Panel Loading Question

bcgfdc3

I have a question and found some similar topics but could not find the specific answer.

I know ideally that a panel should be loaded equally on both legs but i have read on here also that it is not a big deal for residential.

My question is this: Can i put all of my motors i.e. furnace, refrigerators etc on one leg and all of my lighting on the other, then fill in with my wall receptacles? I ask this to try to avoid the annoying dimming of lights when these motors start and kick in. I have reduced some of this annoyance by switching to CFL's which dont seem to mind the split second voltage drop. Obviously I cannot seperate out the AC as this is 240volt.

Just curious if seperating them is an issue or not.

Thanks
Rick

sgip2000

Just put your motors on dedicated circuits and load all the circuits equally across both legs. That should help.

bcgfdc3

One other question. Does it matter if they are close to the supply? I mean the first breakers or the last on the bus.

I know surge supressors are supposed to be and i didn' know if this would help or not.

sgip2000

No, does not matter.

Surge breakers need to be close to the neutral bus to minimize the length of the wire(s).