More Electrical Service questions

[aerobb]

I'm starting to think we need an Electrical category to the forums

First let me describe what I have.

House built in 1886. Had an addition built in the 60's. The addition was an Inlaws apartment for those of you that know what that is. I've got about 3200 S.F. of house that I've remodeled and turned into a single family dwelling. The house has 2 60 amp services. The service for the addition runs thru the basement of the house to a panel which is now in the Attached garage. That panel has been whittled down to a few Outlets, and 3 rooms of Lights, a 220 circuit for a Stove (which is not used) and a 220 circuit for a Hot water heater.

I built a 30x40 Barn to use as work shop. (Cars, and a little bit of wood working in the loft) No 3phase stuff like Mills, lathes, etc. Just Table saws jointers, hand tools. I will need at least 2 220 circuits for Welder and Compressor.

Is there a 200amp 3 Lug Meter? does a 3 lug service exist?

I was going to run a sub from the Apartment service (shortest run) that has very few circuits still in use.
Now I'm wondering if that's enough.

I hate the idea of going to 3 separate Meters on the house so I'm wondering what's the best way to simplify.

 

[Lu47Dan]

aerobb , the best ADVICE , would be hire a local electrician to figure out what you need . Have him give you a price on the work , if the price is reasonable than hire him to do the work . I work in construction and know a bunch of them so I get my advice free . But it sounds as if you would need at least a new main service panel of at least 150 amps , probably heavier than that . One reason to go with a electrician , he will know the local procedures in getting the power shutdown and meter removed then getting everything tied in and the power back on . Dan (Meadville Pa.)

 

[pepe49]

Well aerobb you should actually consult an electrical contractor and consider removing the (2) 60A service panels and upgrading the incoming service to one meter with 200A service and splitting it, 100A to the shop and 100A to the home as 60 Amp service is not up to the current national electrical code requirements anymore. You do not need to upgrade to 100A unless you would decide to sell the home then you would be required to upgrade to 100A before the home could be sold. This upgrade could get pretty involved and you might need to hire a qualified electrical contractor since the upgrade would involve changing the outdoor meter box, the weather head, the conduit(s) between the weather head, the meter box and into the service panel located in the home, then the service panel, main breaker would need to be upgraded along with the size of the individual conductors as they would need to be larger and the correct wire size to handle the new higher amperage service otherwise you could have a fire hazard as the wire could burn before the breaker would trip. This could get even more involved and costly depending on other issues as well, however the majority of indoor circuits and wiring should be ok as long as there is a ground connection (individual conductor or conduit) along with the hot and neutral wires although you might need to upgrade some of the outlets to ground fault receptacles to meet the electrical code.
So removing the two 60A incoming service lines and changing to a single 200A incoming service and then splitting it as needed might require having to fabricate and build a new service disconnect and meter box and upgrade the load centers (breaker panels) and run some power cable from the new service disconnect panel to the new location(s) and re-routing some of the old circuits depending on the location of the new panels, disconnect switches and upgrading the load panel to 100A and maybe changing to circuit breakers in the home if necessary to match the new load center, it should not require having to rewire the complete house and it is somewhat involved it really is not that expensive as far as the cost of materials, to change out the meters and service panels, maybe about $500, the highest cost will be the power cable to the shop, as depending on the distance it is about $3/ft although then there is the labor cost and electricians, especially union electricans, believe they are "special" and so they charge more, so you should get a couple of estimates and compare what both estimates state is required to upgrade your incoming service to 200A as many contractors will try to sell you more than is necessary, but no matter what, make sure the company is licensed and insured.

I know that I was lengthly on my reply and hopefully I didn't confuse you too bad.

 

[markb1]

60 Amp service is not up to the current national electrical code requirements anymore. You do not need to upgrade to 100A unless you would decide to sell the home then you would be required to upgrade to 100A before the home could be sold.

Are you sure.
The code is not retroactive.
Mark