I have a 28 year old home, about 2000 Sq Ft, with 100 amp service. I've not noticed any problems yet, as a result of this.
I'm going to be putting in an above ground pool, and had my friend, a licensed electrician, come over to discuss the electrical work to be done. It was his first time here (only lived here 1 yr), and upon going in the basement his immediate reaction was that I need to upgrade from 100 to 200 amp service. We do have central air and my wife does alot of laundry, but it hasn't been a problem yet. He said adding the pool pump/filter would be too much for 100 amp. I trust this friend, and am not disputing the need for this. But, when he realized that have underground wires he mentioned that they may have to dig up the service wire to upgrade for 200. Mentioned that they sometimes use bigger wire or have conduit that we could re-use w/o digging, but I'm getting the feeling digging is going to be the result. He said it'd be about $1500 for the upgrade, which I can deal with, but about $2000 if they have to dig. He's calling the power company next week to find out what's underground.
What is the liklihood of not having to dig? Do they really put down wire bigger than necessary in case someone upgrades? Also, was it common 28 years ago to use conduit underground, and if so, conduit big enough for the
200 wiring?Thanks...