I am curious about the larger or inductive loads in a panel. Should they be positioned with the larger loads close to the main breaker and then working your way to the smaller branches? I have a top fed panel and I have noticed the 40A range and 30A AC branches are at the bottom. Maybe there is no rule of thumb.

 

They are usually at the top, but it doesn't make that much difference.

 

Thanks John.

I am finishing my basement and thought while I was in my panel I might move some of the branches if it made sense. I guess I will just leave them and add my basement circuits.

 

It makes no difference, but there is one thing to avoid when positioning breakers in a panel, which could easily cause a problem if you put all your largest loads at the top of the panel - never position your largest breakers opposite each other. Breakers opposite each other share the same "tab" on the bus bars. If you have a 90 amp electric heat load opposite a 50 amp electric range, the heat can really build up on that section of the bus bar. I've seen numerous failures because of such.

I generally install all of my 220 volt circuits down the same side of the panel. This puts them on top of each other and guarantees that I won't have large loads across from each other.

 

Thanks mcjunk. I had not thought of that.