I am looking at adding two, 200 amp disocnnects to a existing service. I compared the price of a single I line panel to the 2 disconnects, the two disconnects are cheaper, Are there any advantages to using a Main Panel instead of the two disocnnects? I believe the panel would look cleaner, and has two extra prepared spaces for future expansion? Are there other advantages or disadvantages?
400 amp i line
- Thread starter arnettda
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kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
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- EC
Buy your breakers for the spare spaces now. They will almost give them away with a panel, they will cost you $1000 - $1500 each later.
Might want to check load calculations though - 400 amps might be fine for now but is it still going to be ok if you add a couple more breakers? Maybe get a 600 amp bus panel the first time around. Unless you have a single main breaker - you only need to supply it with conductors sized for the load calculation. Those supply conductors could be changed later if the load increases and you have enough capacity in the bus.
There are a lot of details that could affect the proper answer.
How big is the existing service ? How many disconnects do you presently have ? What are the new disconnects supplying (that could be important if fault current is an issue) ?, what is the available fault current ?
How big is the existing service ? How many disconnects do you presently have ? What are the new disconnects supplying (that could be important if fault current is an issue) ?, what is the available fault current ?
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