Apartment Electrical Question: Can I Piggyback off a Circuit in this Panel??

Alright, heres tha panel in my apartment, it looks like its a subpanel, does anyone know anything about wiring in an apartment building??


It doesnt have a main circuit for tha whole apartment, so i cant even shut off power to tha whole place.

I was wondering if its possible to piggyback or even add a circuit in this setup??

It looks like it has a space to add new circuits at tha bottom, but still its in an apartment building and ive never heard of anybody adding circuits to there apartment before.

How can this be done if it can be done at all??

Appreciate any and all advice

I guess just call an electricain, that would be tha best bet. You dont wanna kill yourself and everybody else in tha apartment complex.

-TimTim

your picture don't show the bottom very well but I don't think another breaker will fit.all the 110 breakers are double breakers & they cost alot more than standard breakers so if it had room for 2 more circiuts,I would assume the electrician would have filled the bottom 4 slots w/ single breakers and bought lunch w/ the savings.now if I am wrong & the bottom 2 slots are open,you could add a breaker but since the box is recessed in the wall,you would have to either fish a new line inside the wall,open the wall up or run the wire out the front of the panel & not be able to put the cover back on.
sorry but none of the above options seem pratical for an apartment w/out an electrician.

Your main bus bars are full. You are not able to add a circuit and piggy backing off of one may heat up wires inside the walls and should be avoided at ALL costs. You could of course decide not to use your stove and remove the double breaker and replace it with a single 15 or 20A. As madcow says, you'll end up fishing wire down a wall into the panel.

Looks to me like you have a empty spot for two more 20/15 amp breakers at the bottom. Easy enough to wire in the breaker before you push it into place on the sub panel. Piggy backing is nothing different than adding a bigger number of extension cords to an already existing outlet. Don't piggy back!!

I agree it looks like you have room to add a breaker. I definitely would NOT piggy back as that is terribly dangerous and a fire hazard.

Ideally you'd want to cut the main power coming in to the box and since you can't I wouldn't even attempt it unless you are an electrician.

I too would rec an electrician, but its actually very easy to do with the power on. You make your bare copper wire connection first on the upper left side, then you connect your neutral ( White wire) wire to the upper right. Make sure when connecting the neutral wire you do not contact any metal with any other part of your body, also make sure the black wire isn't touching anything also. then connect the black wire to your new breaker, then you install the breaker into the empty slot and then fold it over into place so it makes contact. Make sure the other end of the wiring is already wired into a outlet before you begin connecting the supply side. Its only 120v, as long as you are somewhat careful and do not touch anything inside the box its relatively safe. 120 doesn't hurt you that much, you usually hurt yourself more when you rip your hand away.

The feed appears to be fairly small gauge, I wouldn't recommend adding anything to the panel even if it would fit.