Kitchen Circuits for New Home

Greg1707 said:
How did we end up with 400 amps being the new minimum?
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Markup on expensive material adding to the bottom line?🤔

Seriously though, NEC calculations are extremely conservative.
Also, builders and owners want the home to be future ready. 20 years ago people thought Solar and EV provisions were a waste of money; 'let the guy who wants it pay for it' was common.
 
Greg1707 said:
In my area I see houses built in the 1940s knocked down and replaced with 3,500 all gas construction. These house all have 400 amp services. There is no room for future pools or ADU. How did we end up with 400 amps being the new minimum?
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The same consumer choice relates to autos. Most of us have no real need of full sized 4wd pickup. None of us needs a vehicle that is capable of 100+ mph. A 200 amp service is better than a 100, so a 400 has to be even better yet.
 
Joethemechanic said:
The only places I really think the loads have gotten higher is HVAC and possibly electric car charging
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EV charging is the biggest, longest load a home will ever see. It points out the weakness in over calcing and over sizing things for so long. Everyone is so used to believing that a 50A circuit for a stove, hot tub, etc will never really be 50A that there are listed 50A receptacles for sale that melt down when an EV charger is used on it. The problem isn't the EV charger though, it's the receptacle. The charger only draws 48A max.
 
ActionDave said:
EV charging is the biggest, longest load a home will ever see. It points out the weakness in over calcing and over sizing things for so long. Everyone is so used to believing that a 50A circuit for a stove, hot tub, etc will never really be 50A that there are listed 50A receptacles for sale that melt down when an EV charger is used on it. The problem isn't the EV charger though, it's the receptacle. The charger only draws 48A max.
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A charger plugged into a 14-50 should never exceed 40A.
 
jeff48356 said:
I'm wiring a new single-story home (1632 sq ft). The panel will be located in the walkout basement on the right side of the home because the padmount transformer is located on that side of the property. However, the kitchen is located on the opposite side of the house. The wall with the microwave and SABC's is a 70' run from the panel.
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Must be a interesting shape home. I was trying to picture a 1632 SQFT home with a 70' long wall. But reading again I see you meant 70' of cable.
 
Back to OP. 70' isn't that far. It's corner to corner on a 30x40' colonial, which are small in this area. I'm not saying not to consider a subpanel. But on smaller houses like under 3000 square feet, I typically like to keep them all at one panel to facilitate a portable generator hookup. Although I suppose that with the interlock kits these days, one could just shut off the breakers in both panels that don't need generator power. I guess my logic goes back to the 6 or 10 circuit gentran days, now that I type it.....
 
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