Working with an electrician for many years, the boxes need to be that big in order to wire it properly and not kill yourself or short it out. Inside it is the circuit breakers, which we all know but alongside that is the grounding and neutral bar. We've come a long way since the 60's! There is also now new circuit breakers that have an additional wire in it for arc-fault resistance and that requires even more work. Fun stuff!
Glad you're settling into the house, it's always a nice (challenging of course) time in that part of the process.
It is larger than my car - and that is a stationwagon ;D
It wouldn't be that bad if it wan't the entrance and we only have one door in. It will be nice once the corridor is clear.
what kind of work were you doing?
My dad is an electrician so I helped him on weekends for about 6 years with all kinds of work. We would call that job a "service job" since you are replacing the electrical service to the house. They typically took about 8-10 hours, sometimes more depending on what we needed to do. The longest ones were 2 full days, not to scare you!
Does the house have a basement with the electrical panel in it, or is it on one of the living floors?
Was a lot of fun doing the work now that I look back on it, helped set me up for doing lots of my DIY posts here on Hive!
It is on one of the living floors, but moving it to the top of the basement stairs, which is about 4 metres away. The paneling coming off is so the cables can run underneath later.
A guy from the supplier has to come and install the meter, as the electrician is not allowed to do that - for some reason.
I wish my dad was handier around the house - he could paint very pretty pictures though :)
Yes I heard from @galenkp that he was quite the painter! Each type of parent is awesome in their own unique way. My dad, love him to death, was fantastic in many ways but also very challenging in others.
Yeah, the electric company has to hook the meter back up in some areas, it depends on local laws, really. We only had that happen a couple times. They hopefully won't charge you to do it, right?
Having it on the basement stairs is both a blessing as well as a curse. Be careful if you ever need to access the panel, standing on the stairs! Hopefully there is a small landing or something there, so you aren't so precarious. I also hope that the electrician installs a light bulb directly above it, if there isn't one already. Ask him (or her) to do that, makes for easier troubleshooting if one of the breakers short out and trip.
I think this one is "free" as it is a government level thing.
There is a landing. The law says 80cm and I think there is 77 - close enough ;D
Nearly all parents. My daughter is sooo lucky, I am her father!