Upgrading electrical service in a brownstone

Hello to all the electricians out there. My question is about upgrading electrical service in a 100 year old brownstone to accommodate an on-demand electric water heater that can pull as much as 300 amps.

In my research, when someone refers to ‘upgrading electrical service’, it seems they are generally referring to putting in a larger panel….spaces for more breakers. I do have that already.

But what if there isn’t enough power coming into that panel from the street? What is the transformers in the ground cannot accommodate such a huge load? I think ‘upgrading electrical service’ can also mean digging up the front lawn and running new wires from the street.

My worst fear is to spend a fortune installing this water heater and it then causes the whole house to flicker. Any advice about how to tell if my house can accommodate such an appliance, and what to do if it cannot?

Thank you!

daniel.grosslight

in Renovation 3 years and 6 months ago

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daniel.grosslight | 3 years and 5 months ago

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Eman thanks for that point..i didn’t think there would be a difference. This water heater can draw 300amp, i figure another 100 for everything else, which gives me a need of at least 400 amps.

Guest User | 3 years and 5 months ago

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Ah, good catch – we were 200 amp service

Guest User | 3 years and 5 months ago

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jaj…what was your new service …200 amp? the op is talking about 400 amp service which way more complex and costly

Guest User | 3 years and 5 months ago

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We dealt with this issue in our Greenpoint townhouse renovation in 2020 — went from 3 family to 1 family, and wanted to update service/consolidate to a single panel. Our service from the street was actually shared with the neighbor + wasn’t sufficient service. Our electrician coordinated everything directly with ConEd — he ordered the new service, ConEd came and surveyed — was pretty straightforward. They had to break up sidewalk and yard to install. That part of the electrical work was $7k — not cheap, but glad we did it.

brooklyndempsey | 3 years and 5 months ago

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There were some extensive discussions here on electric on demand water heaters last year that the original poster might want to take a look at.
https://www.brownstoner.com/forum/#!/general-discussion:all-electric-house-will-c
https://www.brownstoner.com/forum/#!/general-discussion:tank-or-tankless-water-heat

Guest User | 3 years and 5 months ago

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this is going to be phenomenally expensive…you will have to replace all incoming service and panels, etc

stevecym | 3 years and 5 months ago

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To your question, they just put new ones here in my neighborhood, literally two weeks ago. The replacements appear to be much bigger than the old round ones. So I think you are on to something.

daniel.grosslight | 3 years and 5 months ago

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Thank you both. I’ve read that sometimes the transformer in the street can be insufficient….is that a concern in Brooklyn where (maybe I’m wrong) we have decent electrical infrastructure?

dorkofwindsor | 3 years and 5 months ago

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What Steve said. My understanding is that an electrician would be needed to order a service upgrade from ConEd. The electrician should be able to tell you how large the service line is coming into the panel. Mine old one was 90a and you can ask them how much you will need with and without the tankless WH.

stevecym | 3 years and 6 months ago

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I would call an electrician into the house to look at the wires coming into your main breaker. I would also think that they would have to check the wire size into the meter as I would not trust that anything has ever been done with any consistency.

There has been some discussion on here in the past about how sometimes people put upgraded panels in but con ed does nothing to the wires in from the street leaving people with a whole bunch of questions. See if you can find that post. A few years back.

By the way, I have a couple of square d 100 amp boxes here, new, that someone gave me. I wish to give them away. If anyone wants them I can be reached at thetinkerswagon.com