Panel load calculation

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Farmfly

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North Carolina
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Electrician
What’s up all, could use a little help. Trying to figure out how to do a load calculation on an existing panel in a commercial building. The panel is 225 A single phase. It has 6 -20 amp single pole breakers and 2-two pole 60 amp breakers and 2 two pull 50 amp breakers. Need to figure out how much The total load is. Thanks farmfly
 
What’s up all, could use a little help. Trying to figure out how to do a load calculation on an existing panel in a commercial building. The panel is 225 A single phase. It has 6 -20 amp single pole breakers and 2-two pole 60 amp breakers and 2 two pull 50 amp breakers. Need to figure out how much The total load is. Thanks farmfly
The breakers and the rating of these have limited value in determining the loads present on the panel or whether you can add more loads. Things like motor loads could have a breaker much larger than the actual loads as an allowance is made for surge or startup current that is very temporary short duration and would have less impact on the panel as a whole. Another thing that can happen is lighting loads that had new LED installed and actual loads significantly reduced but breakers is still the smallest of 15A, but load might actually be only 2 to 3 amp total. (Had one we replaced old troughers with new LED ones, went from needing 10 circuits to handle the lighting load to using 3 and probably could have been 2 but customer needs control for seperate spaces where such that 3 was used.)

Look to Article 220 for specific guidance on each individual circuit calculation. You will need to know actual loads (items or equipment attached and their rated loads). Then application of any demand factor increase or decrease.

I've seen too often by some that if there is an open space left on the buses, then you can add another breaker. Some times it works some times it doesn't and they wonder why the breaker is tripping (if they're lucky) or panel burns up (very unlucky).
 
5 are 20 amp general purpose receptacles. 1 is 20 amp lighting circuit LED with a 10 amp draw. 2- two pole 60 amp breakers are for two rooftop units they are electric. They seem to be drawing 100 Amps. One two pole 50 is a RV plug. The seconds is a two pole 50. Which is a instant hot. This is the new load I would be putting on it the instant hot.
 
Another thing that can happen is lighting loads that had new LED installed and actual loads significantly reduced but breakers is still the smallest of 15A, but load might actually be only 2 to 3 amp total. (Had one we replaced old troughers with new LED ones, went from needing 10 circuits to handle the lighting load to using 3 and probably could have been 2 but customer needs control for seperate spaces where such that 3 was used.)
I did a new 5,000 square feet, 2 story and a half house 5 or 6 years ago that had over 65 recessed lights plus all the other lights throughout the house and garage. We'll over 100 lights total and everything LED. Had a 400 amp service and I checked all 4 legs with every light on the property on and no leg has more than 2 amps. If every leg had 2 amps, the whole house was just using 8 amps and could be on one 15 amp breaker. I didn't do that of course but was surprised of how little current was being used for all the lights on at the same time.
 
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