small wires

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southernboys

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hey guys Ive got a customer who is trying to sell his house the insurance company told him that the poco ran 100a wire to the house from there transformer. I will admit that the wires appear to be small however I cant see why the poco would run only 100a wires to his residence. the house next door has what apperars to be normal poco sized wire does this make sense its throwing me a curve in that what amprage does poco usually run to meter? thanks
 
Re: small wires

Very small. :D

The POCO will replace the conductors if they become damaged, so they skimp out, usually with no ill effects.

I've heard of 1200 amp mulitfamily services powered by 4/0. It could have been parallel runs... :D
 
Re: small wires

SB
It is not unsual for the PoCo to install services that are smaller than the house service. A #4 AL Triplex is usually run to a 100 amps service
and 1/0 AL to 200 amp services.
Why does the insurance company have an interest in this?
 
Re: small wires

I guess different POCOs do things different in different areas. In my area, when they come back in the afternoon to re-tap and we've added more load or a bigger panel, they change the drop at that time. If it's a POCO where we tap up ourselves, we just retap anyhow, and give them a phonecall to get a service ticket in to change the drop at a later time.
 
Re: small wires

"We" electricians, are generally only responsible for the conductors after the service point. The size and type conductors used by the utility is really out of the call by the homeowner or insurance copany.

Remember that utility calculations are different then code calculations for service requirements and conductors like those on service drops can use free air ampacities.
 
Re: small wires

Sometimes I wonder how real estate and insurance people consider themselves to be electrical engineers, or whatever they're thinking they are.

If you upgrade the service and the utility's conductors aren't big enough they'll put in bigger ones.

Unless nobody tells them the service has been upgraded.
 
Re: small wires

guys I really got to say thanks for all of your quick responses. as to some of the questions posed to me I have no idea why an insurance agent would try to be an engineer also the poco will be notified of the upgrade of the service. once again thanks
 
Re: small wires

Around here the POCO almost never changes the triplex service drop if you upgrade from a 100 amp to a 200 amp service. As said in some other posts the ampacity of a triplex cable in free air is greater than the ampacities we use on our end, therefore it most likely won't be needed to be upgraded when a service is changed to 200 amps.
 
Re: small wires

We're just making sure that some of this stuff is all taken care of for you Charlie so that you wont feel like you're neglecting anything when you're checking in on other threads, like "how many outlets on a breaker".

Don't mention it, your welcome Charlie. :D
 
Re: small wires

POCO's also make greater use of "diversity" or "diversified demand" of the loads.

In North Texas, it is commonplace to see POCO's #4 free air aluminum connected to electrician's 2/0 copper hanging out the weatherhead.
 
Re: small wires

POCOs are not subject to NEC. They have their own self made rules and regs under the NESC(national electrical suppliers code). What they can do and what we can do is like apples to oranges.
 
Re: small wires

Blackrd, the NESC is not the National Electrical Suppliers Code but is the National Electrical Safety Code. Also, they are not self made rules. There are committees just like the NEC has to address proposals. :D
 
Re: small wires

Originally posted by southernboys: . . . the insurance company told him that the poco ran 100a wire to the house from their transformer.
Click to expand...
I suggest the following response to the insurance company.
(1) Thank you for sharing that entertaining news.
(2) Do you want to sell me insurance, or shall I seek another company?
 
Re: small wires

charlie thanks for the laugh thats how we all feel here. customer caller poco sure enough its 200a coming into the house. now customer wants a 200a sub for range dryer and general apliance load what? oh by the way theres a power pack on the other side of the wall
 
Re: small wires

Is there any proof that changing your breaker box from a 100A to a 200A will help lower your electric bill? We have lived in our house for almost 2 yrs and have never had an electric bill under $250. Its a 3 bedroom brick single story house. It doesnt seem like our bill should be that high. My father seems to think that changing the service out and making it a 200A will lower the bill... I dont know.

Thanks
 
Re: small wires

If you stay on the same rate schedule it doesn't matter if the panel is 100A, 200A, or 400A.

Martin
 
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