I had a question for the SF electricians who know this stuff. We are in the process of buying our neighbor's house from his children and it's going to need some electrical upgrades, namely the 100 amp service.

I talked to an electrician at work who is willing to upgrade me to 200 amp service for around $2,000. He said he'd install a new line from the overhead service drop down to new meter and new circuit breaker. He didn't seem concerned about the existing overhead service wires from the pole to the house and said it's the electric company's to upgrade or not?

On my current house right up from the one we are buying, we appear to have a new overhead service wire and it's quite thick. The one on the house we are buying has a noticeably smaller set of wires. Why is this? Is this an issue going from 100 amp to 200 amp but keeping it like that?

My current house:



The house we are buying:

I only see one picture, and it's yuuuge.

Not that I would be able to respond to your query.

The electrician is responsible for the weatherhead on down. He can disconnect the line from the street, pull the meter but that's it.

He'll get a permit, and the power company will decide whether a new line from the street is needed. You may or may not need a new meter.

If the power company needs to bring a larger gauge wire in, new meter socket, depending on what you have there is some cost involved.

The electrician could do all of the panel work etc, and leave a 100 amp main breaker on it until the power company gets around to upgrading.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I only see one picture, and it's yuuuge.

Not that I would be able to respond to your query.

Size has been fixed and using TinyPic now instead of Imgur which has turned into a PITA for me.

Is my current home's wire aluminum? It's significantly thicker than the house we are buying, is that copper?

call the power company and tell them your upgrading your service to a two hundred amp panel, they will come take a look and determine if it needs a heavier wire. around here a two hundred amp service has 4/0 4/0 2/0 and 4ga for ground. my guess is your main line is probably only a 2/0 . my local power company does not charge for the upgrade. from the bulk head down it's all about the inside electrician.

Yeah, as others stated, we would look at the service wires and determine if the would work, if not, run a new service. We do not charge for that.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I only see one picture, and it's yuuuge.

Not that I would be able to respond to your query.

Size has been fixed and using TinyPic now instead of Imgur which has turned into a PITA for me.

Is my current home's wire aluminum? It's significantly thicker than the house we are buying, is that copper?

Much better. Thanks.

I upgraded a service and my power company (the city) did nothing. My drops look tiny. I'm convinced they don't care if the wire burns in two and falls to the ground. Probably not, but it seems that way.

In their defense, it does hang out in the air where it gets lots of cooling. Way I figure, I bought the permit, paid the impact fees, and everything beyond the weather head is their problem, like Arc said.

Aluminum wire has less current carrying capacity than copper. Amps per circular mils, you need more circular mils for aluminum wire than copper wire when moving the same amount of current.

Weatherhead down is your responsibility and the overhead wiring to the transformer is the utilities responsibility.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
I upgraded a service and my power company (the city) did nothing. My drops look tiny. I'm convinced they don't care if the wire burns in two and falls to the ground. Probably not, but it seems that way.

In their defense, it does hang out in the air where it gets lots of cooling. Way I figure, I bought the permit, paid the impact fees, and everything beyond the weather head is their problem, like Arc said.

The wire size depends on the amount of amps, AND the length of the run from the transformer to your breaker panel.

Not a problem.
When I bought my place we had a 100a upgraded to a 200a. Electrician did everything from service head to new panel. I talked to the electric utility and they said the open air wires (as opposed to underground) were good for 1500a.

If you still dint feel comfortable. Give the utility a call. Only takes a few minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by PeteF:
Not a problem.
When I bought my place we had a 100a upgraded to a 200a. Electrician did everything from service head to new panel. I talked to the electric utility and they said the open air wires (as opposed to underground) were good for 1500a.

1500 Amps... too funny.

Someone needs to read up on acceptable voltage drop on service lines.

Low voltages will shorten the life of equipment, while providing you with a higher utility bill.

quote:

Originally posted by PeteF:
Not a problem.
When I bought my place we had a 100a upgraded to a 200a. Electrician did everything from service head to new panel. I talked to the electric utility and they said the open air wires (as opposed to underground) were good for 1500a.

If you still dint feel comfortable. Give the utility a call. Only takes a few minutes.

1500 is a bit of exaggeration, but wires in free air can carry substantially more power than underground, or in pipe/cable.

You shouldn't have to worry about if they are going to replace it or not, they will determine and at their expense replace if needed.

The point of attachment looks to be a little bent, it may or may not be secure. You may need to replace that.

Around here that is a $2600 job, or more depending on grounding lengths and finished/unfinished basement.

Make sure he drives two new ground rods and installs an Intersystem Bonding Terminal to bond your Telecom equipment to. You will also need a new cold water ground/bond to be ran to the water shut off valve if copper pipe is coming in house. If plastic coming in from water company, then it's a bond, not a ground and can go to any part of piping.