Upgrade electrical panel?

Hi everyone! I had an electrician at my house a few days ago b/c I'm putting in a bathroom in my basement. He said he could wire in the new lights and outlets in my current panel, but b/c it's full, it would require use of adding tandem circuits. He mentioned I could also upgrade the panel, but it would be about $1000 to do this. He didn't seem to have a strong opinion on whether I should or not.

So...should I upgrade it? Obviously i don' love the idea of spending an extra $1000, but it's do-able. Part of me thinks I should just bite the bullet and do it now, then I don't have to worry about it later on. But I don't plan to add any more rooms/electrical work/etc. after the bathroom. Per the electrician, I have plenty of power, so it's not upgrading the amps, it's just changing the panel. Are there downsides to the tandem circuits? Other considerations? Thanks!

 

There are too many electrical panels in service for us to make a snap decision.

A picture of what you have would be helpful. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html
Make, model and age..... also helpful.

Many older panels are perfectly fine and tandems are ok. Some panels were borderline or not as rugged and could use a replacement.

Some panels only allowed for the use of several tandem style breakers.

 

If your electrician says adding tandems is an option then do that if it gets you what you need. There is no real downside to tandems as far as I know.

 

Thanks! Here are a couple of pictures - unfortunately I have no idea how old the panel is. Is there a way to tell?

 

Unless I am very much mistaken, a distinct possibility I confess, that panel is NOT "listed" for use with tandem circuit breakers and the tandem currently installed violates the panel listing.

 

As usual you are correct Furd..... that panel is not rated for any tandem breakers to be used in it.

 

You could add a subpanel off of the current panel for way less than $1000 unless you are adding large loads.

 

Yikes, ok, sounds like I can't just add tandems and probably should get rid of the one that's in there already.

I know nothing about sub-panels...what would the cost of one of these be? And how many more circuits should I have? I don't have plans to add anything big and it's a single family home, 3 bed/2 bath.

 

I'd question the electrician why he suggested tandems.

 

Subpanel is just what you call a breaker panel that is not the main panel. The same panels used for main panels are used for subpanels. The only difference is you add a ground bat and isolate the neutral bar. You could buy a 12 or 20 space main lug panel for less than $100. You might look for a Cutler-Hammer panel since Cutler-Hammer BR breakers can be used in Challenger. Here is an example of a panel you could use and the breakers would be interchangeable between the panels. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-125...L125/100124999

You could easily install yourself. We can guide you.