splitting a circuit

I live in an older home with knob and tube wiring. The main box is 100 amps and has several (5-6) spaces for additional breakers.

There is one run in particular that has way too much on it (seems like half the house) and trips regularly, mainly when using the space heater in the family room.

However, I have easy access to the two wires coming from the family room and would like to break it off into its own 15-amp (I assume that's the max considering the old wiring) run.

I've done various electrical projects, but this is the first time I've ever considered touching the main box. It seems like I could just cut the family room off the old wiring circuit, run a new wire to the box and attach it to a new 15 amp breaker.

Is there something I'm overlooking?

Thanks

Todd

 

It might be that easy.

Are you saying that you see a pair of wires come into your panel from the family room, and that the black wire from this pair is connected to the same breaker as the black wire from another pair of wires coming from another room of your house?

Before touching anything, it is essential to know all the places served by each set of wires.

 

The pair of wires basically runs across the basement ceiling and eventually end up in the family room. There are a few other splices of wires (via knobs) along the way, but the family room is a dead end. I would cut the wires where they comes out of the room and then redirect them to their own circuit.

Current set up:

Breaker on panel->wires->splice 1->splice 2->family room .

Proposed:

Old breaker on panel->wires->splice 1->splice 2.

New breaker on panel->family room.

 

Yes, this sounds like a reasonable plan. Keep all splices in boxes and permanently accessible. Make sure you have read at least one book on home wiring before doing this project. There are more issues than I can cover here.