100 amp people advice needed.

[spsick]

What do you have for electric major appliances? That will mostly dictate if you need more amps.

Think electric water heater, stove, central ac, dryer etc. Those window ac and dehumidifiers pull some amps but they don’t all start at the same time.

I‘m on 100a service with no issue but have gas stove, dryer, and water heater.

 

[Pistondog]

Just make sure all costs are covered in the estimate if you go that route.
New codes here are requiring higher elevation at house point of entry and outside disconnect for fire dept.

 

[crusso1993]

I upgrade homes to 200amp services every week. 3k$ for Florida prices is almost spot on, and a good price. We are about 2300-5k depending on equipment and service drop wires copper vs aluminum For a new meter, riser, panel, and service drop wires. They will also be required to install surge protection (100$) this is a service I suggest, there are a couple of other factors that may apply, like how your circuits are branched together and if this is aluminum wired house, but best thing to do electrically is to start with a new panel and service, and since you only want to do these things once, I suggest to upgrade to the largest allowable service for residential (can go larger for larger homes) which is 200a, with that a 200amp meter can is needed but having all this done at one time is best.

Then I would look into running dedicated circuits to your aquariums if needed.

I can answer more if needed I saw this and thought I could throw two cents at it for you, and say this sounds like a good call from your electrician.

$3K for a 200A upgrade? You're clearly not near Ft. Myers or Cape Coral where the "hurricane pricing" has taken over! lol
I laugh but there is more truth to that than most companies will admit.

 

[Notsolostfish]

What do you have for electric major appliances? That will mostly dictate if you need more amps.

Think electric water heater, stove, central ac, dryer etc. Those window ac and dehumidifiers pull some amps but they don’t all start at the same time.

I‘m on 100a service with no issue but have gas stove, dryer, and water heater.

I have electric stove, electric boiler that happens to be very efficient, all my appliances are new. I run 5 windows acs in the summer and 2 60 pint dehumidifers. And i have 1 16 gallons tank, 1 80, and im getting a 130 gallons reef tank. I ran previously 5 windows ac for 2 years with no issues. But i dont know why im concerned with the newer 130, and the treadmil we added.

 

[Pistondog]

I have electric stove, electric boiler that happens to be very efficient, all my appliances are new. I run 5 windows acs in the summer and 2 60 pint dehumidifers. And i have 1 16 gallons tank, 1 80, and im getting a 130 gallons reef tank. I ran previously 5 windows ac for 2 years with no issues. But i dont know why im concerned with the newer 130, and the treadmil we added.

Electric dryer?

 

[Notsolostfish]

Electric dryer?

Yes electric dryer.

 

[Pistondog]

How big is the boiler in kw ?

 

[Paul B]

Be careful the NEC changes every 3 years or so, it's easy to lose track of them all in 50yrs.

LOL I am sure it does and I have been retired (Thank God) for about 18 years. I worked in Manhattan.

New York City up until just before I retired used to have it's own code which was stricter than the NEC.
We can't upgrade to a 300 amp service or I think even a 200 amp service unless we can prove we need that much power for something like maybe an olympic swimming pool or green house growing Sequoia redwood trees.

Almost no one here in New York has electric heat because our electric bills are some of the highest in the nation so we burn junk mail in our furnaces.

We also don't have the AC load you guys have or the pool chillers. If we have a pool we may have a heater but it would be gas.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

LOL I am sure it does and I have been retired (Thank God) for about 18 years. I worked in Manhattan.

New York City up until just before I retired used to have it's own code which was stricter than the NEC.
We can't upgrade to a 300 amp service or I think even a 200 amp service unless we can prove we need that much power for something like maybe an olympic swimming pool or green house growing Sequoia redwood trees.

Almost no one here in New York has electric heat because our electric bills are some of the highest in the nation so we burn junk mail in our furnaces.

We also don't have the AC load you guys have or the pool chillers. If we have a pool we may have a heater but it would be gas.

Yes, that is a big difference from Florida where most of our heavy appliances are electric, then people want to add a car charger or two and can't understand why they need a bigger panel for their new tesla's, well there's just no space in your new 150a panel for all your stuff!. Then I say you should have gotten a 48space 200a panel for a few hundred bucks more and it wouldn't be an issue.

At least we don't pay California's electricity prices! Lol electricity cost is crazy !

 

[srobertb]

$3k to upgrade to 200amp service isn’t bad. A great electrician and maybe even your electric company should be willing to do an energy audit and tell you what your needs are for major appliances and things. Keep in mind you probably won’t ever run your AC and Heater at the same time. I know on my tanks during the day the heater doesn’t run. So the 1000 watts of LED’s are not running at the same time the 1500w of heaters are running so factor that in.

You can also buy a watt meter on Amazon ($20?) that is easy to use and will tell you the amp draw of each outlet. There are Wi-Fi versions that should track and chart draw so you can feel better and be more informed.

Without knowing your house and current energy draw and future plans, it’s difficult to say whether you should upgrade, need to upgrade, or don’t.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Perhaps you'd need 200Amps if you run multiple large outdoor A/C units and want to plug in your TESLA

You most certainly don't need it because you're setting up another small tank.

I'm on 100A service here in NY and I am not worried about any capacity issues.

All you need is a dedicated 15/20A circuit (or 2 for redundancy) ran to your tank.

 

[Floyd-]

You should be fine. I ran a 175 gallon tank with chiller and loads of electronics on a 15A circuit without issues for years.