100 amp people advice needed.

spsick

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
1,599
Reaction score
1,923
Location
Mpls, MN
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
What do you have for electric major appliances? That will mostly dictate if you need more amps.

Think electric water heater, stove, central ac, dryer etc. Those window ac and dehumidifiers pull some amps but they don’t all start at the same time.

I‘m on 100a service with no issue but have gas stove, dryer, and water heater.
 

Pistondog

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
5,470
Reaction score
9,581
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just make sure all costs are covered in the estimate if you go that route.
New codes here are requiring higher elevation at house point of entry and outside disconnect for fire dept.
 

crusso1993

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 21, 2018
Messages
8,671
Reaction score
44,651
Location
SW, FL, USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I upgrade homes to 200amp services every week. 3k$ for Florida prices is almost spot on, and a good price. We are about 2300-5k depending on equipment and service drop wires copper vs aluminum For a new meter, riser, panel, and service drop wires. They will also be required to install surge protection (100$) this is a service I suggest, there are a couple of other factors that may apply, like how your circuits are branched together and if this is aluminum wired house, but best thing to do electrically is to start with a new panel and service, and since you only want to do these things once, I suggest to upgrade to the largest allowable service for residential (can go larger for larger homes) which is 200a, with that a 200amp meter can is needed but having all this done at one time is best.

Then I would look into running dedicated circuits to your aquariums if needed.

I can answer more if needed I saw this and thought I could throw two cents at it for you, and say this sounds like a good call from your electrician.
$3K for a 200A upgrade? You're clearly not near Ft. Myers or Cape Coral where the "hurricane pricing" has taken over! lol
I laugh but there is more truth to that than most companies will admit.
 
OP
OP
Notsolostfish

Notsolostfish

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2014
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
650
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What do you have for electric major appliances? That will mostly dictate if you need more amps.

Think electric water heater, stove, central ac, dryer etc. Those window ac and dehumidifiers pull some amps but they don’t all start at the same time.

I‘m on 100a service with no issue but have gas stove, dryer, and water heater.
I have electric stove, electric boiler that happens to be very efficient, all my appliances are new. I run 5 windows acs in the summer and 2 60 pint dehumidifers. And i have 1 16 gallons tank, 1 80, and im getting a 130 gallons reef tank. I ran previously 5 windows ac for 2 years with no issues. But i dont know why im concerned with the newer 130, and the treadmil we added.
 

Pistondog

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
5,470
Reaction score
9,581
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have electric stove, electric boiler that happens to be very efficient, all my appliances are new. I run 5 windows acs in the summer and 2 60 pint dehumidifers. And i have 1 16 gallons tank, 1 80, and im getting a 130 gallons reef tank. I ran previously 5 windows ac for 2 years with no issues. But i dont know why im concerned with the newer 130, and the treadmil we added.
Electric dryer?
 

Paul B

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
18,631
Reaction score
64,158
Location
Long Island NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Be careful the NEC changes every 3 years or so, it's easy to lose track of them all in 50yrs.
LOL I am sure it does and I have been retired (Thank God) for about 18 years. I worked in Manhattan.

New York City up until just before I retired used to have it's own code which was stricter than the NEC.
We can't upgrade to a 300 amp service or I think even a 200 amp service unless we can prove we need that much power for something like maybe an olympic swimming pool or green house growing Sequoia redwood trees. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Almost no one here in New York has electric heat because our electric bills are some of the highest in the nation so we burn junk mail in our furnaces.

We also don't have the AC load you guys have or the pool chillers. If we have a pool we may have a heater but it would be gas.
 

thatmanMIKEson

Reefing ain't easy$
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
5,104
Reaction score
5,133
Location
florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
LOL I am sure it does and I have been retired (Thank God) for about 18 years. I worked in Manhattan.

New York City up until just before I retired used to have it's own code which was stricter than the NEC.
We can't upgrade to a 300 amp service or I think even a 200 amp service unless we can prove we need that much power for something like maybe an olympic swimming pool or green house growing Sequoia redwood trees. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Almost no one here in New York has electric heat because our electric bills are some of the highest in the nation so we burn junk mail in our furnaces.

We also don't have the AC load you guys have or the pool chillers. If we have a pool we may have a heater but it would be gas.
Yes, that is a big difference from Florida where most of our heavy appliances are electric, then people want to add a car charger or two and can't understand why they need a bigger panel for their new tesla's, well there's just no space in your new 150a panel for all your stuff!. Then I say you should have gotten a 48space 200a panel for a few hundred bucks more and it wouldn't be an issue.

At least we don't pay California's electricity prices! Lol electricity cost is crazy !
 

srobertb

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
Messages
986
Reaction score
1,070
Location
SE Texas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
$3k to upgrade to 200amp service isn’t bad. A great electrician and maybe even your electric company should be willing to do an energy audit and tell you what your needs are for major appliances and things. Keep in mind you probably won’t ever run your AC and Heater at the same time. I know on my tanks during the day the heater doesn’t run. So the 1000 watts of LED’s are not running at the same time the 1500w of heaters are running so factor that in.

You can also buy a watt meter on Amazon ($20?) that is easy to use and will tell you the amp draw of each outlet. There are Wi-Fi versions that should track and chart draw so you can feel better and be more informed.

Without knowing your house and current energy draw and future plans, it’s difficult to say whether you should upgrade, need to upgrade, or don’t.
 

BZOFIQ

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 31, 2014
Messages
5,049
Reaction score
4,313
Location
NYC
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
Perhaps you'd need 200Amps if you run multiple large outdoor A/C units and want to plug in your TESLA

You most certainly don't need it because you're setting up another small tank.

I'm on 100A service here in NY and I am not worried about any capacity issues.

All you need is a dedicated 15/20A circuit (or 2 for redundancy) ran to your tank.
 
Back
Top