How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? That is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris

On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 05:39:56 +0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? That is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? Would
the main breaker not trip?

It would trip.

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

Yes. My brother and I know everything there is to know about
electrical questions.

TIA

Boris

On Mar 20, 5:48*am, wrote:
On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 05:39:56 +0000 (UTC), Boris

wrote:
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? *That is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? *Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. *Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris

It is called load diversity. They know you will never have all the
circuits going at 100% at one time but they want the capability for
any one of them to do it separately.
They should have done a load calculation based on several factors in
your home to decide what size service you have.

Ask your cat.

mm wrote:
On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 05:39:56 +0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies
power to a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit
breakers? That is, if each breaker were pulling the maximum
amperage, how does this work? Would the main breaker not trip?

It would trip.

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

Yes. My brother and I know everything there is to know about
electrical questions.


Except that you normally don't find breakers in a fuse box.

Don't despair. You learn something new every day.

Because of how we treated circuit breakers, 100
years ago, we are now required to have more
black circuit breakers than the box really can
handle. This is a federal requirement, and does
not really do much except run up the cost of
the job, and make spaces for a lot of black
circuit breakers which don't do any useufl work.
You've never seen a panel box with too many
white circuit breakers, have you?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..



wrote in message
...

It is called load diversity. They know you will
never have all the circuits going at 100% at one
time but they want the capability for any one
of them to do it separately.

They should have done a load calculation
based on several factors in your home to
decide what size service you have.

What is the best type of electrical question to make
an electrician cry?

"If 20 amps of power in a 12 gage wire moves at
186,300 miles per second, how fast would it move
if you squeezed the same power into 14 gage wire?
After all a smaller garden hose, the water moves
faster."

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"mm" wrote in message
...

Yes. My brother and I know everything there is
to know about electrical questions.

I'll call the wrecking service immediately. I'll also go
apostate, based on your reccomendation. You are so helpful.
Thank you, and God bless.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


wrote in message
...

I am an electrical professional.

I am sorry to announce that you only have one choice.
Demolish your house and rebuild from scratch.

---
Jesus hates you !!!!

On 3/20/2011 7:25 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
What is the best type of electrical question to make
an electrician cry?

"If 20 amps of power in a 12 gage wire moves at
186,300 miles per second, how fast would it move
if you squeezed the same power into 14 gage wire?
After all a smaller garden hose, the water moves
faster."


If you try to suck 20 amps of electricity through a 14 gauge
wire, many of the electrons crash and burn when they hit the
walls of the wire which is why too small a wire for the current
requirements gets hot and the voltage drops because of all the
upset electrons seeing their brothers die when they wreck. A
lot fewer electrons will come out the other end of the wire.
If you try to pull too much current through a really small wire,
all of the electrons crashing into the walls of the wire can get
it so hot that it will actually melt and burn in two. You're
left with a lot of electrons looking for revenge which is why
more electrocutions happen to people who abuse wiring and the
cute little electrons who just want to go to work. Be kind to
your wiring and the electrons traveling through it. ^_^

TDD

In 3.62,
Boris typed:
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it
supplies power to a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth
of circuit breakers? That is, if each breaker were
pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best
newsgroup for electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris

This used to be a decent place for such questions and on occasion still is.
However, you have to be careful here as you on any unknown web site - there
are trolls, intentional misinformationists, and plain out louts now too, so
try to be sure you sort out the dumb stuff from the real. gfretwell & Harry
gave decent answers; I didn't read any further.

--
Newsgroups are great places to get assistance.
But always verify important information with
other sources to be certain you have a clear
understanding of it and that it is accurate.


HTH,

Twayne`

Revenge of the electrons? I thought I saw that
movie a couple decades ago. Bunch of light
weight, highly charged college kids who rigged
up cameras so they could watch the protons in
the shower?

I sense the Society for Prevention of Ubuse of
Electrons will get involved soon. Those SPUE
guys were mentioned in the Bible. Something about
thou art luke warm, neither hot nor cold, so I
SPUE thee out.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"The Daring Dufas" wrote in
message ...

If you try to suck 20 amps of electricity through a 14 gauge
wire, many of the electrons crash and burn when they hit the
walls of the wire which is why too small a wire for the
current
requirements gets hot and the voltage drops because of all
the
upset electrons seeing their brothers die when they wreck. A
lot fewer electrons will come out the other end of the wire.
If you try to pull too much current through a really small
wire,
all of the electrons crashing into the walls of the wire can
get
it so hot that it will actually melt and burn in two. You're
left with a lot of electrons looking for revenge which is
why
more electrocutions happen to people who abuse wiring and
the
cute little electrons who just want to go to work. Be kind
to
your wiring and the electrons traveling through it. ^_^

TDD

"Boris" wrote in message
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies
power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? That
is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work?
Would
the main breaker not trip?


The job of each circuit breaker is to protect the WIRING connected to
THAT BREAKER ONLY. So if there is a 20 amp circuit breaker, then the
wiring connected to that breaker can handle 20 amps and no more. If
that is exceeded, then the breaker would trip.

And same with the 100 amp breaker. The main wiring can only handle 100
amps. If more than 100 amps is used, then the breaker would trip.

With that said, it is typical to have a 20 amp circuit, and perhaps
only use 1 amp on that circuit. On another circuit you may use close
to 20 amps. Another maybe 8 amps.

So long as the TOTAL load being USED does not exceed 100 amps, then
the 100 amp breaker will not trip.

And that is the thing. People usually never USE the maximum rated main
breaker amperage all at once.

Sort of like water pipes. Each faucet has a certain flow. But people
don't typically turn on every single water faucet at the same time.
Just use one or two at a time.

With electric, you have the capacity to move around power hogs like a
vacuum cleaner from outlet to outlet. The wiring at each outlet can
handle the load. But you would not typically have 20 vacuum cleaners
plugged in and running at the same time.

Same with outside outlets. You might plug in an electric lawn mower in
the rear of the house. Then move it to the front outlet when done. But
wouldn't be using two electric lawn mowers at the same time.

So ok to have 200 amps of breakers and a 100 amp main. You can use a
large load anywhere - move it from outlet to outlet, just can't use
too many large loads all at once.

Note: If this was for a busness - say a manufacturing plant, and they
were using close to the maximum for each circuit all at the same time
(all machines running all at once), then they would of course have a
larger main breaker which could handle that. These can be designed as
needed.

On 3/20/2011 10:27 AM, Bill wrote:
"Boris" wrote in message
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies
power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? That is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? Would
the main breaker not trip?


The job of each circuit breaker is to protect the WIRING connected to
THAT BREAKER ONLY. So if there is a 20 amp circuit breaker, then the
wiring connected to that breaker can handle 20 amps and no more. If that
is exceeded, then the breaker would trip.

And same with the 100 amp breaker. The main wiring can only handle 100
amps. If more than 100 amps is used, then the breaker would trip.

With that said, it is typical to have a 20 amp circuit, and perhaps only
use 1 amp on that circuit. On another circuit you may use close to 20
amps. Another maybe 8 amps.

So long as the TOTAL load being USED does not exceed 100 amps, then the
100 amp breaker will not trip.

And that is the thing. People usually never USE the maximum rated main
breaker amperage all at once.

Sort of like water pipes. Each faucet has a certain flow. But people
don't typically turn on every single water faucet at the same time. Just
use one or two at a time.

With electric, you have the capacity to move around power hogs like a
vacuum cleaner from outlet to outlet. The wiring at each outlet can
handle the load. But you would not typically have 20 vacuum cleaners
plugged in and running at the same time.

Same with outside outlets. You might plug in an electric lawn mower in
the rear of the house. Then move it to the front outlet when done. But
wouldn't be using two electric lawn mowers at the same time.

So ok to have 200 amps of breakers and a 100 amp main. You can use a
large load anywhere - move it from outlet to outlet, just can't use too
many large loads all at once.

Note: If this was for a busness - say a manufacturing plant, and they
were using close to the maximum for each circuit all at the same time
(all machines running all at once), then they would of course have a
larger main breaker which could handle that. These can be designed as
needed.


Chuckle. Sound like the computer room I got stuck with being the mama
for at work. They added a lot of headroom on the power distribution
about a year before they yanked most of the servers out. I have one
400-amp panel in the corner with NOTHING leading out of it. Most of the
others are maybe 1/3 populated, and the extensions under the floor are
mostly sitting unused.
--
aem sends...

On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 06:35:05 -0500, "HeyBub"
wrote:

mm wrote:
On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 05:39:56 +0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies
power to a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit
breakers? That is, if each breaker were pulling the maximum
amperage, how does this work? Would the main breaker not trip?

It would trip.

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

Yes. My brother and I know everything there is to know about
electrical questions.


Except that you normally don't find breakers in a fuse box.

That's one of the things my brother knows.

Don't despair. You learn something new every day.

"Twayne" wrote in
:

In 3.62,
Boris typed:
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it
supplies power to a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth
of circuit breakers? That is, if each breaker were
pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best
newsgroup for electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris

This used to be a decent place for such questions and on occasion
still is. However, you have to be careful here as you on any unknown
web site - there are trolls, intentional misinformationists, and plain
out louts now too, so try to be sure you sort out the dumb stuff from
the real. gfretwell & Harry gave decent answers; I didn't read any
further.


Yep. I used to participate in this ng, and this is my first time back in
a few years. I was surprised to see so many smart-ass posts in so many
threads. Lots of trolls and one-up-manship going on in many of the
threads with the not at all funny jokes and puns. I've seen this happen
in lots of formerly respected ngs. Eventually, the knowledgeable and
helpful members (yeah, for those tempted...I know there no such thing as
a member in a ng) stop participating.

But, that's ok. I can separate the wheat from the chaff.

On Mar 20, 2:49*pm, Boris wrote:
"Twayne" wrote :





. 183.62,
Boris typed:
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it
supplies power to a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth
of circuit breakers? *That is, if each breaker were
pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? *Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. *Is this the best
newsgroup for electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris

This used to be a decent place for such questions and on occasion
still is. However, you have to be careful here as you on any unknown
web site - there are trolls, intentional misinformationists, and plain
out louts now too, so try to be sure you sort out the dumb stuff from
the real. gfretwell & Harry gave decent answers; I didn't read any
further.

Yep. *I used to participate in this ng, and this is my first time back in
a few years. *I was surprised to see so many smart-ass posts in so many
threads. *Lots of trolls and one-up-manship going on in many of the
threads with the not at all funny jokes and puns. *I've seen this happen
in lots of formerly respected ngs. Eventually, the knowledgeable and
helpful members (yeah, for those tempted...I know there no such thing as
a member in a ng) stop participating.

But, that's ok. *I can separate the wheat from the chaff.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think the worlds troubles are wierding people out, what with 3 wars
and a nuke meltdown. so I apologize for the others who just cant help
themselves

On another note I have tripped a 100 amp main in the past widow ACs
and the machnes I service put us in darkness

its rare but can occur, if you ever upgrade go 200 amps, but dont
worry about it if your not tripping the main

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Because of how we treated circuit breakers, 100
years ago, we are now required to have more
black circuit breakers than the box really can
handle. This is a federal requirement, and does
not really do much except run up the cost of
the job, and make spaces for a lot of black
circuit breakers which don't do any useufl work.
You've never seen a panel box with too many
white circuit breakers, have you?

I have Federal Pioneer panel box full of ivory WHITE breakers, so they do
exist.

wrote:

[snip]

And besides that, fuse boxes dont contain breakers....

You used to be able to get breakers that go in a fusebox. Round things with
edison base and a push button.

[snip]

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Who's General Failure and why is he reading my disk?"

In article ,
Mark Lloyd wrote:

wrote:

[snip]

And besides that, fuse boxes dont contain breakers....

You used to be able to get breakers that go in a fusebox. Round things with
edison base and a push button.

[snip]

Those are still on the market, google "mini breaker."

On Mar 20, 1:39*am, Boris wrote:
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? *That is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? *Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. *Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris


Assuming you are asking about a typical residential or light
commercial
split-phase center tapped electrical service:

Each "leg" of your service is providing 100 amps on its wire to your
main
breaker... Therefore you have 200 amps of power when you add up both
"legs" of your service... As long as your service panel loads are
properly
balanced so that you aren't drawing more than 100 amps off any single
"leg" at any time you can have 200 total amps of circuits fed from
such
a panel...

The explanation offered by other people here saying that each circuit
in
your panel is not running at maximum capacity explains why you can
have slightly more than 200 amps of circuits installed without
tripping
the main breaker...

This is the simple explanation without going into crazy details about
types of loads: capacitive, inductive or resistive or considering the
power factors of those different types of loads...

~~ Evan

Was that Federal Pacific? If so, I can make a joke about
whites that don't work.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...

I have Federal Pioneer panel box full of ivory WHITE
breakers, so they do
exist.

On Mar 20, 8:25*am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
What is the best type of electrical question to make
an electrician cry?

"If 20 amps of power in a 12 gage wire moves at
186,300 miles per second, how fast would it move
if you squeezed the same power into 14 gage wire?
After all a smaller garden hose, the water moves
faster."

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"mm" wrote in message

...

Yes. *My brother and I know everything there is
to know about electrical questions.

Interestingly electrons don't travel at anything remotely approachng
that speed in wire. In fact at 60 hz which has an electron traveling
in one direction for 1/60th of a second they only move a very small
amount. The reason that electricity appears instantaniously at the
other end of wire is the wave effect.

jamesgangnc wrote in news:f017151d-f8aa-4a37-
:

On Mar 20, 8:25*am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
What is the best type of electrical question to make
an electrician cry?

"If 20 amps of power in a 12 gage wire moves at
186,300 miles per second, how fast would it move
if you squeezed the same power into 14 gage wire?
After all a smaller garden hose, the water moves
faster."

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"mm" wrote in message

...

Yes. *My brother and I know everything there is
to know about electrical questions.

Interestingly electrons don't travel at anything remotely approachng
that speed in wire. In fact at 60 hz which has an electron traveling
in one direction for 1/60th of a second they only move a very small
amount. The reason that electricity appears instantaniously at the
other end of wire is the wave effect.


Never knew that. Interesting. Is this for both AC and DC, or AC only?
Do you know the actual distance or speed of travel in residential
systems, or transmission grids?

Thanks.

In article ,
Boris wrote:

Never knew that. Interesting. Is this for both AC and DC, or AC only?
Do you know the actual distance or speed of travel in residential
systems, or transmission grids?

You can google electron drift velocity. One professor used to say that
it takes a week for the electron in the switch to make it to the light
bulb, but I think she was exaggerating.

A way to visualize it is to think of the shock wave traveling down a
freight train that has just started to move from rest. The train might
be moving 1/10 mph, but you hear the couplers snapping taut along the
mile length of the train in just a couple of seconds.

Some truth to that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"jamesgangnc"
wrote in message
...

Interestingly electrons don't travel at anything remotely
approachng
that speed in wire. In fact at 60 hz which has an electron
traveling
in one direction for 1/60th of a second they only move a
very small
amount. The reason that electricity appears instantaniously
at the
other end of wire is the wave effect.

On Mar 24, 4:45*pm, wrote:
On Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:05:01 -0700, Smitty Two





wrote:
In article ,
Boris wrote:

Never knew that. *Interesting. *Is this for both AC and DC, or AC only? *
Do you know the actual distance or speed of travel in residential
systems, or transmission grids?

You can google electron drift velocity. One professor used to say that
it takes a week for the electron in the switch to make it to the light
bulb, but I think she was exaggerating.

A way to visualize it is to think of the shock wave traveling down a
freight train that has just started to move from rest. The train might
be moving 1/10 mph, but you hear the couplers snapping taut along the
mile length of the train in just a couple of seconds.

This is mostly just theory gee whiz info. From any practical sense the
power is available at the other end of the wire at roughly a foot per
nanosecond. You can see it on a scope, set up for TDR.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, but that is not electrons that left the switch. That is the wave
effect causing the movement of electrons at the other end. In other
words that is the speed of the wave, not the speed of the electrons.

Boris wrote:
How is it that my main breaker is 100 amp service, and it supplies power to
a subpanel that has over 200 amps worth of circuit breakers? That is, if
each breaker were pulling the maximum amperage, how does this work? Would
the main breaker not trip?

I've got lots of other questions. Is this the best newsgroup for
electrical type questions?

TIA

Boris
Hi,
Remember earth day!!!!
If nothing pops what is the worry?

On Mar 24, 11:17*am, Boris wrote:
jamesgangnc wrote in news:f017151d-f8aa-4a37-
:





On Mar 20, 8:25 am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
What is the best type of electrical question to make
an electrician cry?

"If 20 amps of power in a 12 gage wire moves at
186,300 miles per second, how fast would it move
if you squeezed the same power into 14 gage wire?
After all a smaller garden hose, the water moves
faster."

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

"mm" wrote in message

. ..

Yes. My brother and I know everything there is
to know about electrical questions.

Interestingly electrons don't travel at anything remotely approachng
that speed in wire. *In fact at 60 hz which has an electron traveling
in one direction for 1/60th of a second they only move a very small
amount. *The reason that electricity appears instantaniously at the
other end of wire is the wave effect.

Never knew that. *Interesting. *Is this for both AC and DC, or AC only? *
Do you know the actual distance or speed of travel in residential
systems, or transmission grids?

Thanks.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In ac the electrons are reversing course every 1/60th of a second. So
they never really go much of anywhere. The electrons in your house
wiring are pretty much the same electrons that have been in it since
it was first built. In dc the electron goes in one direction as long
as the circuit is complete. But the rate of travel is very slow. I
believe it takes hours and hours for an electron to move just a few
feet. I know that some of us (at least me anyway) have probably
imagined hords of electrons racing through what ever device is being
powered. But that's simply not the case.

In article
,
jamesgangnc wrote:

The electrons in your house
wiring are pretty much the same electrons that have been in it since
it was first built.

This gives me a great idea for a new service business, modeled after the
duct cleaning industry ...

On Mar 25, 12:09*pm, Smitty Two wrote:
In article
,

*jamesgangnc wrote:
The electrons in your house
wiring are pretty much the same electrons that have been in it since
it was first built.

This gives me a great idea for a new service business, modeled after the
duct cleaning industry ...

Cleaning old electrons out of house wiring? :-) Yep, getting those
old eletrons out would improve the efficiency of your house wiring.
Allowing new, fresh electrons to flow easily through your wires and
appliances. Testing by an independent testing firm revealed as much
as 20% improved electron flow after servicing. Also try our auto
service designed specially for 12 volt systems. Get 15% off if you
buy both now.

jamesgangnc wrote in news:9fc04f83-0189-4d19-bb59-
:

On Mar 25, 12:09*pm, Smitty Two wrote:
In article
,

*jamesgangnc wrote:
The electrons in your house
wiring are pretty much the same electrons that have been in it since
it was first built.

This gives me a great idea for a new service business, modeled after the
duct cleaning industry ...

Cleaning old electrons out of house wiring? :-) Yep, getting those
old eletrons out would improve the efficiency of your house wiring.
Allowing new, fresh electrons to flow easily through your wires and
appliances. Testing by an independent testing firm revealed as much
as 20% improved electron flow after servicing. Also try our auto
service designed specially for 12 volt systems. Get 15% off if you
buy both now.

My favorite tool, which is similar in nature to what you are suggesting, is
the hard drive balancer and the pipe scrubber:

http://www.gbrockman.com/drivebalance/