new electrical service

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james_mcquade

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My grandmother left me her house & farm and we have moved in and almost finished remodeling. the house has (2) 100 amp plug type fuse boxes. we were having a central unit quoted when the contractor said the service would not work for the central unit. since we want to consolidate both services anyway, thats ok. while i am a consultant, my expertise is not household wiring.
How do you compute the house load requirement?
My concern is the 200 amp service the contractor wants to put in may be pushing its limit when you apply the safety factor.
we have the following: 1600 sq ft house with attic, 3.5 ton ac / 10kw heater, the usual household appliances, a 2hp 220vac in ground water pump, a welder, open carport, open front porch area.

thanks in advance,
james
 
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The only real way to know for sure is by having your electrician perform a load calculation. IF you want to have some added capacity for the future you could add about 25% to the calculated load. Completely shooting from the hip the 200 amp sounds as if it will work.
 
When you state "the usual household appliances" I would assume the following:

Electric range, water heater, clothes dryer, Dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, disposal, and maybe an instant-hot. Based on the other information you supplied, I would say that a 200 Amp service is more than adequate.

Things like the welder are intermittent at best, unless you have a production shop in the back that we don't know about.

As for how to compute the load calculations, I would refer you to the 2005 NEC, section 220.82. It spells out in that section the procedure for load calculations. :)
 
200 amp

200 amp

james_mcquade said:
My grandmother left me her house & farm and we have moved in and almost finished remodeling. the house has (2) 100 amp plug type fuse boxes. we were having a central unit quoted when the contractor said the service would not work for the central unit. since we want to consolidate both services anyway, thats ok. while i am a consultant, my expertise is not household wiring.
How do you compute the house load requirement?
My concern is the 200 amp service the contractor wants to put in may be pushing its limit when you apply the safety factor.
we have the following: 1600 sq ft house with attic, 3.5 ton ac / 10kw heater, the usual household appliances, a 2hp 220vac in ground water pump, a welder, open carport, open front porch area.

thanks in advance,
james
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Judging by the explanation 200 should be fine unless you plan on adding a lot of load to the barn like a huge apptment Then I would go with a 320.
 
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