Wow, I never realized there were so many angry electricians out there riding motorcycles.
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Electricians in the house?
- Thread starter Freestyle72
- Start date
If you are a home owner you can do your own work.
Although I just priced out the materials and **** me I am not done yet but I think its going to be about $700 in materials roughly.
Yes you can do your own work but a homeowner can't take out a permit and get someone else to do the work.If you are upgrading a 60amp service to a 100 amp service your materials should cost you about $750-$800. If you are just swapping out a 100 amp fuse panel to a 100 amp breaker panel it should only cost about $200. Most electrical wholesalers sell panel packages wich includes a panel with a main breaker and most of the breakers you will need.It's money well spent and you will get it back when you go to sell your home.
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I am going 100amp to 200amp...
200 amp siemens main $230
Extra breakers (100amp 2 pole, etc) $50
200 amp meter base $75
2" Conduit $20 (for 20ft)
grounding clamps 1 each
#3 grounding cable $4.50/m
3/0main feed cable $12/m
#3 tech 90 cable to feed my welder $19/m
and $162 for the permit.
I thought the panels were going to be the expensive part, but it looks like I am going to spend about $300 on cable/wiring alone. That might be a slight over estimation but I don't fancy buying too little only to find out a need a slightly longer run.
I can sell you all this stuff for a hell of a lot cheaper.
And switch to 4 ot Aluminum for the main feeds and you will save even more coin.
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If he runs 3 ot copper mains.....by code he must run #3 ground wire.
If he runs 2ot copper, or 4ot aluminum mains..... he can run #6 ground wire.
Freestyle.....if you insist on using copper for the mains..... go 2 ot! You'll save money on the wire, and you can use a smaller ground wire.
shewie
Well-known member
Um. What? I
shewie
Well-known member
Same here! Been using AL for years!
Even the transformers I buy are now aluminum wound. Much lighter and cheaper. Copper prices are ridiculous.
shewie
Well-known member
Obscene, more like. How much bigger are the xformers? I'm likely to be resizing a 45kva in the near future, but room is a bit of an issue.
Keep quite. We dispose of old wire free of charge!
Not by much. You can get specs from most manufacturers websites......
http://www.marcustransformer.com/products/pages/mt-three-phase.php
Dude at the electrical supply place told me 3/0 is cheaper per m than 2/0 due to it's more common use. He said 3/0 was $12/m and 2/0 was $13.XX.
I was unsure/didn't know about using the smaller ground if you go with 2/0 as the guy at the supply shop insisted 3/0 was good, and to be honest I kind of want to err on the beefy side to give the inspector less chance of ****ing me over.
If you can give me a deal on the material I am more than happy to buy off you especially considering the help and time you have already given me.
Also the reason for copper is because it seems more straightforward to me. I kind of hear some crappy stuff about aluminum wiring with expansion and contraction and **** like that. If you guys say aluminum is better/cheaper, then I'll look into it, but if it isn't cheaper by much I think I may just go with copper (I am talking within 15% of each other).
Also just reading about the undersizing to make sure I understand correctly the 4/0 aluminum is only good for 185 in reality but due to some rule for residential it's allowed and outlined here:
For 3-wire:
120/240 V and 120/208 V service conductors for single dwellings, or for feeder conductors supplyingsingle dwelling units of row housing of apartment and similar buildings, and sized in accordance with Rules 8-200(1), 8-200(2), and 8-202(1), the allowable ampacity for sizes No. 6, No. 2, and No. 4/0 AWG shall be 60 A, 100 A, and 200 A, respectively. In this case, the 5% adjustment of Rule 8-106(1) cannot be applied.
Also I have no idea where to find the rule about dropping ot #6... however going to 4/0 aluminun for the feeds does that make the 2" conduit too small and need to be bigger? Because I think my mast is only 2.5" possibly 3 max, so I don't think I can really go much bigger with the conduit.
EDIT: Figured out the bit about the conduit. 53mm or 2" is good enough for 3 wires in 3/0 and 4/0 and 4 wires in 2/0
EDIT #2:
Table 16 talks about the minimum size of bonding conductors... and I see there #6 is good for 200 amp...
Booyakasha.
Sweet I am learning a ton.
For 3-wire:
120/240 V and 120/208 V service conductors for single dwellings, or for feeder conductors supplyingsingle dwelling units of row housing of apartment and similar buildings, and sized in accordance with Rules 8-200(1), 8-200(2), and 8-202(1), the allowable ampacity for sizes No. 6, No. 2, and No. 4/0 AWG shall be 60 A, 100 A, and 200 A, respectively. In this case, the 5% adjustment of Rule 8-106(1) cannot be applied.
Also I have no idea where to find the rule about dropping ot #6... however going to 4/0 aluminun for the feeds does that make the 2" conduit too small and need to be bigger? Because I think my mast is only 2.5" possibly 3 max, so I don't think I can really go much bigger with the conduit.
EDIT: Figured out the bit about the conduit. 53mm or 2" is good enough for 3 wires in 3/0 and 4/0 and 4 wires in 2/0
EDIT #2:
Table 16 talks about the minimum size of bonding conductors... and I see there #6 is good for 200 amp...
Booyakasha.
Sweet I am learning a ton.
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