Panel Full Capacity

[Hmontique]

Hello all.

I know you can’t count breakers to find out if a panel is to its full capacity, is there a easier way to find out without Article 220?

 

[suemarkp]

Main breaker trips.
Use power company 15 minute load data and look at max interval usage (if you have a year of history).
Article 220 is probably the easiest, but it could be a technical overload and not an actual one. NEC calculations are rather conservative in most cases.

 

[nizak]

Hello all.

I know you can’t count breakers to find out if a panel is to its full capacity, is there an easier way to find out without Article 220?

A smart meter will give you some useful data.
There’s usually a number of 2 digit codes 02-03 etc. one of them will give you a KW value.

Believe one is a peak usage

 

[Knightryder12]

You can try and call the POCO to see if they can give you peak demand in Kw over the last tear, or you could try to obtain the bills from the last year from your client as those should have peak kw listed on them.

 

[Fred B]

You can try and call the POCO to see if they can give you peak demand in Kw over the last tear, or you could try to obtain the bills from the last year from your client as those should have peak kw listed on them.

If it's anything like our POCO in this area the bill has no useful information in determining peak loads. We usually would do a long form calculation (that would usually give you a higher than real loads) or install a clamp on recording meter and let it record over a couple of months if you really "need" to know exact loads.

 

[Knightryder12]

If it's anything like our POCO in this area the bill has no useful information in determining peak loads. We usually would do a long form calculation (that would usually give you a higher than real loads) or install a clamp on recording meter and let it record over a couple of months if you really "need" to know exact loads.

My bill for my home has peak demand in Kwh and KW. I thought they were all the same.