Upgrading Electrical Panel

Be sure to Spec #12 wire for branch circuits. #12 is good for 20 amps. For appliances such as minisplit ac’s read the specs to see the maximum amps required. A 2 zone minisplit has a maximum pull of 15 amps, but spec a higher gauge then required in case in the future you’ll want to change it; for something that may require perhaps 20 amps or more. I myself pulled #10 wire to my minisplit system. Which is good for 30 amps. You can always oversize electrical wires, if their undersized you run into the risk of them heating up; melting the insulation and causing a short circuit. Circuit breakers stop that, but sometimes you run into a situation where someone pulled #14 wire (15amp) but put it on a 20 amp breaker.

GreenThinker

in Brownstoner Renovation 11 years and 11 months ago

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skylightseeker | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Good Morning, We are renovating a 2-family brownstone and wanted to bring out electrical panel up to code. I have heard that the new City code is to have a 200 Amp panel for the house. My contractor is telling me that 100 Amps for the garden rental unit and 100 Amps for the owner’s duplex will suffice. We are adding in a split air conditioning system to the duplex along with upgrading all the electrical circuits in the house. We were wondering what others done in similar situations? Is 100 Amps enough for a 3-bedroom duplex? Is 100 Amps too much for a 2-bedroom garden apartment? Can I cut the garden apartment down to 50 Amps and give the duplex 150 Amps? Ass always, any recommendations very much appreciated! Thanks!

GreenThinker | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Thats not quite how it works. You don’t add up circuit breaker numbers. But do a load calculation, but i won’t get into that. If you’re upgrading your service equipment, the standard layout is a new property line box (200 amp box) Sometimes they replace the wires coming into your house; most likely they will not. Typical ConEd wires coming in from the street are good for 100+ amps. Then from that line box, a conduit goes to your new meter pan, in your situation it would be 2 apartment meters; and 1 PL&P Meter. And from your meter pan, wires would go to main circuit breaker panels; each box having a 100 amp circuit breaker in it. And from their electrical feeders/raisers at least #3 wire would run to each load panel. Don’t worry about the amps, let the electrician do his job.

skylightseeker | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Thanks, GreenThinker. It is actually the GC that is telling us this. We have not had a chance to speak to his electrician directly. We were just worried that he was trying to cut corners or do the bare minimum to complete the contract.