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Need to upgrade from 100 amp to a 200 amp main breaker

7K views 32 replies 8 participants last post by  pyper 
#1 · (Edited)
have a breaker box with :
120 amp max main breaker
120/240 vac 3wire ,single phase
208y/120 vac 3wire ,single phase
wanna go with a :
200 amp or more main breaker

hole issue is i need more power cuase im running an office of 3-8 computers and kitchen with 220 stove 120 fridge 120 dishwasher. dated 2006 or higher 120 microwave dinning room 120 chest freezer bathroom 220 dryer 120 washer 3-5 tv's office supports a 1000 watts surround sound had to plug a 15 amp 1500 watt extension cord from dinning room to it becuase the surrround sound wasnt getting enough power to sound right when it was used
 
#2 ·
Unless you're running all that stuff at once I don't see why you need more than the 120 amps you have... If you buy a Kill-a-watt device you'll find that audio, video, and computer products never draw nearly as much power as they're rated for. I think my Dell, with it's 400 watt power supply, along with the monitor, draws 50 or 60 watts.

Maybe what you need to do is run a new circuit to the theater system.

Anyway, if you do need to upgrade your panel, here's the basics:

You get the power disconnected at the pole and get the permit.

You get new supply lines if yours aren't big enough (probably not).

You get a new meter base if yours isn't modern (needs a grounding lug).

You get a new load center.

You pull out all the breakers, and carefully remove the wires from the old load center. You replace the supply lines and/or meter base if necessary. You put in the new load center and replace breakers and wires.

The new load center may have terminals in different locations, which might require new supply lines between it and the meter base.

Mine cost about $600 in parts. I didn't do it myself, but I assisted in various ways.
 
#14 · (Edited)
That's the maximum they can potentially draw, not what they actually do.

If you get something like the following, you can plug it in and find out how much they actually are drawing:
http://www.killawattplus.com/?gclid=COmx6qu-5acCFUta2god9GU0Tg

The oven cycles on and off. The DW doesn't use enough to count. The washer probably doesn't use much either, except maybe on spin.

Like I said before, it sounds like you just need a new circuit. Are your outlets grounded? One of these will tell you:

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=m1aKTdbDGsrp0gHhvLzfDQ&ved=0CCkQ8gIwAQ#

Electronics need real grounds to work
 
#12 ·
So the real problem is the individual circuits are not sized properly for their intended loads.
You cannot just change the main breaker to 200 amps. That won't give you 200 amp service. Read back through post #2. It lays out what is required for a service upgrade.
One thing you could do is find out from your power company what size service the existing wire will support.
 
#17 ·
The incoming power lines are sized to match the required service. The main breaker limits how much total power you can draw which also protects the incoming power lines from being overloaded.
Your problem appears that your branch circuits, or as you call them secondary, are not sized correctly. Residential general purpose circuits are either 15 amp breakers and 14 gauge wire or 20 amp breakers and 12 gauge wire.
 
#16 ·
yes but i normaly ue 50%-75% of the wattage cuase of the things i do planning on taking a car amp and using a psu to power it i love loud music can probly explain why i have a 1000 watt surround sound looking to create a 2000 watt or 3000 watt speaker system with a 1600 watt psu and car amp thats if the make a bigger psu in the future id plan on using 1800 watt or 2000 watt
 
#19 ·
i have a question im rlly worried more on my office thats the big thing atm thats like my highest power room lot of people have been saying i need computers on there own breaker and the surround sound on its own breaker becuase of the power being used

so what should i do here
 
#21 ·
It's not because of how much power they use (computers use little power -- get the tester and find out), but to isolate the grounds from each other. We used to have a lot of problems with computers (particularly hard drive failures). We had some new circuits installed and the problems cleared up.
 
#20 ·
I think the real problem is either:

a) outlets not grounded.

b) polarity reversed.

Option "a" would be typical from the time when 100 amp serviced was standard.

Get the two test devices and see what's really going on. You can't tell by looking at the outside of any piece of electronics how much electricity it really uses.
 
#22 ·
yea im having an issue right now wich is very funny went toturn on my pc here and says file error
in the middle of fixing it as we speak for the 4th time in 4 years
breaker flipped earlier this morning havent turned on computer been off since then
i keep my computers on

on my mac atm
 
#26 ·
yea i already know that all there is a big thick ground wire going into the ground outside and i know thats basicly what the ground is ill tell you this much i think im more knowlegable then both my grammer and spelling sucks sometimes cuase i get lazy on it
 
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