On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 2:23:10 PM UTC-4, Tony944 wrote:
wrote in message
...

On Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 12:02:51 PM UTC-4, JayB wrote:
This came up elsewhere and I am just curious about what the answer is.

If someone has a main service panel with a 200-amp main breaker, how many
amps of service can that panel actually service?

I am probably not wording this correctly, but I thought that I remember
something about a 200-amp main breaker actually being okay for 400 amps of
service since there are two separate circuits coming in (a 240-volt
service
split into two 120-volt circuits in the panel box).
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I own a tanning salon and want to add couple more beds.. however I only have
a 200 amp service. We currently have 5 tanning beds, all are running on
240v, when we checked with all the beds on the amp draw at the main was 196
amps. When I then turned our towels dryer on the amp draw was 216 amps, but
it did not trip the breaker. In addition we have all the other lights and
central air and curling irons turning on and off etc etc. So how far past
the 200 amps can I go before it will trip? The tanning beds only run for 20
mins.. so even if all the beds are on at the same time they never are all on
for longer the 20 mins at a time so being past the 200 amps is only
consistant for 20 mins. So could someone please give me an idea how far
past the 200 amps I can go so I know if I can add another bed or 2? Thanks!

What you asking it is not simple answer. The circuit Breakers are not
instantaneous they act as time delay it takes few minutes to warm-up before
it will drop out.
However I would not advise you to run even 196 amps. for longer time
connection and wire could fined small amount of resistance that could cause
the fire, Good luck

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As I pointed out.. the tanning beds operate for no longer then 20 mins. So that would be the maximum time spent above the 200 amp line. But I still would like a better answer as to how far past I can go before I start tripping the main. In earlier posts I read that only after a sustained amp draw of 3 hours would it trip. If this is true then I shouldnt be anywhere close to having a problem if I am only doing 20 mins then a break then 20 mins etc. So could I go to 250 amps? or more? I understand what I am asking is pushing the rules, but would like a reasonable idea of how far past I can go. I want to purchase one more bed and if that puts me at 210-220 amps for 20 mins at a time, just want to know that I can do that without tripping my main etc.

Thoughts?