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Your One Bullet Point Solution; Electrical Upgrade

Two points; I am well aware of many threads on topic of electrical service. I do not have time to read hundreds of posts, but wish to distill them down with your help. I will also post this on the Misc Forum to get wider response:

Doing service upgrade to 100A. I plan on adding a whole house surge protector, type 2, add on to panel after the service enters house. Panel to the HT/Music room is not under consideration, as it was all updated when the room was built. 

If anyone has important info/contradictory info on that plan, please inform. 

What I would like to know in shorthand form from the community from those who have Done upgrades:

1. Recommended Panel? Brand, any difference? 

2. I currently have sub-panel for HT/Audio room which I'm tempted to keep. I understand that this is a good move. 
Electrician can sum all into a larger panel, but I have reservations. Comments/recommendations? 

3. Particular wiring/breakers for panel/sub-panel for audio use? 

4. Particular surge protector recommend. 

As the topic has been covered much, notation form comments are welcome. Thanks for helping! 


douglas_schroeder

Showing 4 responses by cleeds

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cleeds
5,682 posts
 
douglas_schroeder
Doing service upgrade to 100A.
That doesn’t sound like much of an upgrade.
In any event, it isn’t clear exactly what you’re undertaking. Do you mean you are upgrading an existing main breaker panel to a 100A rating? If so, your "service" from the electric utility will remain the same, and there’s no assurance that the utility can actually deliver 100A of current. That can only be established with a "beast of burden" test. (The panel’s rating only means that the panel is capable of distributing that much current. It doesn’t mean the utility can provide it. Typically, a utility cannot deliver the full amount of current posted on the service panel.

There can be sonic improvements after a panel and breaker upgrade, but so much of that hinges on what you have now.
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cleeds
5,682 posts
 
douglas_schroeder
I can do either 100A or 200A. The pedestal and panel has not been purchased yet.
Go for 200A. You'll never regret it.
If I do 200A, then my 100A subpanel is toast?
Nope - it will be fine. You can leave it as-is
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cleeds
5,682 posts
 
oldhvymec
The comment about not being able to get the 100 amps, that just isn’t the case..
The amperage is almost unlimited ...
Sorry, but you don’t know what you are talking about.
To be clear, I didn’t say he couldn’t receive 100A of current, only that it wasn’t assured solely because he was upgrading the panel. The supply of current in a neighborhood is not unlimited and in some areas it can be severely compromised. This is measured by what the industry calls a "beast of burden" test. I could write a book about the problems we had in our neighborhood with this, but the utility did finally fix it. I learned during the journey that it is not an uncommon problem, although much depends on the quality of your local utility.
the voltage is suppose to be 110-120 ...
Provided we are talking about the US, you are once again completely wrong. 110VAC is considered low voltage and would not comply with regulatory requirements in most - if not all - states. Nominal voltage in the US is 120VAC and tolerance is ±5 percent by regulation, or what the industry sometimes calls "tariff."
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cleeds
5,682 posts
 
mkgus
For not-so-efficient systems that require lots of current, you could see a few volts of drop in longer lines during dynamic peaks.
Quite so!
How would this affect the performance of an amplifier? Would it be better to size the line as large as reasonably possible to keep the voltage as close to 120V at all times?
Yes. Derating the wire is accepted practice. NEC specifies only the minimum standards for electrical safety and performance.
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