Upgrading Subpanel

[Shopshirt Mofo]

My house panel is wired with all 15amp breakers. However, I believe they have overloaded the circuits because often when we are using a hairdryer or iron in the front bathroom the lights in the room dim when it kicks on. Its almost as if they tried to go the cheap route and put as much onto a single circuit as they could. I have 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom on the same circuit. The master bedroom is on the same circuit as the living room and the Dining area lights, garage plug, kitchen plugs, and back porch GFCI are all on the same circuit.

Ultimately, I would like a panel strictly for the garage. Having a single GFCI out there is for the birds.

Do I need to rewire the rooms and upgrade the panel or can I just upgrade to 20 amp breakers?

 

[pattenp]

Do not change the breakers to 20A. The wiring is most likely only 14 gauge and is rated for a max of 15A. Sounds like you need some rewiring done. Putting the garage on it's own sub-panel is a good start.

 

[SGKent]

I have seen this happen when the leads into the house are getting corroded. Have the utility company verify that you aren't losing power between the meter and house. If you are then things like the refridge motor will eventually be compromised. If you were going over 15 amps the breaker should have failed. If the voltage is low then the heater in the hair dryer may not pull enough amps to fail the breaker but the lights will dim. The refridge motor will pull more current to keep up the same speed and that will overheat it.

 

[Shopshirt Mofo]

Thanks for the heads up.