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Your One Bullet Point Solution; Electrical Upgrade

Two points; I am well aware of many threads on topic of electrical service. I do not have time to read hundreds of posts, but wish to distill them down with your help. I will also post this on the Tech Forum to get wider response:

Doing service upgrade to 100A. I plan on adding a whole house surge protector, type 2, add on to panel after the service enters house. Panel to the HT/Music room is not under consideration, as it was all updated when the room was built.

If anyone has important info/contradictory info on that plan, please inform.

What I would like to know in shorthand form from the community from those who have Done upgrades:

1. Recommended Panel? Brand, any difference?

2. I currently have sub-panel for HT/Audio room which I’m tempted to keep. I understand that this is a good move.
Electrician can sum all into a larger panel, but I have reservations. Comments/recommendations?

3. Particular wiring/breakers for panel/sub-panel for audio use?

4. Particular surge protector recommend.

As the topic has been covered much, notation form comments are welcome. Thanks for helping!



douglas_schroeder
polesandzeros
2 posts
 
Well straight away if you are going from capacity of 60 to 100 or 200 amps there may be more imbalanced current to dispose of.
Additional wiring may require an extension of the earthing network for the house, the entire system should be considered rather than just a tack on.

Also, if the earthing system (stakes, wires etc) has been there for 60 years I can guarantee you that corrosion will have had some impact and it may be substandard right now.
If you live in an area near the ocean there will be problems and anywhere with even a hint of geothermal activity, H2S eats copper for breakfast.

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cleeds
5,944 posts
 
polesandzeros
... if you are going from capacity of 60 to 100 or 200 amps there may be more imbalanced current to dispose of ...
This doesn’t make sense. Current isn’t disposed - it always flows back to the source. The ground rods are just safety grounds.
Additional wiring may require an extension of the earthing network for the house ...
Why? If the ground rods and connections are satisfactory now, how would "additional wiring" compromise them?
douglas_schroeder OP
3,281 posts
 
ELECTRICIANS and owners of the whole house meter surge suppressor devices, I need your help on a particular point of information.

My local utility does not offer the house/meter surge suppressors. 

I see one made by Leviton. I get the idea. 

Question: I believe my electrician could install it. They seem to have a shelf life. What happens when a surge hits? Do they reset automatically? Are you without power until reset? How do you reset them?   

Any superior, great brand to recommend? 

TIA 
ejr1953
912 posts
 
Before we renovated our kitchen, a friend who is a licensed first class electrician was building a home and installed the same "commercial" unit in my home that he intended to put in his main panel of his new home.  I reached out to him for a recommendation for a new home we are building, and he said there's a less expensive one he recommends:

Leviton 52120-CM2

It's still about a grand for the unit, which has a pair of replaceable modules and monitors the surges it captures.

As it turns out, the builder in our new neighborhood won't install that unit for me (long story), so I'm getting a much less sophisticated one installed in my main panel, which consumes two slots and (in my case) needs to be replaced if it's ever "invoked".


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