't fix. Stay safe and enjoy the profession Lexi!
I love this. I just replaced my 200A sub panel in my own house, since during rebuild we needed to add GFCI and AFCI to all the new circuits. I'm an EE and usually do my own wiring. It all got inspected and passed with flying colors. Love seeing you handle the job and take pride in it
I replaced a Zinsco panel installed in the 1960's where each ground came in through the romex connector with the hot and neutral as usual, but then was fed back up through the connector and wrapped around one of the cable clamp screws! I had seen that before with junction boxes wired in that era but never with the breaker panel. It was a total PITA to undo each one and pull the ground wires back down into the panel so they were ready to be connected to the ground bus in the new panel.
I loved the shaking of the buss. Old panels need to be checked every few years for loose lugs and screws. Ask me how I know (no I didn’t have a fire luckily)
Love the video, very in depth very clean work I appreciate it immensely. I am learning the trade and learning how to do switches and how to work with the breaker panel and it’s all new and your video helped a lot!
👌🏽 Primo Job! 👍🏽 thanks for sharing your workload projects. Great tutorial simple explanations no nonsense just straight business. ⚡️ 🔌 keep plugging up the world. and Thanks Lexi 🤘🏽
Awesome video! My home was rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy and the Electrician install a Homeline panel with only a single spare breaker. I want to add one of those Generator interlock kit to my panel and there is no room for it. I looked at Tandem breakers to make more space but all of the breakers are GFCI and ARC protection HOM115PCAFI and I don't think Homeline makes a Tandem breaker with GFCI and ARC. At this point I decided to change out my panel for the next larger size panel. The current panel is a HOMC30UC which has 30-Space 60-Circuit with a 40-Space 80panel. I noticed you pulled out the feeders while they are live and was wondering what you think of removing the meter on the outside beforehand so the feeders were not powered? Also you mentioned some of the grounds were pigtailed and you had to add additional length to them. Did you just add the length using a wire nut? Lastly when going for a permit is there anything special I need to add to the paperwork? Thanks again for the awesome video!
Curious to know if this installation is to be inspected by the authority having jurisdiction. I see several code violations. I do enjoy the video and am impressed to see a young lady involved in the electrical trade. The nonmetalic sheathed wires above the panel cannot be exposed as they are. You would have to frame around them and the panel with 2x4 to get all of the wiring and equipment into a wall space instead of surface mounted. Not to be overly critical but there are reasons why we do things the way we do and also why the code is what it is.
Excellent execution of an awkward job as per usual !. Lexi, you brought up a couple of interesting points as per what they allow in the USA and no I am not an electrician but have had work done by more than one journeyman and advice as per some do's and dont's allowed in Canada. In panel systems they do not allow the main service cables to pass through the branch circuit area of the box and they typically provide a divider plate with the panel to make sure the mains and main breaker are separate from the rest of the breaker panel. However at least they do allow for installing a panel upside down if advantageous so the mains breaker can be at the bottom of the panel if the service cable needs to enter the bottom. But that is not all, they also do NOT allow for splicing branch wires within the breaker panel and as you can well imagine how much fun that is to replace an existing panel when a wire that is too short cannot be allowed to be lengthened within the breaker panel. From my understanding they will allow a separate junction box outside of the breaker panel to be installed so that the said too short a branch circuit wire can be lengthened in an approved manor there and then ran into the breaker panel. It sounds insane ( this is in Alberta ) but that has been my understanding. I had the breaker panel in this farm house upgraded some years ago the electrician who did the work pointed out what had to be done to make it code compliant and the upside down panel method just made the existing branch circuits barely reach thankfully !.
@@lextheelectrician Sorry if I was misunderstood as I only meant to demonstrate that for whatever reason the electrical code differs from our particular respective countries and yet use the same 120/240 volt 60hz power and appliances. Put another way I have no idea why the Canadian codes make life so difficult in this sense but they seem to. Glad that I chose Square D panels for wiring I have done myself on my farm and not Federal Stab-lok ( Square D might have to start paying you a commission for your free advertising of their products 😉)
You can spice inside a panel in Canada. A panel box is a rated encloser for this use by code definition and is allowable. It's some workers or inspectors preference not do so usually for aesthetics. But most would argue, What looks better? A single tidy panel, or a panel surrounded by multiple spaghetti j-boxes? I'll also add if you go the J-box route, there are new rules regarding circuit labeling to match up with breakers and the J-box encloser must have a multi-branch circuit warning label on them. Because of this, in central Canada you'll usaully find splices inside the panels.
Very nice to See how you easy and perfectly make this Job and at the end finaly you clean it , that shows that you Like your job❤❤. Thanks for your Videos i Like them. Meik from Bavaria
This looks like too much work for me. This is why I am in college studying electrical engineering. Not nearly as labor-intensive. That gives me the opportunity to design electrical systems and not get my hands dirty installing them. However, I’m very impressed with this electricians level of knowledge. Working on my bachelors of science in electrical engineering and a minor in aerospace engineering
2 Questions: How long does a panel replace job like this usually take an electrician? Also, if you replace a panel box like this, does code require that most circuit breakers need to be updated to AFCI/GFCI? (At 13:45, it looked like there might have only been a single AFCI/GFCI style breaker)
I have a question. When u were labeling the wires. We’re u labeling the size of the break associate with wire or the location of the breaker. I’m just curious thanks
This might be a silly question, but did you pull the meter to de-energize the mains? If so, does that require the power company to get involved? Or as an electrician, can you pull the meter yourself? You do great work! Keep it up!
In texas u call oncore then give them the address and time estimation of when youll be done also the company you work for then you can cut the tag take the meter off and they'll be back to put a tag back on
Some how in NC some cities can know whenever you take the meter off last time they show up at the job site asking for the meter 😅 so make sure call to avoid any extra fee.
Crazy, i went to a house recently and quickly learned why this challenger panels suck!! But i feel you on those wires, makes you wanna punch somebody, but there's nobody around! Hahaha
I just had an electrician come out and quote me on getting an extra circuit installed with GFCI outlets for $1200. Our house is pretty old. Built in the 1950s. He also said our electrical panel needed to be replaced and would cost around 10k to replace with 200amp. This seems way over priced imo. When I search online it says the average cost is around $1800-$3000. What do you think something like that should cost? Appreciate any help thanks.
It is really awesome that you learned a trade for money instead of learning to trade yourself for money.. to much of that crap. You are a great role model for a lot of young ladies.✌️
Lexi before you started working on this panels feeders did you happen to notify the local utility company so they could either pull the meter or did you pull the meter from its socket here were required to pull a permit from the local power company they then authorize us to cut the seal and remove the meter other wise were not allowed changing out main panels either the wires from the pole need to be cut or the meter removed after we reinstall the meter the power company comes and reseals it and i thought everyone put pentox on the service wires least we do all the time .
As a non-electrician trying to just quickly swap out a receptacle or switch it's super frustrating to find a load center with no schedule. A second person and two cell phones do help.
Hi Lexi, those Challenger panels really are sketchy, have you done any Zinsco or Federal Pacific Electric panels? Would love to see a changeout of those as well, by the way super clean panel turnout! 🔥
There are two phrase I don’t use anymore 1) to be honest with you and 2 ) to tell you the truth. I would say that all the time then I had a customer tell me it sounds like there was an option of lying when you say it like that. He was right it didn’t sound good at all
I turned off the main breaker in the box and tested the breaker I needed to replace with a meter. I touched the screw with one lead and put the other lead to ground and it read 120 volts AC. Isn't it suppose to read zero? What happened?
Nice job BUT here we are not allowed to install the circuit conductors on top where the main breaker is and run them down to the separate breakers. Either install a junction box and connect all the wires with longer ones or install the panel upside down. I like the up side down method. Different countries have different rules.
you cant bring wires thru main service compartment coming from the street .Toronto, , i woul have to flip the panel or drill another hole from the meter
Yo how much something like this would cost I need mine done. My circuits are always tripping and getting tired of replacing them. ATP I just want everything new including box. My house is about 2300 sqft and sometimes I have to use certain things in kitchen at a time or else it would just trip. I need better amps or something somebody please help or let me know a price that’d be awesome
I've been an electrician for 42 years and I am very impressed with this girl
She is a woman and you're just desperate 😂
@@Josh-bs3eyyou’re just soft.
Ur a wierdo
😂😂😂 ay man shes good@2TrillSenna
She’s subpar for the tri state
It's so nice to watch someone who knows the difference between a job done and a job well done and is proud of her work at the end.
IKR I feel like I should be paying for this info.
Girlfriend get Paid 💵
Thank you so much. My panel is a hot mess and needs expansion and replacement. After watching this I'm confident I can do it myself in a day. I do have enough experience, and now have the confidence to tackle a big job like this.
I’m an apprentice. I was working with another electrician with more experience. We spent about 2 days correcting the panel schedule on a house we were roughing in. The panel needed to be changed so beforehand i asked “can you please label the wires before removing them?”.
Long story short, he didn’t. And now that the house is nearing completion we now have to go through the process all over again. The mofo already quit and didn’t leave any comprehensive information about the wiring.
I’m glad to see that I wasn’t crazy to ask about labeling the wiring beforehand.
You'll run into many, _many_ people in your career that try to cut corners or are simply not critically thinking and trying to do the best job they can. Keep your mindset. Be better.
Great job young lady, keep up this great work. You are a role model to all the young ladies out there. Love seeing young ladies like you doing this work. It shows young girls can kick butt in this field
A lot of great info. I will be replacing my panel soon, (I'm not connected to the grid) so this video is gold for me. Thanks for all the hard work, and educating us for basically free.
Can anyone please explain to me why this is safe to have live feeders cut and operate like this? I thought the first thing to do is to shut off the power from the main feeders but do not look like lexi did it in the video, from what i can see at the beginning because she turned all them off so that tells me the main feeders are live. Is that ok to do this?
Do you know anything about electrical? Or listen to the narration?
Extending wires are the story of my life girl. Nothing like new work panels. It is what it is. Good for you I’m happy to see you love what you do 😊
Put a surge in there for your client girl watch em light up
I decided to remove a main panel once while the service conductors were hot. I found out the insulation was so weak that the tool I was using to handle it pinched through into the conductor. It touched the chassis of the panel and the arc removed part of my tool.
I'm hindsight, I should have checked no current on neutral and removed that and grounding first. Cost me a pair of pliers.
Luckily I was using popper PPE, so I was not injured, just had to change my underwear. Nothing a little bleach can't fix.
Stay safe and enjoy the profession Lexi!
Im a 22 yr old female thats looking into the trade so thank you for these videos!
I love this. I just replaced my 200A sub panel in my own house, since during rebuild we needed to add GFCI and AFCI to all the new circuits. I'm an EE and usually do my own wiring. It all got inspected and passed with flying colors. Love seeing you handle the job and take pride in it
I replaced a Zinsco panel installed in the 1960's where each ground came in through the romex connector with the hot and neutral as usual, but then was fed back up through the connector and wrapped around one of the cable clamp screws! I had seen that before with junction boxes wired in that era but never with the breaker panel. It was a total PITA to undo each one and pull the ground wires back down into the panel so they were ready to be connected to the ground bus in the new panel.
I loved the shaking of the buss. Old panels need to be checked every few years for loose lugs and screws. Ask me how I know (no I didn’t have a fire luckily)
Good technical service, a job well done and you alone my congratulations. You are a great electrician.
First time viewer here. Excellent work you do. Well done. I learned that I'm not capable.
I'm electrician and instrumentation tech.. It's such nice to see you worked and explaination. 😊
Love the video, very in depth very clean work I appreciate it immensely. I am learning the trade and learning how to do switches and how to work with the breaker panel and it’s all new and your video helped a lot!
You did such a incredible job as always
I love the QO boxes changing my service out soon with a QO
Did you change that panel hot or did you pull the meter?
Great video, you made that look so easy…
👌🏽 Primo Job! 👍🏽 thanks for sharing your workload projects. Great tutorial simple explanations no nonsense just straight business. ⚡️ 🔌 keep plugging up the world. and Thanks Lexi 🤘🏽
Awesome video! My home was rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy and the Electrician install a Homeline panel with only a single spare breaker. I want to add one of those Generator interlock kit to my panel and there is no room for it. I looked at Tandem breakers to make more space but all of the breakers are GFCI and ARC protection HOM115PCAFI and I don't think Homeline makes a Tandem breaker with GFCI and ARC. At this point I decided to change out my panel for the next larger size panel. The current panel is a HOMC30UC which has 30-Space 60-Circuit with a 40-Space 80panel. I noticed you pulled out the feeders while they are live and was wondering what you think of removing the meter on the outside beforehand so the feeders were not powered? Also you mentioned some of the grounds were pigtailed and you had to add additional length to them. Did you just add the length using a wire nut? Lastly when going for a permit is there anything special I need to add to the paperwork? Thanks again for the awesome video!
Curious to know if this installation is to be inspected by the authority having jurisdiction. I see several code violations. I do enjoy the video and am impressed to see a young lady involved in the electrical trade. The nonmetalic sheathed wires above the panel cannot be exposed as they are. You would have to frame around them and the panel with 2x4 to get all of the wiring and equipment into a wall space instead of surface mounted. Not to be overly critical but there are reasons why we do things the way we do and also why the code is what it is.
Have nothing but respect to you young lady. Too bad not to many young ladies have goals like you . Your father and mother must be proud of you.
So, before you do this am I correct in assuming you’ve disconnected the meter?
Excellent execution of an awkward job as per usual !. Lexi, you brought up a couple of interesting points as per what they allow in the USA and no I am not an electrician but have had work done by more than one journeyman and advice as per some do's and dont's allowed in Canada. In panel systems they do not allow the main service cables to pass through the branch circuit area of the box and they typically provide a divider plate with the panel to make sure the mains and main breaker are separate from the rest of the breaker panel. However at least they do allow for installing a panel upside down if advantageous so the mains breaker can be at the bottom of the panel if the service cable needs to enter the bottom. But that is not all, they also do NOT allow for splicing branch wires within the breaker panel and as you can well imagine how much fun that is to replace an existing panel when a wire that is too short cannot be allowed to be lengthened within the breaker panel. From my understanding they will allow a separate junction box outside of the breaker panel to be installed so that the said too short a branch circuit wire can be lengthened in an approved manor there and then ran into the breaker panel. It sounds insane ( this is in Alberta ) but that has been my understanding. I had the breaker panel in this farm house upgraded some years ago the electrician who did the work pointed out what had to be done to make it code compliant and the upside down panel method just made the existing branch circuits barely reach thankfully !.
I’m not Canadian, we are allowed to have the main feeding coming through the panel! Totally normal in NY.
@@lextheelectrician Sorry if I was misunderstood as I only meant to demonstrate that for whatever reason the electrical code differs from our particular respective countries and yet use the same 120/240 volt 60hz power and appliances. Put another way I have no idea why the Canadian codes make life so difficult in this sense but they seem to. Glad that I chose Square D panels for wiring I have done myself on my farm and not Federal Stab-lok ( Square D might have to start paying you a commission for your free advertising of their products 😉)
You can spice inside a panel in Canada. A panel box is a rated encloser for this use by code definition and is allowable. It's some workers or inspectors preference not do so usually for aesthetics. But most would argue, What looks better? A single tidy panel, or a panel surrounded by multiple spaghetti j-boxes? I'll also add if you go the J-box route, there are new rules regarding circuit labeling to match up with breakers and the J-box encloser must have a multi-branch circuit warning label on them. Because of this, in central Canada you'll usaully find splices inside the panels.
Hi Lexi, thanks for this panel changeout video, Steve
@lexi abreu Were the service conductors energized when you were filming this? I assumed not, but then you flipped off breakers?
It was t live ,you seen her unscrew the mains from the lugs didn't you. They must have pulled the meter
Very nice to See how you easy and perfectly make this Job and at the end finaly you clean it , that shows that you Like your job❤❤. Thanks for your Videos i Like them. Meik from Bavaria
Great video. I enjoyed seeing the process.
Love that hoodie Lex 🧡 , awesome RUclips as always ⚡️⚡️ you do such fantastic work keep up the great content
This looks like too much work for me. This is why I am in college studying electrical engineering. Not nearly as labor-intensive. That gives me the opportunity to design electrical systems and not get my hands dirty installing them. However, I’m very impressed with this electricians level of knowledge.
Working on my bachelors of science in electrical engineering and a minor in aerospace engineering
Wonderful job how long it took you to do all that work ?
No mention of having the meter pulled by the power company? From what I saw you did this with the hots live?
Think so. Hence the tape on the feeders. Wondering if the hex key set was insulated.
@@fiehlsport some idiot is going to think they can swap a panel out now and get zapped
2 Questions: How long does a panel replace job like this usually take an electrician? Also, if you replace a panel box like this, does code require that most circuit breakers need to be updated to AFCI/GFCI? (At 13:45, it looked like there might have only been a single AFCI/GFCI style breaker)
Is there a reason for no safety glasses? One of those wires I would think could come flying down or back up like at 4:17 and hit you in the eye
Great Video. Good Job and Nice Work. Thank you for sharing
Thank you, you are good, I will follow your guide and do it myself.
I have a question. When u were labeling the wires. We’re u labeling the size of the break associate with wire or the location of the breaker. I’m just curious thanks
This might be a silly question, but did you pull the meter to de-energize the mains? If so, does that require the power company to get involved? Or as an electrician, can you pull the meter yourself? You do great work! Keep it up!
depends where you live
they can join the kiss my butt club I'm pulling that meter and putting the tag back on so it doesn't look broken
In texas u call oncore then give them the address and time estimation of when youll be done also the company you work for then you can cut the tag take the meter off and they'll be back to put a tag back on
Some how in NC some cities can know whenever you take the meter off last time they show up at the job site asking for the meter 😅 so make sure call to avoid any extra fee.
In my state you have to have a main breaker on the outside of the house right after the meter. When doing work like this you turn that off.
Nice job but was that panel in a garage or basement? If so you didn't upgrade the service outlet to a GFCI and bring it up to code?
She said watch this I’m like I’m watching very carefully 😂😂😂
Excellent job and very professional!
Really nice job, looks really neat
Troll company for life lmao .....love it....got 95% of there lines keep up the awesome videos
Tape is never overkill, always better to be safe than “oh sh**”
Do you ever use a torque wrench for the final tightening of the panel breakers and lugs screws ?
is it okay to keep those neutrals abovre the panel bundled like that even though youre only replacing the panel ?
why not push in the extra slack from the romex coming in from the top into the panel? you would just need to strip a inch or two of cable.
Crazy, i went to a house recently and quickly learned why this challenger panels suck!! But i feel you on those wires, makes you wanna punch somebody, but there's nobody around! Hahaha
You do nice work. Thanks for the video.
Enjoyed the Video 👍👍
❤the video....didnt notice any meters being pulled ...that can save johnny homeowners life 😂
Lineman pliers. The electrician's hammer.
I just had an electrician come out and quote me on getting an extra circuit installed with GFCI outlets for $1200. Our house is pretty old. Built in the 1950s. He also said our electrical panel needed to be replaced and would cost around 10k to replace with 200amp. This seems way over priced imo. When I search online it says the average cost is around $1800-$3000. What do you think something like that should cost? Appreciate any help thanks.
You got it going girl!!!
Very nicely done‼️
It is really awesome that you learned a trade for money instead of learning to trade yourself for money.. to much of that crap. You are a great role model for a lot of young ladies.✌️
Wtf 😂
Excellent work
Was the service live?
Lexi before you started working on this panels feeders did you happen to notify the local utility company so they could either pull the meter or did you pull the meter from its socket here were required to pull a permit from the local power company they then authorize us to cut the seal and remove the meter other wise were not allowed changing out main panels either the wires from the pole need to be cut or the meter removed after we reinstall the meter the power company comes and reseals it and i thought everyone put pentox on the service wires least we do all the time .
Shouldn’t you still double check if any wire may possibly be live? 1:43
As a non-electrician trying to just quickly swap out a receptacle or switch it's super frustrating to find a load center with no schedule. A second person and two cell phones do help.
you are a great inspiration
What is the cost of having something like this done ?
I respect her soooo much ❤❤❤❤
Superb...gorgeous, Beautiful and intelligent
I know yer in upstate NY, do you service homes in Troy? I have a 100A panel that I'd like to swap out for a 200A one.
Greetings from a biomed to my fellow electrical brothers and sisters, keep rocking..
Do you have any videos on how to change a 1P/3P panel?
I subbed. Great Channel. 1440p or 4K Uploads would be kinda cool though. 😎
Hi Lexi, those Challenger panels really are sketchy, have you done any Zinsco or Federal Pacific Electric panels? Would love to see a changeout of those as well, by the way super clean panel turnout! 🔥
There are two phrase I don’t use anymore 1) to be honest with you and 2 ) to tell you the truth.
I would say that all the time then I had a customer tell me it sounds like there was an option of lying when you say it like that. He was right it didn’t sound good at all
I turned off the main breaker in the box and tested the breaker I needed to replace with a meter. I touched the screw with one lead and put the other lead to ground and it read 120 volts AC. Isn't it suppose to read zero? What happened?
i watched your shorts and followed to your youtube. liked subed and rang the bell. cool vids
Te felicito por el trabajo que haces eres muy profecional en tu trabajo
Funny thing is eaton literally still sells this same bus, as the br line today.
Boots!
Help. Recommendations? I go through a pair or two every year
Nice job BUT here we are not allowed to install the circuit conductors on top where the main breaker is and run them down to the separate breakers. Either install a junction box and connect all the wires with longer ones or install the panel upside down. I like the up side down method. Different countries have different rules.
you're a beast i'm learning alot from you
Sweetie I love your work
@lexi abreu can you review the new milwaukee m18 brushless impact
Great job!
Nice work. I enjoy doing services but rarely get to do them in industrial maintenance, my company is cheap and doesnt want to upgrade anything
you got me! i subscribed your channel!
Hey Lexi exactly what field of electrician do you do??
you cant bring wires thru main service compartment coming from the street .Toronto, , i woul have to flip the panel or drill another hole from the meter
How are you able to get away with a panel change without upgrading to current afci & gfci requirements?
Good informative video🤟
Thank you for the video I love it and learn a lot too
Nice work, good job..
This is one bad chick! I hope she knows the Lord Jesus in the pardoning of her sins! Keep killing it 💯🔥🔥
Well done!
I don't know how long was this and where at there is many code violations even with the new panel
This lady is a boss
so where the feeders hot the whole time?
Oooohhhshit, she's legit👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
Yep been smacked in the face with 600 copper messing around not paying attention and the reel brought it over and bam I wasn't cold anymore lol
Yo how much something like this would cost I need mine done. My circuits are always tripping and getting tired of replacing them. ATP I just want everything new including box. My house is about 2300 sqft and sometimes I have to use certain things in kitchen at a time or else it would just trip. I need better amps or something somebody please help or let me know a price that’d be awesome
Good job 🌹
What kind of camera do you use to record you while working?