Upgrading house from 100A to 200A - what should I know?

The meter is on a full size utility pole so I'm not sure why it's labeled in the system as "temp". I talked to the electric company and they said they can send an engineer out to look and possibly just change the label to "permanent" in their system. Temp poles aren't supposed to stay up longer than a year here in MA and this has been there for over 12 years so I'm not sure what happened. I'm really hoping their engineer goes with the easy way, I'm not sure what is going to happen if we are told we need to spend money to remove the pole and move the meter. I just don't understand how the house has been sold twice with the current setup and nobody ever noticed it.

As for price, we've gotten 4 quotes and went with the one who seemed most professional. One guy said we didn't have to upgrade and could just replace our panel for $1500, every other person said we are close to the limit with 100 amps and really need to upgrade. The guy we are going with gave us a quote of $3850 total.

This is what it looks like, the one closer to the street has metal numbers on it so it's an electric company pole:

 

Converting to a gas dryer is a better option if you have gas Plummed to where your laundry room is. They save a lot of money compared to electric.

 

Even with a gas dryer we are still close to the limit. The electrician we decided to go with hooked up a meter and ran both AC units and the draw with just the 2 ac's was 75 amps. That was during the day without the water heater or lights turned on. It's expensive but down the road when we want to sell the house eventually it'll help having a modern 200 amp system in place.

 

Um... that is really close to the capacity for the service and not accounting for any safety factor, commercially that would not be acceptable, not to mention a water heater, dryer, and any power tools or other large draw items like a microwave... I would really urge you to reconsider 200A or even a 150A (less common) service. Did the electrician tell you the wire size for your service?

 

Yeah, we are definitely going to 200 amps. At this point the only unknown is if the power company engineer says the current meter pole can be changed to a permanent pole or if it all needs to get changed. I don't know why that wouldn't be allowed to be a "permanent" pole, it is the same exact size as every other utility pole and it's been there for years.

 

I am kind of surprised they won't move the meter to the house.

 

I have no idea why the previous owners did what, IMO it would have made more sense to just put the meter on the house and have aerial wires from pole to house. Instead, the did underground conduit from the meter to the house. At least they made the conduit big enough to house 200 amp service, but again their choices make me scratch my head. If they went to the expense of updating everything why didn't they just install 200 amp service to start with?? Oh well, it could have been worse. When we were looking at houses we saw some that were nightmares just waiting for somebody to come along.

The distance from the meter to the house is about 50ft, give or take. From pole to pole is about 20-30 feet, and from pole to road is probably about 100 ft.

 

Ahhh, underground wiring! This makes sense now. Yes, I've seen many houses in SE Mass (Cape) with meters at the end of the property when the wires are underground. However, I've never seen them attached to a full pole. I imagine that's because they needed a pole for the drop where the meter was going to be placed.

 

Does seem interesting that a "temp" pole has been more of a permanent pole.
But, as we know in the state, what makes the most sense often does not happen, especially when $$ is involved.

Imo, go with the 200 service, if you can afford it. That price does not seem too bad.

 

Got all the work done. Took two guys from 8 am to 5pm to get everything finished. The electric company changed the pole designation to permanent. New meter outside, new panel inside with lots of space to add if we ever need it. Total of$3850 and we can now do laundry while keeping the AC on and not worry about overloading things. Thanks for all the help and suggestions here.

 

Did you end up going with a 200A service and distribution panel?

 

Just read through your thread. Sorry you had time deal with all the BS!

Glad its over with though.

FWIW- service upgrades here in MT cost about the same from what I've heard.

 

Yep, we were drawing 80 amps with the ac and dryer running and nothing else on, so at night with lights and tv it was at the limit. Now we have 200 amp service.

 

Another question for people, may or may not be able to answer it. My electrician is a very professional guy and I trust he knows what he's doing. When he was finished he made sure to show me the ground, there's a ground rod out near the main that has 2 wires connected, one going back to the house and another running away toward the street.

He said there's a second rod buried out in that direction so I have 2 grounds. The inspector just came by and said we only have 1 ground. I told him to call my guy and ask him but he wouldn't call right then so I don't know what happens now.

This is the same guy who I had look at the house last year and who told me I didn't need a 200 amp service...he also never got back to me after I left him 3 messages asking him to upgrade my service. I'm wondering if he's just being a d&$k because he missed out on getting the job?

Either way, can any of you tell me anything about grounding codes?

 

You need 2 ground rods, I believe, more than 8' apart.

 

Korect. There are two rods but one ground. The wire should go from panel to first rod and then, uncut, continue to second rod.

 

Yep, ok, that's what my guy told me and showed me so I don't know why the inspector couldn't see that.

 

The NEC only requires the conductor to be unbroken to the first rod. After that it is a jumper.

If you have a metallic water line in direct earth contact for 10 foot or more it is your primary ground and needs a GEC from the panel to within 5 foot of where it enters the house.

 

OP, I would find another electrician. You need somebody onsite who you have no reason to doubt. Settle all this once and for all. We can tell you all kinds of stuff but if it was my house, I wouldn't trust any of it just because internet. Don't mean shit. @Fire Arrow is most likely correct, but don't play around with this. Get somebody you can blame if it goes wrong. Harsh truth.

 

I don't believe the A/C was drawing anything close to 50 amps. The breaker is oversized for the startup current. Run current was probably around 12 amps or so.