I recently purchased an older ranch-style home. All told, it's approx. 1500 sq. ft. including the garage.
The house originally had screw-in fuses in the panel, but I had an electrician friend rewire the house & installed a 100 amp panel that used circuit breakers. I was considering 200 amp, but he stated 100 amp would be enough as I had no electric water heater.
There's a non-attached workshop with the house that has a sub-panel with two screw-in 20 amp fuses. It has a couple of 4' fluorescent fixtures, a couple of receptacles, and two outdoor lights... one that uses 2 flood lamp bulbs and the other that is just a regular bulb.
I just put in a koi pond & I'm wanting a couple more receptacles out there, but don't know if I'll be pushing it as far as what the main service panel can handle.
I do have an electric dryer & when it turns on the lights dim briefly... same when I use a table saw, or air compressor.
Suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

What you NEED depends on a Load Calculation for the premises.

What you want, in case you are planning a 20 year DIY Taj Mahal project complete with detached Man Cave, is another thing.

How does one determine load calculations?
Are you meaning that I go to each & every appliance, etc. to see how many amps or whatever they use?

Close, It's a survey of planned and existing loads. (in watts)

Submitting load calculations to the local jurisdiction having authority is not a DIY project.

Not as simple as that and usually unacceptable for submitttal by laymen when a permit is sought.

Geezus, that sounds like a major pain in the arse!

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I do have an electric dryer & when it turns on the lights dim briefly... same when I use a table saw, or air compressor.

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Suggest that you have qualified electrician check the work that has already been done.

What you describe would not be the result of the service size. More likely the result of poor connection somewhere. What was the size of the old fuse panel? If you had a 60 amp service and fuse panel, just changing to 100 amp breaker panel would not be increasing the size of the service.

Also was there permits done to put in the new service ?

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submitting load calculations to the local jurisdiction having authority is not a DIY project.

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He's just doing a load calc for his own info. What does the AHJ have to do with it?


JGKC9AYC, call your electrician back and ask him to do a load calc. it should not take him more than 10-15 minutes for such a simple house.

IMO, for any typical home to put a 100A back in as a replacement is crazy in today's world. The difference is minimal price wise, so going to 200A IMO is a no brainer.

The lights dimming when the dryer is used, or the table saw, has nothing to do with if the service is a 100 amp or if should had been a 200 amp, or if the service calculations is done correctly.

Have you told the electrician that you hired to install the 100 amp service about the issue of the lights dimming?

Since he is the installer, he now owns the responsibility of this service, to include the products, the method, and the calculations. I will assume you hired a licensed electrician that has the proper permits to install the new service, and has the proper insurances.

The lights dimming can be as simple as a loose connection, and may even be on the utility side. Or can be a loose connection in the service equipment your electrician installed, or one of the products he provided.

You need to contact you electrician and have him resolve this issue, promptly. It will not get better or go away on its own.

I have contacted my electrician (& yes, he is licensed) and he came out & looked, checked the connections in the panel & stated everything was OK there. He told me to contact the power company to check the meter.