No room for new wires in switch box
Pulling an existing switch out of the wall often reveals there is simply no physical space left to shove additional wires inside. This lack of room stops non-electricians from safely adding any new connections to the box.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Take the old box and switch out of the wall and put a completely new setup in the wall.
- 2Paying an electrician to completely swap out the panel
- 3Upgrading the home's total electrical service capacity at the same time as the swap
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“When I pulled the switch out of the wall, it doesn't look like I have room to shove more wires into the box.”source ↗
“I’m not an electrician, I had a FPE panel and paid to have my panel swapped out and upgraded to 200A service (figured why not since it was being swapped anyway).”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 15How to replace a sparking or melted light switch safely
- 15How to replace two-prong outlets with three-prong without rewiring
- 4Why does touching my breaker panel turn my electric dryer back on?
- 2What do red wires mean in a 3-gang switch box?
- 3Not enough electrical outlets in the room
- 2How to convert an electrical box into an outdoor outlet