I'm starting to plan out my electrical upgrade and I have a question. I currently have 60 amp service. I want to find out if I will need to upgrade the service.

My house is about 750 square feet, with a full basement. The main floor has two bedrooms, one bathroom (really small btw) living room, kitchen and front entrance room. I also have a small back porch. I also have a detached garage. My heating system is gas powered boiler heat, and I don't have central air.

I figured I could put the front entrance, living room, and hallway on one circuit. I could put the bedrooms each on one circuit protected by an AFCI breaker. There currently isn't an outlet in the bathroom, but I'd probably put one in there. But it is small, and I only need one. In the kitchen I would have a dedicated fridge outlet, and one counter outlet. I would need another outlet or two in the kitchen in general. I want to upgrade my stove to gas, so I don't need a 220 in the kitchen. The back porch has one outlet for a small chest freezer. The garage needs only one GFCI. I would also put one on the outside of my house. In the basement, I have one rec room. The rest isn't finished, but I plan on putting in a small sewing room for the wife, and the rest will remain finished, but open space with a washer and dryer. The dryer is gas as well so I don't need a 220 there either. For basement heat I wanted to put in some 220 baseboards. It doesn't matter if they are on one thermostat or two, but perferibly two. In the summer, I only need to run two small 5000 BTU window ac's, one in the front porch and one in the master bedroom. But really if I could put one in the kitchen that'd be cool. But I don't need anything larger than 5000 BTU's.

For lighting, there is a fixture in everyroom, except the living room. Code in my area requires either a fixture or a switchable outlet for a lamp. I'd probably split an outlet for this purpose in the living room. Total 9 fixtures on main floor counting one in the back porch and a motion light outside the back porch and the switched outlet. I run and plan to always run CFL's in all fixtures (although future owners might not). All fixtures and switched outlet on one circuit? In the basment, I have two fixtures in the rec room, and a total of 4 more for the rest of the basement including the sewing room.

And I think that's it? Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give you everything I could think of. So, do I need 100 amp for this house, or is 60 going to be enough?

EDIT: I should mention more specifics about the basement heat. I live in a cold climate, but when the basement is finished, it'll be well insulated. Since the main floor is heated, I don't know if 10 watts per square feet is needed? Less, or more? Something to consider...

tkrussell

Code requires any new service for a home to be a minimum of 100 amps. An existing service does not need to be changed to conform to code, but insurance carriers and mortgage companies will if they ever get involved.

Upgrading to a 100 amp service with circuit breakers will not only eliminate the old service, that will have problems in the future, and parts are no longer available, plus add value to the home.

While a 60 amp is just barely enough for now, there is no room for any future expansion, esp too much electric heat.

KingsX

Okay, that's no problem. But one more question tk, am I close to needing 200 amp, or is there still a good amount of room for future expansion with the 100 amp with what I mentioned above?

tkrussell

What do you plan to add, what are the possibilities? 100 Amp is adequate for a modest home, no hot tubs, that type of thing. The more gas appliances the better.

KingsX

I can't really think of adding anything. I might not get a gas range, so at the very least a 240 stove. But I do already have a gas dryer and don't plan on changing that. So other than the basement heat and possibly the stove, I can't think of changing anything else. I doubt I'd ever get a hottub living here, and doubt anyone else would either, so little room.

Cobraguy

KingsX...don't do this remodel with only your future plans in mind. You may want to sell the place some day. I would definitely wire for 240V ranges and dryers. You may not need them right now, but you may in the future...and any potential buyer may need them.

KingsX

Okay. If I plan for a 240 in the kitchen and at the dryer, would I need to go to 200 amp, or would 100 amp still be enough?

labman

I don't know about your utility, but mine wants to see the NEC calculations and won't upgrade service unless it is needed. One good solution would be a 200 amp box and a 100 breaker if you can find one to fit it. If eventually the utility saw the need for heavier cable, then all you would have to change on your side was the breaker.

KingsX

You could be right labman. I'll phone my utility and see what they have to say. I never thought that they might need to be specific. Thanks again everyone for your help!