When a house is built, the electric service is calculated by the square
footage of the house and KW of major loads going into the house. If the
electric load of the house is not increased, the service size will continue
to be adequate. Services only need to be recalculated and possibly increased
when additional loads are going to be added to them



wrote in message
...
On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:00:18 -0700, wrote:

This came out of another post I made, but is something I never really
considered. I currently have 100 amp service, with 7 blanks in my
electrical panel and will be adding 6 new circuits as I finish my
basement. Someone suggested upgrading to 200amp service. I don't
want to overload my existing capacity, but I figured I have a gas
water heater, gas clothes dryer, gas furnace, gas range, etc. The
only major electrical load I have is A/C in the summer (that I can
think of right now at least). Therefore, 200amp service had never
crossed my mind. Any suggestions/opinions? Also, if I did upgrade to
200 amp service, what is the cost and process? I assume that it
doesn't cost more to have 200amp service once you get it hooked up,
it's still the same rate per kWh, just that there's the potential to
use more, right? Thanks yet again!

Many in the electrical business would have you upgrade to a 10,000 amp
service of they could. They want your money !!!!!!
If you had all those gas appliances as electric, then you might need
more. Add your breakers and leave the rest alone.

You do not need the main to be equal to the sum of adding all the
breakers. They are just there to protect individual circuits. Unlike
the old days where two fuses handled the whole house, these days many
breakers are used for protection and keeping one appliance from
blacking out the whole house.

Why dont you add up your usage on a regular basis.....

There are lots of homes that still have 60A service and they work just
fine.