Will your home inspector tell you if your electric service is too small?

Here is the post on my oven.  The first one lasted 13 years!  That sucker took me five months to pay off!  Not exactly the high life.  We have a gas cook top on the island and a double electric oven.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2350268/please-box-it-up-for-me

I believe that post prompted you to check yours, if I remember right. 

@ Jay 1000 amps? That was sq. ft silly boy :)

My take on big electrical services is the same in as the over sized heating systems I find in the large majority of homes. My heating system is being replaced very soon. It is twice as large as necessary. So the blanket builder policy in your area is probably due to consumer perceptions. How many times does a customer ask, think they need to upgrade the electrical ssytem in the house? Pretty often, right? Perception drives the market, wouldn't you say?

I find that a lot of the time the basements have not been finished.  You said that the average house is 2000 sq ft.  The houses I am seeing are 4, 5-6K, without the basement finished.  It might be that the local codes demand it for certain square footages, I don't know.  It doesn't matter to me.  More space makes it easier to expand and finish, add wine cellars and saunas, etc.

As to heating and AC, bigger isn't necessarily better.  Unless you have a boiler, returned air is very important.

Oh, I reread your comment and it was sq ft!  Sorry...

But wow, 1000amps!!  Although, I just did a mansion in McLean VA a few weeks ago with six 200 amps boxes in the garage!  The entry way was bigger than my house and looked Smithsonianesque.

We don't see 100 amp services on homes here very much. 200 amp is common for a residential home and 100 amp panels are seen in apartments and condos.

Rarely we come across 60 amp services and they are on old dwellings where heating, hot water and cooking are done with oil or gas systems.

Rueben,

Great post, and fun comments. If I saw a 100amp service here I would most definitely be calling for further evaluation ; ) It all electric.

If any upgrade is performed I would thin going to 200amp 40place would be my recommendation on any home for just the reason Charlie points out. It may not be the actually amperage needed by the home but just the amount of circuits. Plus the cost is relatively cheap at that time.

Plus if you have one of them older services the age alone is enough to warrant evaluation, electrical components age just like everything else.

When I built my home I did my load calc's and I ended up exceeding 200amps. Now I have a electrical boiler for my radiant system, that could if, at full load take a big chuck of that capacity. So this is a special scenario.

I have seen everything from 30 AMP up to one dual 200 Amp. Of course the 30, 60 and a few 100's are fuse while breaker panels seem to come in 100, 125, 150 and 200. In general it seems finance companies and insurance companies are leery of 30's and 60's and insurance companies don't like fuses.

I typically recommended up grading any 30 or 60 Amp system but a 100 Amp fuse box is statistically probably slightly safer than a similar sized breaker panel (properly sized fuses will melt while properly sized breakers will almost always trip) and provides adequate power for the vast majority of homes in this area.

The objection I voiced to clients was one of convenience. Fuses are a PITA ("Honey, did you remember to get that box of blue fuses I asked you about?") plus they don't come in GFCI and AFCI versions to the best of my knowledge.

Interesting post, which confirms that an electrical inspector should be used to inspect the system.

Reuben,

Thank you for the post! I look forward to playing with the numbers. Recently I had a question about the amp service  at one of my listings by a prospective buyer and no-one had the answer... I even called the electic company - they had no record. Just based on the number of major electric appliances (A/C, electric stove, oven, central vac, well pump, size of home, etc.), I assumed it was 200 amps, but the box looked small. I could not give the buyer a definitive response. He was concerned with the possibility of having to upgrade the service based on his plans for the home, which could be costly. My box at home clearly states the amp's, but I guess older boxes do not. 

Very interesting...It seems like the inspectors here do a visual on the electric panel and do mention if it seems adequate.  Newer construction does have 200 amps.  Most of the older homes seem to have 100 amp boxes.  I have seen two 100 amp boxes in some updtes, but I don't know if that is to code today.

Hi Reuben Saltzman,  Any home inspector worth his "Saltzman" better tell me if the service is too small!

I just re-read your comments and realized you were mentioning my Medeco locks and not my ovens!  Sorry.  I'm slow on the uptake.

Medeco locks are selling "like pancakes" around here because of a crime wave of home invasions and burglaries involving our new friends from a couple of different continents.  I mentioned in those burglary posts a while ago.  For a reason!  This is a bad area for that because, as you mention, we live the "high life."  Compared to those jerks invading homes we are in fact living the high life. This has been, and is, a huge problem.

These predatory practices involve moving vans and smash ins.  With Medeco locks the doors cannot be opened from inside or out.  So it makes it more difficult to empty a house.  And that is what has been happening.

I did an inspection just yesterday on a cul-de-sac where the homeowner had foiled a moving van plot.  He lured them in making them think the house was vacant.  It was not.  It was occupied by the police.  He did us all a good service.

My problem with the key is that I also have Medeco keys on my ring for the church building! They all look exactly alike!

I don't get them mixed up though, because the house Medeco is surrounded by two Redskin keys I need for the house also.

By the way, thanks again for McNabb.

Quebec is an electricity producer and exporter, so prices are stable. The default energy source here is naturally electric. This means higher R value insulation, and panels large enough to accommodate electric heating and future expansion.

I agree 100 amp service is the most common expecially if there are gas appliances .  I would be more concerned with the condition of the service panel

Great post and thanks for the tip and the weblink. Always appreciate your posts!

Reuben, building in Maryland on an average house always used a 200 amp service. Is that standard in Minn. or do they use something less like the 100 in your example. We didn't have a lot of gas usage, oil mainly, but also a combination of propane and natural if it was piped.

Thank you for sharing your blog; we need Real estate Professionals to share their comments and information regarding their markets and experiences. Thanks again from beautiful Sunny San Diego.