100 Amp to upgrade or not?

Question

I have a electric hot water heater, ac, w/d and stove on a 100amp meter, is that good? Electrician telling me I need 150 amps. Its for a 600 sq ft 2/1 unit

Marc Desrosiers · Answer

@Rik Patel

100 amp should be plenty for that size of house. Like said above I’ve had an on demand hot water heater on 100amp service with a slightly larger house. 900sf 2/1 with all the same electric appliances and had zero issues.

With that said if your doing significant electrical work at the house I would upgrade the service to 200amp at that point. Aside from labor largest expense for that is the service wire.

Evan Polaski · Answer

@Rik Patel, only way to truly know is to do a load calc based on what you have.  General rule is 100amp is minimum and 100-200 is typical.  I have had 100 amp service in my houses and been fine, but have always had gas hot water heaters, and frequently gas ranges, which decrease the overall load.

What is cost to upgrade to 150?  My slogan is: finishes sell houses, and mechanics kill deals.  If the buyer's inspector comes in and says the 100 amp service is not adequate, what's the course of action?

Nicholas Field · Answer

Get a second opinion. The electric water heater can be a suck. I asked in my current flip if I could do a on demand system and he said my 100 amp service wouldn't allow for it, but I just added one to my personal house so I guess everyone is full of it.

ha.