Upgrading my amps: what is the process and approx costs?

kimthorn10

in General Discussion 8 years and 4 months ago

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BKALLDAY | 8 years and 3 months ago

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The process is hiring, permitting, getting the work done from the basement up, inspected and losing quite a bit of sanity along the way. Good luck and pray you have no asbestos on your pipes cause that is an immediate stop work order and a few thousand more in remediation costs.

hkapstein | 8 years and 4 months ago

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One thing that doesn’t get a lot of discussion, and please correct me if I’ve misunderstood, but I thought a 100 amp service usually refers to 100 amps at 240 volts(2-phase). So I believe a 100 amp system could allow closer to 200 amps at 120v. In many situations it may not be necessary to upgrade the service at all.

EJR | 8 years and 4 months ago

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FWIW, 100 AMPS is more than enough for most houses. I have 100 AMPS in my 3,000 sq ft house and it’s fine. I also decided not to upgrade to 200AMPS. Appliances, light bulbs, etc. are all getting more efficient, not less, so even though more and more things are plugged in, each of them uses less and less power.

greenworks | 8 years and 4 months ago

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Oh and FWIW we are a single family home around 2000 sq ft. Almost every bid we got for upgrade to 100 amps came in at 2500 or less from licensed electrician, and around 3500-4k for upgrade to 200 amps. This was 2-3 yrs ago.

We are in non-landmarked district and was asked if we wanted new smart meter inside or out (it was inside) and got no pushback for saying we wanted to keep it inside. Your mileage may vary on this, since I’ve read that others here have gotten pushback.

greenworks | 8 years and 4 months ago

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We did the above-referenced “with permits” process for approx $2300 two years ago, upgrading service/panel from 60 amps to 100 amps using licensed electrician.

Our entire house runs on gas (all appliances/boiler) so our electrician dissuaded us from going up to 200 amps, which if I remember correctly would have been in the 3500-4000 range.

We really didn’t have the cash at the time, so we didn’t do it, and even though I still can’t foresee a reason to need it, I wish we would have done it “just in case.” But I’m a big “just in case” worrier so if you don’t have those qualms (my partner doesn’t) and your house runs on gas, it’s something to think about.

hkapstein | 8 years and 4 months ago

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The process is this. You will hire an electrician who will file the job with ConEd and the city. The electrician will estimate the load of the appliances you plan to connect, and ConEd will determine whether you need increased AMPs, and how many. If an upgrade is needed, some time will pass and ConEd will evaluate whether the service connection to your property can take the extra AMPs. Usually it can, but if not an upgrade to the service will be needed, which will take more time. The electrician will then perform the work to update the main breaker and other equipment. He/she will also need to upgrade the wiring to your main panel, and probably replace the panel. At this point it may be necessary or desirable to upgrade some of the circuits to 20A, or upgrade subpanels. You may also be adding new circuits and/or 240v circuits to support the new equipment. Next your electrician will call for inspection. It may be necessary to replace the meter with one rated for higher AMPs. It may also be necessary to move the meter to an outdoor location if you are not in a landmark ar ea. Smart meters that can be read electronically are being installed, but as far as I know the rules on outdoor meters have not been changed yet. That’s about it. Without knowing much about the details, I’d be surprised if this job got done for less than say 3500, and it should not cost more than 10,000, unless extensive rewiring is needed. It’s a wide range, but that’s somewhere to start. I would definitely bid this job out as prices can vary a lot. Hope this adds some transparency to the process.

Now I should add that is the “with permits” way to do it. If your meter is rated for higher amps than your breaker, a very common approach is to upgrade the breaker and some of the other equipment or wiring without filing anything. You will be limited, most older meters are rated for 100 amps and there may be some other limiting factors, but you may have enough overhead to get what you need. I’m not endorsing this, but if you do it make very sure your electrician knows what s/he’s doing.

Good luck!

decodeddreams | 8 years and 4 months ago

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You should reach out to an electrician. I recommend:
Gotham Licensed Electrical Contractors, Inc. Office: (718) 425-0927
Gotham should be able to provide an estimate and detailed description of the process. I used them at my own property. Best of luck! Richard | Manhatta Architecture, P.C. http://www.manhatta.net

decodeddreams | 8 years and 4 months ago

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You should reach out to an electrician. I recommend:
Gotham Licensed Electrical Contractors, Inc. Office: (718) 425-0927
Gotham should be able to provide an estimate and detailed description of the process. I used them at my own property. Best of luck! Richard | Manhatta Architecture, P.C. http://www.manhatta.net