On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 21:02:47 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 19:18:00 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 18:12:43 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 15:15:36 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 13:00:32 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:44:12 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 02:05:21 -0800, sms
wrote:

On 1/20/2018 12:41 PM, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Sat, 20 Jan 2018 14:45:42 -0500, micky
wrote:

A neighbor asked me about upgrading her breaker box.

I used to know what it is. However now, to see the value on my main
breaker would require climbing on the dryer and using a mirror but I do
know that the box has 4 duplex breakers (for the oven, water heater, AC,
and clothes dryer), 12 15-amp breakers and it has 6 empty slots before I
used one. One breaker is a GFI.

Does that imply how much amperage the house is wired for?

They were built in 1979-80. 3 floors including basement, 3 bedrooms.

It seems to me there is nothing a normal person could want to add that
would require a bigger box. Maybe an electric chair would need more.

??


Back in the day oid incandescent lighting and electric heat, 200 amp
and larger services were relatively common - and required. Back then,
people used electricity to heat their pools. Refrigeration and AC were
pretty inefficient. Large screen CRT TVs sucked power.

Today, with LED lighting, Natural gas or heat pump heating, high SEER
AC, LED TVs, etc, a 200 amp service is pretty much overkill for the
average home.

In areas without piped-in natural gas, electric furnaces, or reverse
cycle A/C is common, but of course you wouldn't have the A/C and furnace
on at the same time.

The other big items are pool pumps and electric car chargers.

While 200 amp service may be overkill, 100 amp might not be enough. I
put in an 150 amp panel because the wiring from the pole was limited to
150 amps. It's actually a 200 amp panel but with the main breaker
changed to 150 amps.

Overhead services are never "big enough" for the things they serve it
seems. 200a services are typically served by a 2ga aluminum drop. The
PoCo operates under rules different than the NEC. Who told you the
drop was too small?


In my case, I was limitted to a 125 amp service - could not get a
permit for higher because the UNDERGROUND service was not heavy
enough. Overhead wiring can be overloaded and not suffer too much as
it is "air cooled" Underground conduits are a different story (and a
LOT more expensive to upgrade!!!!)

I agree. Service laterals are sized per the NEC and they usually
belong to the customer. The overhead drop is sized by the NESC and
usually belong to the PoCo.
If your lateral is in a pipe, you might be able to pull in a bigger
one. Usually you can get 200a in a 2" pipe but the pull may be tough.
Particularly whenthe transformer is in a vault 200 feet away, across
an intersection., on the far side of the house from the service
entrance. I was told the upgrade would cost me over $4000 if
everything went well - up to $8000 if the "expected problems" cropped
up - - -

Yup that is the part of underground utilities people forget. Certainly
they are immune from ice storms and falling trees but when you do need
to work on them things get expensive and hard to do pretty quickly.
I believe I would have been thinking about a vault somewhere inside
my property line and cut the pull in half.


Still over 100 feet from my property line to the vault

A straight pull of a 2/0 triplex through a 2" is doable at 100'
particularly in a straight line, 200' is probably not happening and
that is why they said "trouble".