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Edmonton Electrician | 200 Amp Service Upgrade For Residential Power
What’s up Edmonton, here’s Ryan with Hauer power electrical your Edmonton Electrician. Our whole mission is powering customer service. Today’s episode we want to talk about 200 amp service upgrades. A lot of people have questions about these and in a society here where it’s getting ever growing and ever, geez, impatient with an ever growing need for more electricity. You know, everyone’s getting hot tubs, air conditioners electrical vehicles with those EV chargers with saunas.
Upgrade For Your Sauna
More kitchens, more stoves we need more, more and more 200 amp service upgrades. More and more we’re finding, that we don’t have that. We have 100 amp services. Homes are still being built with 100 amp services despite the massive size of these houses. Today what we want talk about is just that, 200 amp service upgrades, and how to do it. Why to do it, when to do it, what the limits are. What the other options are and what we can do for you.
Getting A 200 Amp Service Upgrade
Let’s get started. As far as 200 amp service upgrade, if you had an overhead service, it’s going to be heck of a lot easier, especially if Epcor is in your area. They’re saying that your transformer will allow you to have 200 amp service at the end of the day Epcor in Edmonton and surrounding area. They kind of have the end all say all as far as authority, having jurisdiction for the utility provider.
Contact The Utility Company
If you have 100 amp underground more work has to be done. But if you have 100 amp overhead, then Epcor has to approve the transformer that can give you 200 amp service upgrade. Or Fortis in the same scenario if you’re in surrounding area of Edmonton. But as far as Edmonton and area if you have an overhead service. They’re the guys who first can say yes, you shall pass, or no, you shall not pass.
Professional Electrician
Otherwise they’ll have a cost, a big cost with upgrading that transformer. So you can have 200 amp service. You can have more current coming to your home. Once that’s done, then what we would have to do on our end. You, as the homeowner would have to hire an electrical contractor, such as Edmonton Electrician to do the rest of the work at the house side. If you have an overhead service, we have to upgrade your mask, have to upgrade your meter.
Edmonton Electrician | Overhead Power
We have to upgrade your paddle board and we have to upgrade your breakers. Then for code compliance, we also have to upgrade a couple other things for bonding and grounding, and everything has to be code compliant. That way, once an inspection passes, then we can restore power to your home and get you that 200 amp service upgrade.
Get Permits
You can have your hot tub. You can have your electrical vehicle charger, your sauna. Your hot water on demand, your air conditioning. You can have all those extra loads that way. Then pass a load calculation and have everything done legally with a permit and with an inspection. That’s with an overhead service upgrade.
Underground Electrical Service
Now the really tricky one and why you might be watching this Edmonton Electrician video. Is with the underground service upgrades. If you have an underground service that’s great. You don’t have the unsightly cables going overhead. But as far as upgrading, it’s lot more work. That transformer’s going to be out on the lawn, it’s going to power up your home. Maybe a couple others, more often than not, it’s going to power up a few homes there.
Upgrade Your Transformer
That transformer again, first has to be authorized by Epcor to hold a 200 amp current rating to your home. If they say no, the transformer can’t carry 200 amps to your home. We have to upgrade the transformer. That has a big cost associated with that. Be ready for that. If you really want this 200 amp service upgrade in addition to that as a homeowner. You’d be responsible for bringing power from the home to the property line for that transformer splice.
Upgrade Your Cable
Going from the house to the transformer, that’s up to homeowner. You’d hire us to directionally drill that. Or hydrovac, or trench that cable’s got to get the transformer to the house. Existing cable for 100 amp is smaller, not capable of carrying 200 amp safely.
Safe Professional Electrical Work
We’d have to bring a bigger cable that can safely carry 200 amp from that transformer to the home. Then we have to upgrade the meter, the paddle board, the breakers. The bonding for code compliance making sure all the heights and everything match. That’s how the underground service upgrade would kill, as far as cost a lot more if it’s an underground service. Because you have to either directionally drill or trench or hydrovac the underground cable.
Underground Service Upgrades
Going from the transformer to the home has a little bit of a cost there. As far as the why, as far as why you’d want the 200 amp. You can have more loads in your home without having to have equipment interlocking them. They can’t work at the same time.
Do You Have A Sauna Or Hot Tub
It brings us to the next point. Your other option, if you did have this sauna of this hot tub, air conditioner hot water on demand. Whatever extra additional loads you have that are failing you on a load calculation. There’s another option, but you’re not going to like it. It’s kind of a shortcut. Ideally the service upgrade is what you need, but the other option would be a load balancer.
What Is A Load Balancer
You have a hot tub and your electric stove. That way they can’t run at the same time in order for you to pass a load calculation. You’re going to have this piece of equipment load balancer. What it’s going to do is effectively lock out one or the other while the opposite device is in use. That’s one option, most people don’t really want to go that route though. Because if it’s -40 in the dead of winter and you want to use your oven to cook a Christmas dinner. The hot tub’s not getting any power.
Get The Right Electrical Upgrade
No heat until your stove is done. The timer kicks in and reset power to the hot tub. You can have some issues that way. As far as if you have all of these massive loads, you’re just going to have a whole bunch of load balancers. Load balancers aren’t small by any means. It’s another panel size piece of equipment that would go in your electrical room or utility room. But that’s another option.
Call Edmonton Electrician Today
If you really aren’t sure if you can upgrade from 100amp to 200 amp service in your area. If you do want a 200 amp service upgrade, this is a lot of info to take in. We’ll give you a free quote, come on site, have a look, make sure that everything’s going to work out and get you the right answer for your needs. We’ll book you in, and get your problem solved. It’s Ryan with Hauer Power Electrical your Edmonton Electrician. If you have any questions or want to see a video on something else, call 780-935-0622. Or email info@hauerpower.ca have a great day Edmonton. Take care, until next time, stay safe.