Thread: Cost to add a bulked-up circuit to house?

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Our last house was new and outlets were well distributed over almost 30 breakers, meaning it would be hard to overload. Plus, the garage was 20A, for running power tools.

The house we are in now is old and only has a couple breakers. For instance, one half the house seems to be on one circuit! We can't run a space heater and a hair dryer in the mater bath without blacking out half the house.

I am wary about setting up shop outside when the outlet on the porch is connected to the lights in the kitchen. The garage has ONE OUTLET. The previous owner started some wiring, but never finished.

Any idea, just ballpark guess, what it would cost to get an electrician out to add another outlet outside with it's own allotted 15 or 20A breaker?

I don't think I'll be able to run both a fog machine and an air compressor with the current setup. I'd literally need to run cords from upstairs and over the house or something. Dang, I miss the last house!

Cost is going to largely depend on the existing panel and whether there's room for another breaker and if you have standard or slim breakers already.

It's a standard square d setup with lots of space.
I have never seen so few breakers in a panel.

I know most of the electrical companies that I have worked for charge about $60 to $65 per hour of time. Now they would come out, check your existing panel, the distance of the wire run and how difficult it is going to be to make that run before they can even estimate how many hours. Then you have the cost of parts, wire, breaker, G.F.C.I. recept, box, exc. It also depends on if they told you that you would need to upgrade your service. Just rough guessing but I would say atleast a couple hundred and that is if it is short and easy..

Originally Posted by wilbret

It's a standard square d setup with lots of space.
I have never seen so few breakers in a panel.

do you know how many amps the main is?

I embarrassed to say this 'cause I think I overpaid. It cost around $400 to put in a double 20 amp circuit for the outside. Now, I also talked to the electrician for an an hour asking him all about wattage etc. so that, I'm sure, added to the cost.

My suggestion: Do not do what I did and just tell him to do it and then he bills you later. That was one yucky surprise I got in the mail. Get an estimate first

I was guesstimating 200-300 bucks, mainly because they can. Ordinarily, this would be a DIY project for me/brother/dad/etc. (licensed, experienced, etc)

Since we are just renting, I would have to get an electrician to do it. The owner says it's okay since he really wants us to buy the house if ours ever sells.

It would be an easy job. The house has a crawl space, and the total distance from the breaker to the desired location isn't very far. I already have 100ft of 12-2, flexible conduit and such from a project that never got started. (running electric to light b-ball court).

It is always good advice to get a quote from anyone billing by the hour. :-)
Never tell a mechanic, plumber, electrician, lawyer, etc... to "do whatever it takes."

Heck... I took my dog to the vet after she lost a tooth.
1. They wouldn't treat her without updating her shots
2. Had to do bloodwork
3. Gave her shots
4. Cleaned her teeth, found 4 that needed to be pulled
5. Pulled teeth
6. Clipped nails, etc, while she was under.

Almost $500 later... my dog had minty breath. All I wanted was a frikkin' toothbrush to her teeth.

What would help you out would be that you have the wire. You could figure that they would charge you somewhere between $1.50 -$2.00 per foot for the 12-2. You would think they are using gold instead of copper.

If its just a matter of adding a breaker and outlet, then I'd estimate $300-$600 depending on the price of the breaker itself, the GFCI outlet, the cost of the permit (if any) and how far away the new outlet is from the panel itself. You could save money by having the electrition install an outlet close to the panel and running Romex cable yourself to a second, more convenient outlet. Or....if you really want to save money and you already have a dedicated 220volt dryer outlet in your garage, you can get what is referred to as a pigtail (I think yours would require a double reverse Y-adapter.) This would effectively turn your dryer outlet into two 110volt 15amp outlets which you could easily run a fog machine and several other props. They are usually available at Boating or Marine Hardware stores and websites. You wouldn't be able to dry laundry Halloween night and I would ask an expert about the exact type of pigtail you would need. They aren't cheap, but it could be considerably less than adding the breaker.