I have had 2 professional electricians to my house that I recently bought and one said I needed to upgrade to 200 amps and the other said my existing 100 amp service is enough.

House is 3600 sq feet built in 1969. 5 bedrooms 3 full baths 2 half baths.

House has Central Air and the only appliance that is electric is the double oven. Everything else including the heat is gas.

I want to add a ceiling fan to each bedroom and recessed lighting to the family room.

I noticed that two of my breakers are split/doubled up with the (2) 15 breakers. Nothing is really labeled but when I was doing some minor electrical work I noticed that one of these smaller 15 breakers controls 3 bedrooms and one of the full bathrooms. Seems that it is too much for one breaker?

My uneducated guess and gut tells me I need to upgrade, but I since 2 professionals differed I am not really sure.

Any thoughts or advice?

I'll bet the guy who recommends the upgrade is a younger electriican. He is basing his reciommendation on the current building standards, not 40 years of experience. I'd go with the upgrade and split down some of those over loaded circuits too.

If you use your air conditioning system the same time you have your double oven on, I would increase your service to 150 or 200 amps. I would assume your AC system probably has a 4 or 5 ton condensing unit based on your square footage. Depending on the SEER rating and age of your system, you are using between 40 and 50 amps just for the AC system. Increasing the amperage will also help with any low voltage problems when your AC first starts.

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Originally Posted by hoosiers93

I have had 2 professional electricians to my house that I recently bought and one said I needed to upgrade to 200 amps and the other said my existing 100 amp service is enough.

House is 3600 sq feet built in 1969. 5 bedrooms 3 full baths 2 half baths.

House has Central Air and the only appliance that is electric is the double oven. Everything else including the heat is gas.

I want to add a ceiling fan to each bedroom and recessed lighting to the family room.

I noticed that two of my breakers are split/doubled up with the (2) 15 breakers. Nothing is really labeled but when I was doing some minor electrical work I noticed that one of these smaller 15 breakers controls 3 bedrooms and one of the full bathrooms. Seems that it is too much for one breaker?

My uneducated guess and gut tells me I need to upgrade, but I since 2 professionals differed I am not really sure.

Any thoughts or advice?

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Sounds like you have an older electrical panel. Most if not all new ones today are 200. With what you have you could 'get by' with 100 amp, however you have to consider any future electrical demands you may have. With more and more electronics coming out today, you most likely will need to upgrade.

Good thing is, it isn't too expensive. Just last month I purchased a house and upgraded the electrical panel from 100amp fuse to 200 amp breaker. It only cost around 1500 bucks. The hardest part of it all is getting everyone out on the same days. Because you power company will have to come out and switch you from a 100 amp meter to 200 amp, and you have to have inspections etc.

But to answer your question, I would suggest upgrading. You will be glad you did later when you need the extra power.