Getting a new electrical panel for the house.

Whole house surge maybe?

Yes. No Brainer 

Any certain model for whole house?

If it was me and had to choose a Square D panel, I would go with the QO because it has tin plated copper bus bars instead of aluminum.

Im a general contractor in Southern California, pretty much every job gets a Square D HOM series 200 amp main ,the other Square D service panel design is the QO which are a different breaker design. Here in So. Cal our building codes are pretty stringent.Im not sure about other states but the latest here is the Arc Fault breaker’s being required for almost every circuit in the house . Because these breakers require a full space ( not a split breaker) we always go with the largest breaker capacity panel we can find. The current Largest capicity 200 amp main from Them is either 30/60 or 40/80 meaning 30 or 40 full spaces and 60 or 80 splits. You didn’t say the square footage of the house but we’d install a 200 amp even if the house was 1000 square feet. Ive never understood the logic of installing a 100 or 150 amp main service when the cost for the unit itself is almost the same as a 200 .With 200 you’d be covered for whatever else you wanted to do in the future without needed a sub panel. The Solar ready panels that are required here in California also have copper busing ( not aluminum) which to my way of thinking is a plus and a few of they’re new models have plug on neutrals which are also  nice ,you can look up what the difference is with that online. The QO panels are going through a recall right now I believe so you better look into that ,I heard that there was a Problem with the new design.Best of luck to you .

@ibisghost 

Do a search for “whole house surge protector “ on Amazon and pick one that fits your budget. Read the reviews. Any is better than none. 

Yes whole house surge protector I forgot. Square D makes a whole house surge device for both breaker designed panels, very clean install.

Use a 4  wire with 2 ground 1 insulated ,isolated ground ,with a separate buzz bar in the breaker box ,and I use awg10:less resistance and my old electrician audio friend put in 30 amp silver breakers from Siemens in Germany  which were very hard to get and over $100 with shipping much better then the thin $7 copper ones that oxydize and need to be replaced every 5 years ,that’s a good rule of thumb .

my brother tried getting the industrial Silver breakers and this year could no longer get ,par for the course with supply chain , but well worth the effort , these things alone a Much purer blacker background .

Make sure a permit is pulled for the work 

being done. Also make sure it's inspected by

the City or County having jurisdiction weed out 

the DIY people if you have a problem later they

will just say "I am not a real electrician" I know some

stuff! See it often Be careful who you hire.

Like  @audioman58  indicated - see what they can do to up their ground. We use 200% neutral panels. Double ground is similar idea. I’d also add a nema pullbox just as they leave the panel and run the building ground through it. This would give some future options. Isolation transformer in the future if needed. 
 

I’d also ask for load balancing unless it’s 120 coming in -  and power quality monitoring for a week after install with waveform capture. They usually have or can rent the equipment to do these tests. It’s amazing what comes out of the plant sometimes and it’s an opportunity to see what you have. 

zazouswing,

what does this do?

I’d also ask for load balancing unless it’s 120 coming in -  and power quality monitoring for a week after install with waveform capture. They usually have or can rent the equipment to do these tests. It’s amazing what comes out of the plant sometimes and it’s an opportunity to see what you have. 

Jea 48 ,thats a really cool panel, I haven’t seen that and its got all the right stuff for what OP is trying to accomplish, I didn’t want to call out a specific model because I wasn’t sure what the OP would require but the impression I got was that he would need a new service or combination panel. Just dont buy anything OP until you talk to a few electricians, that Siemans panel is technically a sub panel and would either require that you have a main or combination panel on a outside wall or a remote meter section somewhere outside. Best!

Hard to take anyone seriously that talks about a "buzz bar".

I'm not sure about now, but 8-9 years ago when I put a QO panel in my shop, they were made in the U.S.

Ya ,if your buss is a buzzin better start runnin.

This is for 2500 sq ft home. Unfortunately I only have 150am service. We don’t have issues with breakers however I would like to have a panel that is 200amp and if we decide to upgrade the service to 200amp a then we’re at least set for the panel.

I like that Siemens panel but dang that sucker is costly. 👍🏻
 

my current panel has 20 spots.

There is one 60amp breaker, 50amp, 40amp and two 30amp breakers. 

Sorry bringing up an old thread but I’m still in the process of getting this done. We’ve been doing a lot of remodeling of three bathrooms.

I don’t have another panel in or around the house. The electric comes in from the ground here where I live to a meter supplied by the electrical company and out to my 150amp electrical panel which supplies electric to each of my rooms/areas.

It’s a small panel and should have been a lot larger for this house (2500sq ft). We don’t seem to have issues with breakers tripping or anything. We don’t have solar or an electric vehicle. Not sure I need to upgrade my service to 200amp (it would be nice) but we don’t seem to have any issues.

However I would like to at least have a larger capable panel so that if I do decide down the road to upgrade the service to 200amp service my electrical panel is at least ready to go from there.

Also, I'm liking that Siemens panel linked above but I'm having a hard time finding one. 

They also have them in the color white which is pretty nice.