Older Homes: Is Your Electrical Service Adequate?

The electrical demands on your home today are far greater than they were just 20 years ago yet your electrical service, the power coming in from the utility, may not have been expanded to accommodate our ever-growing need for more power. 

Consider the electrical demands of this assortment of basic, common appliances and home necessities/luxuries.

APPLIANCE                          WATTAGE                        AMPERAGE

1 Zone of Air Conditioning      5760 watts                               24 amps

Window AC Unit                     1000 watts                               8.5 amps

Boiler                                      850-1200 watts (start up)          7-10 amps

Electric Range                          8000 watts                               33.3 amps

Swimming Pool pump              1870 watts                               7.7 amps

Electric Cooktop                      5280 watts                               22-24 amps

Electric Water Heater               6000 watts                               25 amps

Microwave                               1560 watts                               13 amps

Hair Dryer                               1800 watts                               15 amps

Dishwasher                              1200 watts                               10 amps

Refrigerator                             800-1000 watts                        6.6-8.5 amps

Dehumidifier                           600 watts                                 5 amps

Wine Chiller                            720 watts                                 6 amps

Warming Drawer                     1800 watts                               15 amps

Clothes Iron                             1560 watts                               13 amps

Toaster                                    650 watts                                 5.4 amps

TV (LED)                                200 watts                                 1.6 amps

1 Phone Charger                      10 watts (5 volts)                     2 amps       

Laptop/Desktop                       100-180 watts                          .85-1.5 amps

CATV box                               35 watts                                   .3 amps                

Viewed from this perspective, our aging electrical services are under assault.  Even the cars we drove in the 1950’s are rusting in a junk pile somewhere but many older homes have services that predate this era and yet we rely on this power for all of life’s basic conveniences.  Unfortunately, it is not until things stop working that we often take note of our dependance of these creature comforts.  At best we can hope the overtaxed service will simply stop working and not experience a catastrophic failure like a burn out.

Some homes may have an electrical service rating as small as 60 amps (rare) but more commonly found is the 100 amp service, the workhorse of residential home building through much of the 20^th century.  Even the National Electrical Code has a minimum of 100 amps for a single family home.  Today, most new homes with 1000 square feet and above are automatically equipped with a 200 amp service.  Often aging 100 amp services are not upgraded to 150 or 200 amps until an addition for the home is contemplated or central air is planned. Until such major endeavors are in the offing, the struggling 100 amp service is left overlooked and under sized.

If you believe your service has fallen behind the times and may require some TLC in the form of a service upgrade, please call a trained Lippolis Electric specialist to provide a free evaluation of the current electrical service versus current demands in your home.  914 738-3550