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

unknowing

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

pyper

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.

secutanudu

What is your question? if this is a commercial space this most likely needs to be done by a licensed electrician.

__________________
Andrew

unknowing

220 dryer and 220 stove
was a typo

unknowing

sometimes i run all 4 washer dryer stove and dish washer at once when im cleaning computers stay on tv is off and on

unknowing

have a electronic meter not dial meter so i dont know if that can say anything

unknowing

and my compters are built by me range from 300 watts Psu's to 1400 watt psu's

a7ecorsair

Have you had problems with your main breaker tripping?

unknowing

yea lots of surges main breaker no but the secondary breakers yea alot
house was wired wierd when i moved in its not at all light breakers on plug breakers its so insanely crazy so thats why i was thinking of doing this

unknowing

its one of them old house that was built years and years ago but electric has had some work 3 years ago when i moved in but i dont like having 100 amp main its just low i dont like having issue's like this

unknowing

when i moved in this house all it mostly had before was a water heater and had a 220 plug were my living room is now had a stove and thats it

a7ecorsair

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.

unknowing

reason why i came to this site idk nothing in electrical .... computers is my thing

pyper

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=...FUta2god9GU0Tg

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/catal...d=0CCkQ8gIwAQ#

Electronics need real grounds to work

unknowing

so im guesing your saying its not the main breaker its the pole to the house power and the secondary breakers are not set right in the case of how it needs to be wired