On 3/25/2013 10:36 PM, bob haller wrote:
On Mar 25, 8:39 pm,
wrote:
On Mar 25, 7:25 pm, wrote:

On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:18:33 -0700 (PDT), bob
wrote:

on the panel itself when home resale time comes you will regret having
a sub panel and pieced together main service.

Why would that be? As long as it's done to code, nothing
I know of that's wrong with a subpanel. And the house has
gas for dryer, stove, HW, so 150 amps doesn't seem low.
However, if the current panel requires adding bus bars, maybe
it's time to just add the new subpanel now.

Bus bars? It is a ground bar, which is a common accessory.


the 150 amp panel may be connected to a 200 amp meter can and service
drop.......

The service drop is irrelevant. Most utilities will replace the drop
free, if needed.

But the service entrance wire will be too small. And the service
entrance pipe will likely be too small.


Could be and worth checking. But unless the house really
needs 200, it still seems easier adding a subpanel instead of
ripping out the whole existing one.

Haller believes every service should be 200A minimum. It is one of his
fetishes, often expressed here. If you put a service on a dog house it
better be 200A.

I made a service calculation on a house in a post by clare. My
recollection is that 100A was more than large enough.


home buyers look at sub panels as a quick patch fix, and may try to
demand the cost of a upgrade off the sales price.

Haller looks at sub panels as a patch.
Home buyers are likely not as malinformed.


in any case it just adds more hassle at sale time you will regret
it......

If you're a wus, perhaps.

But the other problem is if they bring anything up like
that, just telling them no, doesn't
necessarily work either. If you need to sell the house,
and you have a reasonable offer, you don't want to lose
the sale in this market over $1000. Which is why some
buyers can try to use anything to bitch for a price
reduction. So Bob has a point, but I agree most buyers
won't even know what a sub-panel is.

Most people are getting home inspectors, and with a 25 year old panel
with a sub panel the inspector
could ask lots of nosey questions.

It is haller's field of expertise.

The entire service is old and
obsolete,

So is the wire, the pipe, the furnace, the water heater, the floors, the
walls, the paint, ....
Best to just bulldoze an obsolete 25 year old house.

the panel maker is no longer in the panel business, 150 amp
main with all these extra breakers is bad idea, etc etc etc,

What is an "extra breaker"?
From what is in this thread, 150A is plenty for this house.
Circuit breakers for the panel appear to be readily available.