how determine size of service

tikicarver

I read a lot of posts and articles that say something like, " if you have 100amp service.."
I'm trying to figure out what that exactly means.
For example, I have a main panel that has a main breaker that is two 100 amp breakers side by side, one for each phase.
Now, is that considered "100 amp service" or "200 amp service"?
To my logic it should be 200 amp service, since I have 100 amp available for each phase.

nacko

that would generally be called a 100amp service, and there should be a breaker tie so that both poles are disconnected at the same time

Speedy Petey

That is a 100A service.
You DO NOT add up the breaker as you thought.
A single breaker is a single pole breaker. A double breaker, such as your main, is a double-pole breaker.
Your main is a two-pole 100 amp breaker.
You have 100 amps @ 240v.

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