An electrician claims he upgraded our electrical panel and added another 100 amps to the existing 200 amp service panel. The new sub-panel runs off the existing one, with a 200 amp circuit breaker at the top. Have I been duped? I think I have, but I need a second opinion. Thanks

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Originally Posted by DouglasMcCarty

An electrician claims he upgraded our electrical panel and added another 100 amps to the existing 200 amp service panel. The new sub-panel runs off of the existing one, with a 200 amp circuit breaker at the top. Have I been duped? I think I have, but I need a second opinion. Thanks

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I think you have... a 200amp panel is UL rated at 200 amps, not at 300. I'm subscribed to this just to see if I'm wrong... as I'm an Electronic Engineer, not a Master Electrician.

That's like trying to stuff 15 pounds of potatoes into a 10 pound sack.

That's exactly what I thought too, and thank you for your prompt response.

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Originally Posted by DouglasMcCarty

An electrician claims he upgraded our electrical panel and added another 100 amps to the existing 200 amp service panel. The new sub-panel runs off of the existing one, with a 200 amp circuit breaker at the top. Have I been duped? I think I have, but I need a second opinion. Thanks

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Are you absolutely certain he said he did an upgrade to "300A" ?
It sounds to me like you got a 100A sub-panel installed on your existing 200A service.
So to answer your question, NO, you cannot get 300A from 200A.

I am not passing judgement on another contractor from afar without knowing ALL the details, but if what you say is true I hope you nail him to the wall.
I loathe crooked contractors. They give all of us a bad name. Or should I say the perpetuate it.

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Originally Posted by stanfortyman

Are you absolutely certain he said he did an upgrade to "300A" ?
It sounds to me like you got a 100A sub-panel installed on your existing 200A service.
So to answer your question, NO, you cannot get 300A from 200A.

I am not passing judgement on another contractor from afar without knowing ALL the details, but if what you say is true I hope you nail him to the wall.
I loathe crooked contractors. They give all of us a bad name. Or should I say the perpetuate it.

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We have finished our basement as a complete house (2 br, 2ba, full kitchen, washer/dryer, family room... 2200sq.feet.) I knew the 200 amps was not going to be enough to hook up the basement, so we had a contractor friend get somebody in and he absolutely said he upgraded it to 300 amos.

If at all possible, can you take photos, of both panels, and utility meter. Some close, of labels etc. and some overall.

Be sure to click on advance, and then a small paper clip to upload a photo, or anyway possible.

Could be a terminology issue, or could be a fraud issue.

We need to see or understand exactly what you have before providing any advice.

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Originally Posted by DouglasMcCarty

We have finished our basement as a complete house (2 br, 2ba, full kitchen, washer/dryer, family room...2200sq.feet.) I knew the 200 amps was not going to be enough to hook up the basement, ..........

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Now this I have to disagree with. Unless you have all electric heat, 200A is plenty for a house like this.

Or are you saying just the basement has all this and is 2200 sq/ft?

Sorry about the delayed response. We had a bad storm with and it's been a bit crazy. Anyway, the basement alone is 2200sq.feet. The upstairs is about 2500sq.feet and that's what the 200 amp panel was originally wired for.

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Originally Posted by tkrussell

If at all possible, can you take photos, of both panels, and utility meter. Some close, of labels etc. and some overall.

Be sure to click on advance, and then a small paper clip to upload a photo, or anyway possible.

Could be a terminology issue, or could be a fraud issue.

We need to see or understand exactly what you have before providing any advice.

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Sorry it took so long to respond, we had a very nasty storm the other day. Here are the pics, but I forgot the meter.

With almost 5000 sq'ft of living space the only safe bet is to have an electrician do a demand load calculation to see if the 200A is going to be enough. I doubt it though. That is a LOT of living space.

Stan... just for fun:
5,000 sq ft @ 3va/sqft
with (6) small appliance circuits x 1500va each
approx 12.5 tons of HVAC = approx 12,500va
8 kva electric range
5 kva electric dryer
Calc this out with allowed diversity and we get 142.7 amps @ 240V, 1P

It is possible that a 200 ampere, 240V service will work for this size dwelling...

I am not getting into if the 200 amp service is sized properly.

I want to address the original concern of Doug stated here:

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Originally Posted by DouglasMcCarty

An electrician claims he upgraded our electrical panel and added another 100 amps to the existing 200 amp service panel.

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Doug, not sure what you think or know you have been sold, but clearly, you had and still only have a 200 amp service.

I am not sure how the electrician "upgraded" the existing panel, but the 200 Amp Main clearly serves the new 100 amp sub-panel.

All that was done was more load, or at least more circuits, added to the existing 200 amp Main.

Does this answer your original question?

Definitely not a 300 amp set-up. Apparently all that was done (by the pics) was a 100 amp breaker added to the main panel to supply the sub-panel. If it had been a 300 amp upgrade, the meter base would have been changed out to a 325 amp, dual tap, larger service entrance cables, etc. or a 325 amp base with a dual tap disconnect. Was any of that done? You don't have pics for that, and it wasn't mentioned.You can't make 300 amps out of a 200 amp box. Just don't work. Sounds like you got duped.

Based on your picture it is a 200 amp service, that's what the main breaker says. It also shows a subpanel but the limitation is the main breaker.