I'm remodeling my 1962-built house. I want to get the electrical squared away before I go too much further.

My current setup:
- 100amp Zinsco Service at meter outside
- Zinsco breaker box in garage
- According to electrician the load on my house is 71 amps


One of the suggestions I've heard was to relocate the breaker box to the meter outside so that it's all in one rather than simply replace the main outside and the breaker box in the garage.

Does this make sense?

I've owned 5 houses over the years, and 3 had breakers in the garage, 1 had breakers in the basement, and 1 had breakers in an outdoor panel next to the meter. In the home with the outdoor panel, if a breaker tripped between sunset and sunrise I was as nervous as long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs checking on it. I put on my competition rig (3 mag carriers and handgun holster), every exterior light turned on, wearing a headlamp, and carrying a flashlight. BTW, I kept a padlock on the exterior panel.

I no longer live in the house with the outdoor breaker box (not the reason I sold it), but I do not miss the outdoor breaker box at all.

I would never put one outside, I would toss it all and put a 200 amp cutler hammer ch series with the copper buss. that way if you every want to add you have the room as it is now your 30 amps away from maxing it out.

71a is a huge load, how exactly did he come up with that number? We're you running multiple zones of A/C, while running oven and cooktop with every light on in the house while the kids were microwaving popcorn and the wife was vacuuming?

First off get rid of that Zinsco crap, here's one of the first articles that comes up when you search zinsco + fire.

Second you do not want a outdoor panel for a number of reasons. #1 what if you need to add a circuit? You'll need to put a hole in the exterior of your house to run wiring. #2 corrosion, doesn't need more explanation than that. #3 looks, it's really ugly. #4 cost, panels are more expensive, as well as outdoor wiring and connectors. #5 security, someone can turn off power to your house with zero electrical knowledge. I could probably keep going, but you've likely got the point.

Around here power company supplies the Meter for free and combo meter/panels cost twice as much or more than separate meter and panel.

Get new meter, update grounding, make it 200a service, and use Cutler Hammer (not CHBR) or Square D QO (not homeline) main breaker panel.

I would keep the breaker box in the garage, it's in a dry, easily accessible location, that is secure. I'd consider upgrading to 200 amp, but you may need to upgrade your wires going to the pole to do that (meet code), and that gets expensive. I feel that it's easy to pull 71 amps if the water heater, a/c or electric heat, and stove/oven are all on at the same time as well as a few random appliances (fridge or washer/dryer etc.)

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
71a is a huge load, how exactly did he come up with that number?

I'm not exactly sure, but like I said the house is 1300 sq feet and has:

-Fridge
-Freezer in garage
-Washer and Dryer
-Oven/microwave combo
-Cooktop
-TV
-Elliptical machine
-Central AC
-Other random stuff plugged in like computers, lamps, ect

The Zinsco stuff is all going. That's what started me down this road with the electrical.

One more thing.

My Dad had a rental house, and had the electrical upgraded. It was old and undersized plus some of the hackjob DIY electrical he saw in the garage concerned him.

The power company switched out the meter, and the electrician switched out the panel and brought everything in the house and garage up to code. A few days later, the renter arrived home to find the fire department in full turnout gear, and the fire department was pissed. They had received a 911 call from a neighbor that there was a glowing red wire on the exterior of the house (i.e. the wire between the meter and the panel) and accused the renter of doing a DIY fire hazard hack job. Turns out, neither the power company nor the electrician replaced the wire between the meter and the panel as both assumed the other was doing it. As they say, assumption is the mother of all fuck ups.

It'd be a good idea for the OP to ask about who is replacing the wire between the meter and the panel if he proceeds with the power upgrade.

If you don't have it, I'd suggest...

1. dedicated Freezer outlet in garage on its own circuit. (no GFCI on that outlet if code still allows that)

2. 220VAC in garage

3. more extra outlets than you think you need in garage. I have 2 outlets in garage, and it's been a sad, often unsafe journey of power strips and extension cords.

I'd prefer the breaker box inside. Less of the guts of the electrical system exposed to the weather, and it's more convenient to get to.

1. What will the power company require? This is a good time to upgrade the size of your service, 200 amp if possible usually makes the most sense especially for future resale. Need to discuss this with them. Maybe smaller if natural gas to house.


2. Will job need to be permitted? How far will inspection go? Whole house brought up to code? Need to check this out completely.


3. I like a meter base with service disconnect and auxiliary breaker section for feeding outbuildings if allowed. Local codes can vary. And a separate panel in the garage. Follow Skins advice on brands.

Here the Utility company no longer supplies 100 amp services, so if they are supplying the meter, that might force you to upgrade. Here for residential you have the choice on new services of 200, 320 or 400 Amps.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
One more thing.

My Dad had a rental house, and had the electrical upgraded. It was old and undersized plus some of the hackjob DIY electrical he saw in the garage concerned him.

The power company switched out the meter, and the electrician switched out the panel and brought everything in the house and garage up to code. A few days later, the renter arrived home to find the fire department in full turnout gear, and the fire department was pissed. They had received a 911 call from a neighbor that there was a glowing red wire on the exterior of the house (i.e. the wire between the meter and the panel) and accused the renter of doing a DIY fire hazard hack job. Turns out, neither the power company nor the electrician replaced the wire between the meter and the panel as both assumed the other was doing it. As they say, assumption is the mother of all fuck ups.

It'd be a good idea for the OP to ask about who is replacing the wire between the meter and the panel if he proceeds with the power upgrade.

The wire between the load side of the meter and the panel belongs to the customer . The power company connects the service wire to the top side of the meter can lugs and it's yours from there .

[/QUOTE] The wire between the load side of the meter and the panel belongs to the customer . The power company connects the service wire to the top side of the meter can lugs and it's yours from there .[/QUOTE]

Our local power utility now either permits or requires (not sure which, but I think permits) the customer to provide the line connection from the weatherhead to the meter cabinet. They then just connect the bugs from the pole and insert the meter.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
One more thing.

My Dad had a rental house, and had the electrical upgraded. It was old and undersized plus some of the hackjob DIY electrical he saw in the garage concerned him.

The power company switched out the meter, and the electrician switched out the panel and brought everything in the house and garage up to code. A few days later, the renter arrived home to find the fire department in full turnout gear, and the fire department was pissed. They had received a 911 call from a neighbor that there was a glowing red wire on the exterior of the house (i.e. the wire between the meter and the panel) and accused the renter of doing a DIY fire hazard hack job. Turns out, neither the power company nor the electrician replaced the wire between the meter and the panel as both assumed the other was doing it. As they say, assumption is the mother of all fuck ups.

It'd be a good idea for the OP to ask about who is replacing the wire between the meter and the panel if he proceeds with the power upgrade.

The wire between the load side of the meter and the panel belongs to the customer . The power company connects the service wire to the top side of the meter can lugs and it's yours from there .

More importantly the electrician calls the power company to replace the meter and the electrician performing the upgrade replaces the wire between meter and new breaker panel. In Dad’s case, Dad’s friend owned the company and sent out an electrician had his head up his ass. Dad’s friend corrected it that day and chewed some ass.

From a homeowner perspective, the point in me suggesting the OP ask the question is to make sure the electrician does not set a dangerous work scope and know it’s one of the things the OP is on the lookout for. When a prudent person is contracting work out they need to ask a couple questions where there is only one acceptable answer and if they answer wrong keep looking for someone who’ll do it right.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
One more thing.

My Dad had a rental house, and had the electrical upgraded. It was old and undersized plus some of the hackjob DIY electrical he saw in the garage concerned him.

The power company switched out the meter, and the electrician switched out the panel and brought everything in the house and garage up to code. A few days later, the renter arrived home to find the fire department in full turnout gear, and the fire department was pissed. They had received a 911 call from a neighbor that there was a glowing red wire on the exterior of the house (i.e. the wire between the meter and the panel) and accused the renter of doing a DIY fire hazard hack job. Turns out, neither the power company nor the electrician replaced the wire between the meter and the panel as both assumed the other was doing it. As they say, assumption is the mother of all fuck ups.

It'd be a good idea for the OP to ask about who is replacing the wire between the meter and the panel if he proceeds with the power upgrade.

The wire between the load side of the meter and the panel belongs to the customer . The power company connects the service wire to the top side of the meter can lugs and it's yours from there .

More importantly the electrician calls the power company to replace the meter and the electrician performing the upgrade replaces the wire between meter and new breaker panel. In Dad’s case, Dad’s friend owned the company and sent out an electrician had his head up his ass. Dad’s friend corrected it that day and chewed some ass.

From a homeowner perspective, the point in me suggesting the OP ask the question is to make sure the electrician does not set a dangerous work scope and know it’s one of the things the OP is on the lookout for. When a prudent person is contracting work out they need to ask a couple questions where there is only one acceptable answer and if they answer wrong keep looking for someone who’ll do it right.

Around here there is no such thing as a 100a service anymore. You install a 200a meter if you are replacing it, the panel size inside determines Service Entrance Cable size and is homeowners (electricians) responsibility. The power company will not remove temp service and connect new meter until it's passed county inspection.

Typical temporary underground heavy up (125a to 200a) I did at my house. Power company came and removed older, smaller meter and brought underground feed into my new larger meter.