400A resedential service

Posted by M. L. Dent on August 24, 2008, 5:29 am

>I upgraded my house from 100A to 200A 5 years ago. I buried 3" conduit from
>the pole to the house.
> I was told the 3" would support 400A.
> At the time I did not have the money to install 400A, so I just thought I
> could find a 400A panel later.
> I do not think they make a residential 400A panel, and from what I have
> seen it uses two 200A panels.
> I am still wanting to put 400A service to my house, to try to cut on my
> electric bill. ($565.00 last month).
> In the 3" conduit, do they use 6 wires for the 400A to a two 200A meter
> pan, or use larger wires to a 400A meter pan?
> I probably will get the call an electrician, but I feel as though I can do
> the install, just wanted some info on how it is done.
> Thanks.

Don't understand how increasing service size could reduce power bill. I have
had a 400A. bifurcated service for 14 years. This is due to possible
requirements of geothermal system back-up. The back-up has only been used
once in the period but without the 400A. service, it wouldn't have been
possible to have heat on the lower level when the compressor failed.

Posted by Erik Dillenkofer on August 24, 2008, 6:25 am

Save your money. Increasing the size of your service only increases the
amount of power available to consume, it doesn't decrease the amount you do
consume. You are billed on KWH consumption ... period. Decrease your
consumption and your bill will decrease. A better use for that money would
be to upgrade your A/C system to a more energy efficient system ... like 16
SEER. Assuming your existing A/C system is old, that upgrade will decrease
your bill significantly (I upgraded from 9 SEER to 15 SEER and achieved
almost a 30% reduction in my summer electric bills). There are several other
very low cost ways to decrease your consumption significantly ... like
turning off lights when you leave a room, turning off the TV when no one is
watching, adjusting the thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter,
turning off the computer when it's not being used, fixing duct leaks in the
A/C system, weatherstripping to repair air leakage, etc, etc, etc.

Call your power company and see if they offer a free energy survey, they'll
tell you what you can do to decrease your consumption (and may find the
cause for the high bills ... like a stuck water heater thermostat which
causes the water heater to stay on continuously).

And yes, if you're wondering, I do work for a very large power company in
the southeast US. Seeing that your with BellSouth it could very well be the
one that supplies your power (and we do offer free energy surveys to
residential customers).

Posted by Bill on August 24, 2008, 9:19 am

A/C is another story. I have two, a 3ton (10 years old), and a 4ton (five
years old).
I looked at replacing them, and that is on my todo list.

Not so much when the A/C kicks on, but when my well pump kicks on, my lights
dim.

I wanted the second panel to balance my load requirements.

Pump was wired for 110, and it draws 12A. Hook it up to 220, and it drops to
5A.

Less Amperage is less draw on my spinning meter.
That is where I was going with my question about going to 400A.

As far as lights being left on, my kids think they need to test them all at
once.
I have replaced almost all with the fluorescent type of bulb.
With nine living here, there is always someone leaving something on.

> Save your money. Increasing the size of your service only increases the
> amount of power available to consume, it doesn't decrease the amount you
> do consume. You are billed on KWH consumption ... period. Decrease your
> consumption and your bill will decrease. A better use for that money would
> be to upgrade your A/C system to a more energy efficient system ... like
> 16 SEER. Assuming your existing A/C system is old, that upgrade will
> decrease your bill significantly (I upgraded from 9 SEER to 15 SEER and
> achieved almost a 30% reduction in my summer electric bills). There are
> several other very low cost ways to decrease your consumption
> significantly ... like turning off lights when you leave a room, turning
> off the TV when no one is watching, adjusting the thermostat up in the
> summer and down in the winter, turning off the computer when it's not
> being used, fixing duct leaks in the A/C system, weatherstripping to
> repair air leakage, etc, etc, etc.
> Call your power company and see if they offer a free energy survey,
> they'll tell you what you can do to decrease your consumption (and may
> find the cause for the high bills ... like a stuck water heater thermostat
> which causes the water heater to stay on continuously).
> And yes, if you're wondering, I do work for a very large power company in
> the southeast US. Seeing that your with BellSouth it could very well be
> the one that supplies your power (and we do offer free energy surveys to
> residential customers).

>>I upgraded my house from 100A to 200A 5 years ago. I buried 3" conduit
>>from the pole to the house.
>> I was told the 3" would support 400A.
>> At the time I did not have the money to install 400A, so I just thought I
>> could find a 400A panel later.
>> I do not think they make a residential 400A panel, and from what I have
>> seen it uses two 200A panels.
>> I am still wanting to put 400A service to my house, to try to cut on my
>> electric bill. ($565.00 last month).
>> In the 3" conduit, do they use 6 wires for the 400A to a two 200A meter
>> pan, or use larger wires to a 400A meter pan?
>> I probably will get the call an electrician, but I feel as though I can
>> do the install, just wanted some info on how it is done.
>> Thanks.

Posted by JR Weiss on August 24, 2008, 2:51 pm

> A/C is another story. I have two, a 3ton (10 years old), and a 4ton (five
> years old).
> I looked at replacing them, and that is on my todo list.

At what temp do you set the A/C thermostat? You can set it as high as 80F and
still be comfortable when the A/C reduces the humidity. When I lived in south
TX, I used 82-84 in the hottest part of the summer.

> Not so much when the A/C kicks on, but when my well pump kicks on, my lights
> dim.
> I wanted the second panel to balance my load requirements.
> Pump was wired for 110, and it draws 12A. Hook it up to 220, and it drops to
> 5A.
> Less Amperage is less draw on my spinning meter.

Nope. The meter counts Watts, not Amps. 110V x 12A == 220V x 6A == 1320Watts.

Your pump draws the same power (Watts) regardless of voltage, if it is pumping
the same amount of water, as long as the voltage is at the minimum spec.
measuring error may account for the slight difference you see in the current
pump usage.

> That is where I was going with my question about going to 400A.
> As far as lights being left on, my kids think they need to test them all at
> once.
> I have replaced almost all with the fluorescent type of bulb.
> With nine living here, there is always someone leaving something on.

You could use motion sensor switches in some rooms that automatically turn on
the lights when someone's there, and off again when they leave. However, many
are not compatible with fluorescent lights, so check compatibility.

Posted by Roger Shoaf on October 11, 2008, 9:25 pm

> > A/C is another story. I have two, a 3ton (10 years old), and a 4ton

(five

> > years old).
> > I looked at replacing them, and that is on my todo list.

> At what temp do you set the A/C thermostat? You can set it as high as 80F

and

> still be comfortable when the A/C reduces the humidity. When I lived in

south

> TX, I used 82-84 in the hottest part of the summer.

> > Not so much when the A/C kicks on, but when my well pump kicks on, my

lights

> > dim.
> > I wanted the second panel to balance my load requirements.
> > Pump was wired for 110, and it draws 12A. Hook it up to 220, and it

drops to

> > 5A.
> > Less Amperage is less draw on my spinning meter.

> Nope. The meter counts Watts, not Amps. 110V x 12A == 220V x 6A ==

1320Watts.

> Your pump draws the same power (Watts) regardless of voltage, if it is

pumping

> the same amount of water, as long as the voltage is at the minimum spec.
> measuring error may account for the slight difference you see in the

current

> pump usage.

Could be that the well will consume more watts at 110v because of a long run
from the meter to the pump resulting in a voltage drop and therefore the
pump will be running less efficient than it could.

I agree however that a larger service panel will do nothing to solve this
problem.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

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400A resedential service - Page 3