I realize this is a very "open ended" question - but I'm going to ask anyway. I'm looking to upgrade my 100amp fuse box to 200 amp breakers (and the corresponding service). This is in Rhode Island in the North East. If anyone has had this done recently what did you pay for the upgrade? Just trying to get an idea of the range of prices that I should be looking at. In upgrading am I forced to correct any "out of code" stuff?
The reason I ask is I had one guy come in and basically wanted to rewire my house. Sorry - that isn't in the cards - for the price I was quoted I might as well sell the house and start over.
Also, if anyone has a recomendation for a good electrition in the area that chargers a "fair" price I'm all ears.
I have no idea of price, but I don't see why you couldn't maintain the circuits you currently have and only get a new service and breaker panel. what rationale did he give for "rewiring the whole house?"
What constitutes a 200 amp service and who is responsible to pay for the various parts of it, varies wildly from one area to another. In some locations the utility company furnishes some of the materials and labor, and in other areas the property owner is responsible for everything. The term "out of code" by NEC definition means anything not in accordance with 2008 codes, which could mean damn near anything, so I'd want to find out, by who's interpretation. Your best bet is to contact a few local electricians, get all the pertinent information and estimates
With moderate DIY skills and an average tool kit, you should be able to complete the job for $300 worth of materials and an afternoon's work. That's what it took me.
Well - that's what my current thinking is as of now. But I am having a hard time trying to find a 60 or 70 amp sub panel with more than 4 spaces (what I find only has 2 spaces - I want to run 2 20 amp circuits for the outlets, one 15 am for lighting (I'm running 5 cans, one overhead and an outside garage light on it) and a seperate 15 am circuit for the refridgerator and microwave. Currently I have 2 20 amp circuits supplying the existing stuff, so I know I'll never, with the extra cans, run into even 50% of a 60 amp sub - and I'd be taking the 2 20's out of the 100 amp fuse box). I'm redoing the kitchen so want to add 5 additional circuts to the fuse box which is "full". Though I have plenty of "overhead" left and the sub-panel solution would work. But I'm thinking I'm going to have to bite the bullet some time so this might be the time.
I had one guy in and he looked at the fuse box and wanted to replace all the circuitry to bring it "up to code". Well, I can't afford that I do all my own electrical but won't touch this type of upgrade (I won't touch a panel upgrade itself, I know my limits). He wanted close to $3000 to run the upgrade, which, to me, is real high. And this was just to bring my kitchen up to code (with the existing 2 circuits). I even got the old "you don't want to keep this because it might start a fire" speach. Well, it's been in
30 years and I haven't even blown a fuse so the scare tactics are bullsh**. I do all my own circuits to the panel so I know basic wiring and I know when I'm being feed the story.
Well, I know a 200 amp load center is fairly cheap ($150 or so) but I would need to replace both the wiring into the 100 amp service (the existing aluminum is not "big" enought) and I believe the meter would need to be changed. I'm good with simple wiring and circuits (i.e. anything past the panel in the house) but I am not confident enough to do this type of upgrade, even if the electric company would let me.
Well, 200 amps is 200 amps. That much I know ;-) The NEC is fairly specific when it comes to wire sizes and specs for supplying various services.
Your right about the "out of code" stuff, I'm pretty sure that's electritian speek for "I need to make my mortgage payment this week and I got the truck payment too" LOL!
If the meter socket through the load center needs to be replaced and there are not complicating factors (difficult location, existing circuits in really bad shape, etc.) it should run between $1,000 - $1,500 and take most of a day to complete.
'Bub's comments on the DIY side are pretty much correct unless you opt for higher end components. A friend had to upgrade his house from 60A fuse to 100A breaker (small house no justification for 200A), and with an evening of instruction he did the DIY in roughly the same time and cost.
I did an upgrade myself a couple years ago from 200A service to 200A service :) Actually it was replacing a 200A POS Stab-Loc incendiary device with a 200A Square D QO load center in the house and upgrading the sub in my shop 80' away to a 125A QO load center along with installing all new conduit and wire underground to the shop. It took me about two days to complete (not counting trenching the concrete like clay) and ran around $1,500 which also included a complete internal rewire in the shop.
This is what we paid to upgrade our 60A to 200A in 2003: $1,000 and just about a full day of work for a licensed electrician. We're very happy to have all these extra slots for the upcoming kitchen remodel, and we've used several to run new circuits to spread the load better in the house.
Right, but I believe (at least here) the ELCO deals with that. could be wrong at that though. Like I said, running circuits to the panel is no problem my comfort zone ends at the box, but electric theory is the same.
I have wondered, if you have 100 amp service with too few circuits, install a spiffey new 200 amp service but replace the main 200 amp breaker with a 100 amp one, but upgrade all the grounding to current code.
That's about what I thought a "fair" price would be. I have full existing
14/2 romex (NM-B) in the house so I don't get why he would want to "upgrade" any of that on the 15 amp circuits. I do have some 14/2 on a couple of 20's but they go to the kitchen (which I am rewiring with 12/2 and 20 amp sockets for those circuits).
I don't have enough "knowledge" to know about the meter and all, which is why I need an electrician. Like I said, I know my limits - I'm willing to pay a "fair" price, but $3000 is a bit high IMHO.
I would also not have a problem taking that type of job on (the run to a subpanel to another building). As long as I can cut power on what I'm working on I have no problems. I get that the panel in a different building needs to be bonded to it's own ground, run with wiring in a "wet" condition etc ......
Thanks for the response. Looks like maybe I just got to line up about 5 electricians and get quotes.
Yes, you can upgrade a 100A fuse load center to a 100A breaker load center. You can also put a main breaker in a load center with a lower rating than the maximum the load center buss is rated for.
if you have 14/2 on 20 amp breakers, that might be a reason for the high quotes. those may actually need to be rewired for the electrician to hook them up. if they serve a kitchen he might not be able to replace with a 15A breaker. I can understand why someone might refuse to do that.
Since you say you feel comfortable doing your own wiring, could you repull those with 12/2 prior to the service upgrade? That might make some of your problems go away.
Good question. I also thought of buying a 100 amp main load center and replacing the 100 amp main breaker with a 60 amp breaker and just not bonding the ground and installing a ground bar to the panel and running it as a sub panel back to the main fuse box. Not sure how this would fly though or if it is even "acceptable". Which eventually leads to why not just "sub panaling" a full 100 amp load box off the main fuse box in this mannor and moving over all the circuits to the breakers (if nothing is left in the fuse box then both the fuse and breaker should blow on overload - in theory). I'm sure this is not acceptable for some reason though ...
Andy writes: I did a similar thing at a cabin I have. It was built 30 yrs ago and wired for about 70 amps, and I upgraded to 200.
It is in an area where the owner can do anything he/she wants, and no inspection by a building inspector is required.
When the power company is called to change the lines over to the new powerhead, the lineman checks it up thru the input to the panel. After that, he doesn't care, since it is breakered and won't affect the power company....
The panel, pipes, meter box, wire, and misc ran me around $300
-350 total. The power company gave me a diagram of what the dimensions , layout, and clearances had to be for them to hook it up.`..... I used an outdoor panel from Home Depot in a "contractor pack", which had several breakers included. I think it had something like 12 or so slots. It also had a main breaker of 200 amps which was a really good idea for a total disconnect....
It was a good days, work, but actually was kind of fun. I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone who is unfamiliar with power wiring, tho.
Anyway, I built it up like the power company diagram said, with the power head on a 3inch pipe sticking about 4 feet above the roofline, and called the company to make the switchover. The lineman came out, checked it over, plugged in a meter, and changed the pole lines from the 70 amp powerhead to my new 200 amp powerhead, and went away...
Then, at my leisure, I pulled out the old cabin wiring a line at a time, and put in the new romex to my panel. Piece of cake, but dirty, thirsty work.....
Good luck... It ain't rocket surgery, but you need to get familiar with the code and "standard practice".....
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