Why is there more than 200 A worth of breakers inside of a 200 amp panel?! 

Thanks for watching my friend! Good to know ⚡️⚡️

Square-D, best in the business. 🤘

Ehh my boss is a fan of the square D line of products👍

@@tommypartin6431 i concur. That's why i replaced my panel with a square D one.

Yerrr SqD Just wanted to say it lol

Hahahaha

Hilarious xD

LOL!

Broooo🤣the animation tho

Wait you mean I am not supposed to be running 73 vacuum cleaners at the same time?! 😉

That whole put a vest on a guy and he's an expert thing is a real problem! I am glad you recognize it as some don't.

Great to hear!

Just pay an electrician and let him handle the headache.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much, that means a lot!

A the olde I got the master electrician here, one that cannot speak for himself, how convenient, Being a E&E Engineer +a Sparky, we all know, you cannot Know or remember it all, That being said, it's obvious that people try to get one over on you, S. T. E. M is not like the arts or law (statute or common) that you can argue the point, most people that are not in the above, believe word can be used to doodle you, I am usually patient and ask for the person to be put on the phone, then get a gauge of the person, North America is really nice to work & live, as a brit,

In the last house I bought all branch circuits were tandem breakers. And the idiot who wired the panel ran red-black-red-black all the way down on the tandem breakers. Great way to have overheated neutrals. I rewired the tandem breakers red-red-black-black. Classic case of doing work by rote and not understanding how it works. It's these-fly by-night tech schools that are responsible for this incompetent work.

@@andydelle4509 Wow! What an idiot! That could’ve created a BIG problem. All tandem breakers too? We don’t put those things in unless absolutely necessary. Good thing you found and fixed it, a lot of inspectors wouldn’t know to write that up.

@@CA-lk6fd Well it's even worse. Lots of can fixtures and no Romex clamps used! And no, these cans did not have the built in clamps either. Just run the cable into the hole! House was built in 1991.

@@andydelle4509 it simply amazes me how people don’t do things the proper way. I’ve been doing electrical work for 24 years now, residential and commercial. The first guy I ever worked for always told us, “do it right, or walk away from it.” I was a young little punk kid back then, but I look back now and appreciate him being hard on me. I have always strived to do things according to code and beyond. It makes me feel good when an inspector tells me “that looks great, you guys do great work.” That’s the only way I know how to do it. If I don’t know, I’ll find out. I pride myself in being the best I can be because what we (electricians) do is important.

You nailed it bro

Word

This! Google will monitor your energy use and cut you off when you edge over into unsustainability. The smart grid will figure out when you've stepped over the line, and you'll just get cut off when you're putting the Planet in jeopardy. On a tangentially related note, using washing and drying machines makes Gaia cry so don't do that anymore, mm'kay?

Load schedule as well

Here in eastern washington that's pretty normal

@@Californians_go_home well in Florida where I've seen thousands of houses it most definitely is lol

I honestly wonder if you'll ever use 200 amps at the shed a 30 amp sub would have been suffiecent

same at my house. 400A service is really 320 and its a meter socket with dual outpout lugs each going to a 200A panel. SOP

I just saw the video on 1phase v 3 phase wow no no no there is nopush pullin. Generators have a rotating fields of n and south poles .depnding on speed 1800 rpm u would have 4 poles connected in series to a dc exciter on back end . u have to make dc b 4 u can generate ac .the rotating magnetic fields r. Controlled by v regulator . that moves .the stator. Or stationary part of gen set is made up of individual coils of wire that r spaced 120° apart on 360 rotation .there r 6 coils .wen u series connect u get nominal network 480/277 .wen connested in parelle u get 208\120 v 3phase 3 wire u tap t4 t5 t6 for 4 th wire for 120 neutral .once the gen is running the rotating dc magnetic field is inducing voltage in statsionary windings there is no current flow outward untill a load is applied to l1 l2 l3 .the 4th wire is bonded to gen frame and u derive your egc from that and is. Not conn to neut any where else in system and shoukd have no current flow and no v potensial on conductor and runs w crckt condutors . your loops r short crkt unless u put resistance in .no push pull no xtra amps comin back to asist next phase .fig i c if this helps. Thanks 4 reading single phase transformer. In res areas r fed w 7200 v off 3 phase network of 13.800 v plus grounded conductor

Congrats!

That's an achievement. Insleeee hates electricians. I still haven't been able to get an apprenticeship.

I did the same. I have two car chargers in the garage and nearly 5000 sq ft of living space plus a 900 sq ft garage. 400 Amps was the right answer.

Yikes !!! A 60 amp electric furnace? Even if it is on a 60 amp breaker and only really draws about 48 amps.... That's a perfect candidate for a change out with a Heat Pump. Unless you are in a very cold climate.... You can save up to 75% in kWh. Don't get me wrong... We should all use way more electricity powered by Nuclear Reactors everywhere... But that's a can of worms. I have never heard the term Electric Furnace, not that I can remember.

Glad it was helpful!

I was an AE ,62E AIMD Nas Oceana 96-99

Glad you liked it!

Don't you use 240V circuits though? So your 60 amp service is like a 120 here, and 100 like 200.

In Philadelphia's older rowhouse neighborhoods, many row units built in the 1930s have 60 amp service. I managed to trip the main breaker one day with a lot on (laundry, TV etc).

Do you mean amp or volt?

@@bigkirbyhj666 Oh, it's amps. The main breaker had "60" printed on its handle. Even in the 1980s that was deemed obsolete, most homeowners had already upgraded to 100.

Jesus Christ! How many square foot is your home?

​@@robbybiddle9236 It was 3480 sq feet. I added 1480 feet in the basement.

@m rapacki The original breaker were set up as follows: 4x15 amp breakers for lights (Bedrooms, hall & loft area, Living room/ dining room and kitchen/ library. 6x20 amp breakers - non GFI outlets (local code stipulated no more than 10 outlets per breaker, and outlets be spaced no more than 12' apart). They are broken out as such - Garage, Master Bedroom, Bedrooms (2, 3 &4), Loft & hallway, dining & library, guest bedroom and living room 3x20 amp breakers - GFI - Kitchen outlet, upstairs bathrooms, downstairs bathrooms 4x20 amp breakers for dedicated items (microwave, refrigerator, and dishwasher/ disposal, Wash machine) 1x40 amp breaker for hot water heater 1x50 amp breaker for kitchen stove 1x30 amp breaker for dryer 1x60 amp breaker for AC unit 1x15 amp breaker for outside lights 1x20 amp breaker for outside outlets (4x). My utilization score was 149 Amps for a 200 amp service, and would be limited to a maximum score of 160. In order to get permitted, I would have been able to add 3x 20 amp breakers for outlets (each score at 3 amps), and one 15 amp switch for lights (scored at 2 points) before I would have maxed out. When I got the basement permitted, I was told if I ever planned on adding an AC unit or heater, I'd have to increase my service load. I had planned to add a heat pump than runs on a 30 amp breaker, which would automatically put me over, and they would not permit the project until service was upgraded. I did get called out on the code for can lights because although I used high efficiency LED's, they have to run the calculation as if you are using incandescent filament bulbs, and I was required to cut the total # of lights on a circuit between 2x15 amp circuits. Even though a 15 amp circuit can handle 1800 watts, code limits it to 1440 watts, and with each can light rated at 100 watt bulbs, I could only 14 can lights per circuit. As stupid as it is, the pool room (18'x26') has 15 can lights and 2 fans with lights. I had to take 1 can light off the circuit, and dedicate a circuit to the fans, fan lights and a single can light. The basement has its own 100 amp service (way overkill), but I took the 400 amp service and split it at the meter for 200 amps to the main part of the house, 100 amps to the basement and 100 amp dedicated to the garage. This allows me to add a 80 Amp EV charger whenever I want without needing a permit, or change to service. Since I had plenty of power to the basement, it is broken down as such: 30 amp circuit - heat pump (25 points) 20 amp circuit - dedicated for FRIDGE and SEWER PUMP (12 points each - 24 combined) 20 amp circuit (x5 kitchen GFCI, Bathroom GFCI, and 3 circuits for outlets. (3 points a piece, 15 points total) 3x 15 amp light circuits (2 points a piece, 6 total) The utilization score for the basement is 70 out of a possible 80 per local code (80% score of breaker box capacity, which was 100 Amps). I also removed 3 points from the upstairs utilization score (down to 146) by removing a 20 amp circuit that fed 3 lights and 1 outlet in the basement.

@@Xander-dx6mw Can u post any good resources for performing a load calculation? You must have done one.

@@Xander-dx6mw we upgraded to 400A from 225A. 6000sqft divided into 6 apts. 6 of each appliances and 2 AC units. 300A meter bases and panels aren’t easy to get so we went 400A.

That only works if you have such a system -- few people have them. And it all rests on the ability to determine what the loads are. My house usage is a nearly constant 1kW. So constant, in fact, the power company cannot begin to guess what the loads are. (they claim 60% of my power is "Water Heater"... they know for a fact this house has _never_ had electric water heat.) I know what's what, because I can hang a meter on each circuit.

Prime example of using the electric meter for planning is industrial settings where a demand meter can supply data on actual use at peak times. After working at a generator company for near 25 years we've used a utility bill to determine the proper sizing of a gen set. In this case it was a double check after the usual calculations. The reason being is a gen set is seldom required to power the whole building at max service capacity and it can save thousands on an installation.

"In the old days" a paper wheel graph would be used to determine use and time to plan/plot appliance use and energy savings, goes to pot when things are done outside the parameters set aside. You can collect all the data you want , but usage can vary on weather or whim.

Then when a new person moves into the house and has different uses for the house you're fucked. Square footage is the way to go I think.

I think the number one factor that's going to change the amount of power being used in a house is the amount of people living in the house. A house with a family and 3 kids is going to consume way more power than a house with only one grandma living in it.

is that going to be a true 400-amp service or a pair of 200s? (we call that a 320-amp service here) The main difference between the two is in a residential setting they will allow smaller feed wires because it's mostly for all the home runs and breaker space, rather than full loads.

I believe it's actually 320. Elec company says I can use 4/0 4/0 2/0 SE wire, aluminum and I intend to run 2 separate lines from box to my 2 200 amp boxes, underground, in electrical pvc

@@kennethcallahan7410 ... that feeder combo says it all. 4/0 Al is rated for about 175 amps and the 2/0 neutral says they are allowing for a large 240 volt load and an undersized neutral is ok. Are they really allowing SE cable in a buried conduit or do you mean individual conductors in Al with a W/2 rating?

@@rupe53 I'm doing Indiv conductors from service pole in conduit to the two boxes, or that's the plan. I have to go 130 ft from pole to the boxes which will be inside shop and wanted underground vs overhead. Am putting in conduit to protect wire due to soil here which is clay and very rocky and the rocks move around a lot

@@kennethcallahan7410 Ok, good deal. You mentioned SE wire which I took to mean Service Entrance cable, which is the grey jacketed stuff you see going down the outside of a home. It's not allowed to go any distance in conduit other than a short run for protection. Do yourself a favor and go larger than you need on the conduit. Also use sweep elbows. It can be a bear to pull that distance. If you have the option, you can lay the wire out and walk each piece of conduit into place. That can be a real back saver if there is more that 2 elbows on the run.

Yea, and the "neutral" in single phase service is supposed to be called the Grounded Conductor. 😉There's Code, and then there's the language everybody uses.

That’s a cool story! Should’ve been a Dr. Pepper though..

Glad you like them! Thanks for watching my friend

Usually 320A meter sockets are used with 400A services, because the when the 125% safety factor is applied to continuous loads, it applies to the breaker, but not the continuous-duty rated meter socket. Why meter socket manufacturers can't simply "speak the same language" as breaker manufacturers, and call it a 400A meter socket, I do not understand. That would make it a lot easier to select a meter socket to match your service rating.

200A is pretty much THE standard. My farm, which has power to run a well pump (that I could run off of battery is people would f'ing steal it), is 200A. There's a 50A RV plug to charge an EV, if necessary.

200A for a trailer is overkill, hahaha 😆

@@samspade5648 Dryer, water heater, kitchen, EVSE... 200A isn't that stupid. (yes, people in trailers buy EVs.)