How Many Amps Is My Electrical Service

6 Steps to Determining your Electrical Service Size

A message from your local electrical company in Orlando

Your home'south electrical service size is directly responsible for determining the power and efficiency of your home'due south electrical distribution system. In layman'south terms, it indicates how many appliances, lights, or other electrical devices you lot can operate simultaneously. Several years agone, a standard electrical service size of 100 amps provided enough electric current to operate whatsoever devices the average abode would use. Present, many homes describe a lot more than current than their service size allows for. Many homes now comprise a large number of appliances, technology devices, and luxuries (such as spas and pools) that electric contractors and homeowners could have never previously anticipated. As a consequence, it's more important than ever to make sure your electric service size is capable of supplying power to the devices in use in the home.

If you know what yous're looking for, information technology'due south relatively easy (and merely have a few minutes) to determine your home's electrical service size. In this article we'll tell y'all how to practise just that, in half-dozen simple, easy-to-follow steps. To size your electrical service, you lot'll demand access to the chief components of your house's electrical distribution arrangement -- the wire, the conduit, the meter, the console and the master breaker -- to identify which has the lowest amperage rating. Its rating is your overall habitation's electric service rating.

Measure the bore of the conduit that houses the service cable entry. This conduit houses the cable that comes from the electric company and enters the power meter box. Depending on whether your electricity is provided from underground or above basis, the conduit will enter the meter box from the elevation or the bottom. Many times the conduit is oversized, so measuring it is sometimes not a true indicator of the wiring it houses, but it's a practiced start toward determining the service size. The following list indicates mutual conduit sizes and their associated service sizes; based on the gauge of electric wire they're capable of housing.
- 1-inch conduit is capable of housing 6 gauge wire, supplying 60 amp service
- 1 ¼-inch conduit is capable of housing 4 guess wire, supplying 100 amp service
- two-inch conduit is capable of housing larger judge wire, capable of supplying over 100 amp service
Visually inspect and estimate the size of the main service cable, if possible. The listing beneath indicates the typical width of the cabling and the amps it is capable of supplying:
- 60 ampere capacity cables are between 3/4 inch and 7/8 inch wide
- 100 ampere chapters cables are approximately ane inch wide
- 150 ampere chapters cables are approximately one-1/4 inches wide
- 200 ampere chapters cables are typically 1 and 1/two inch wide.
Inspect the outside of the ability meter box. There may be an amperage rating listed on a characterization affixed to the ability meter.
Inspect your electrical panel to determine if information technology has a label on it indicating its amperage rating. If this is the case, the label will usually be affixed inside the panel door and may have been affixed either by the manufacturer or an electrician or inspector during initial installation or afterward.
Check your console for a main disconnect. Most modern electrical service panels will be equipped with one. This primary breaker will likely be the largest breaker in the panel. Information technology will usually exist labelled as the "principal" and will indicate the capacity as 100A, 150A, or 200A.
Compare the information you find during the previous inspection steps, find the lowest value, and you should be able to find your habitation'south electric service size.

Spectrum Electric is a acme Central Florida provider of electrical service and panel upgrades and replacements. We handle any and all core electrical services, both residential and commercial.