wire size and 200amp service

[J.A. Michel]

I think I'd find another electrician if I were you. You need 4/0 Aluminum or 2/0 copper. You choose.

2/0 AL should not be used in a 200A feeder. I put in my own 200A service and used 2/0 copper. CU is more expensive than AL, but it was worth it to me. The Power Company hooked up their side of the meter with 4/0 AL. >

[Pete C.]

Aluminum conductors are more flexible than the equivalent copper conductors and therefore easier to handle, especially for long pulls. Copper conductors don't need to have anti-ox compound applied to the connections. Current prices of each material come into play. The physically smaller space occupied by the copper cable of a given current rating can be a factor. Bottom line, personal preference as to which issue are most important to you.

AL wiring in small gauges and terminated at devices without the proper ratings is not good.

[tommears]

1. the two low-ball estimates were proposing to do it without permits or inspections. This was also a point of discomfort for me. I spoke with one of these guys and asked about getting doing the work by getting cable and going through the official process of permits, inspections, etc. and was told that if I wanted to go that route his price was going to be just a bit higher than the guy who gave me the "expected" answer the first time.
2. I think one of my problems with this situation was that I knew too much. My position with Siemens is the safety manager for our industrial service group...our folks go out and work on 480V and

4,160V, and 13,800V industrial equipment.

1. The final factor that was in the back of my mind was the fact that the house next door (built by the same developer) burnt to the ground

6 weeks ago in an apparent electrical system fire.

[Doug Miller]

It should be. I bet they wanted payment in cash, too.

Anyone who is a qualified and licensed electrician should have no trouble obtaining a permit, and need fear nothing from an inspection. "No permit" should be understood as "unlicensed," which in turn implies "unqualified."

"No inspection" should be understood as "unqualified, and knows it."

Consider also that your electric utility company needs to be involved in this process: the lines from the transformer to the meter base are almost certainly

2/0 aluminum to support the 150A service that they know you currently have. An upgrade to 200A necessarily includes stringing new 4/0 wire from the transformer to the meter base -- and they're probably going to want to see a permit before they reinstall the meter.

So in addition to being neither licensed nor qualified, he's dishonest too.

No such thing as knowing too much. Your knowledge, and that of the people you consulted at work, saved you from an unsafe installation.

That could have any number of causes, though. If the house was more than a couple years old, there's a good chance that the electrical system has seen some modifications -- possibly by an unqualified homeowner, or maybe even by one of the incompetent hacks that told you 2/0 aluminum was OK for 200A.

Like I said in my earlier post, the $3500 figure sounds a bit stiff to me. You might want to solicit bids from one or two more qualified electricians or contractors for comparison purposes, before you decide to go with that. But I wouldn't have anything further to do with either of the lowballers.

[mm]

OK, I get it. Thanks a bunch.

[William Underhill]

Ah, yes, thus leaving the way open to squeeze you when you went ahead and had the work inspected. Glad your bullshit detector went off.

You're exactly the type of customer these fly-by-night artists try to avoid - the educated one. May not feel up to tackling the work yourself, but you have the background to know when someone's trying to blow smoke up your ass. What's a crook to do?

Yup. Seen a very small electrical fire onboard (had to do the technical investigation for the Engineering Officer), in the hangar; never want to see another one.

Yours aye, W. Underhill