Service Drop Cable Size

not enough information to provide any real help. SER is not rated for overhead to my knowledge. A triplexed cable with a messenger would be my first choice.

Voltage?

Kirk Johnson - The Goatse Man

I supose 220 between phase and 380 triphase power but why 200 amps is that a single factory or you have a child land tell more if you want help "Kirk Johnson" escribió en el mensaje news: snipped-for-privacy@nnrp-t71-03.news.uk.clara.net...

Might help if you said where it was, but most first world countries don't give homes 200A supplies, and most third world areas won't have the infrastructure to supply it anyway.

When we talk about service amps in the US it is still going to be at

240v so the fact that we internally split it out to two 120v rails is not important. It will affect the number of amps at the outlets though. I am sure the typical US home will use a lot more watts than most Europeans. A dollar will typically buy somewhere between 7 and 10 KWH in most of the country although there are still pockets of higher or lower rates. We don't have prohibitive tax rates on big users.

It is becoming common in the US. In fact, any new service drop the utility installs in my area will handle 200 amps. To upgrade, you just install your new meter and service panel.

Ben Miller

andrew@a17 (Andrew Gabriel) wrote in news:43640fde$0$38044$5a6aecb4 @news.aaisp.net.uk:

Hrm...I've been installing 200A services to homes in the US for at least

20 years...in the last 5-8 years 300A or 400A is not uncommon. The utility company really frowns on anything under 200A for a residence.

In todays world in the US, 200A is probably barely enough, imho. If you figure in the heating/cooling, clothes dryer, range, water heating, etc and you can get pretty close with just the major appliances which have a high likelyhood of being in use concurrently. The lifestyle now is such that many families are only home for a few hours a day, wherein most household chores must get done. This is not taking into account all the entertainment equipment.

I wonder, what is the KW cost there US I am in Spain and it is incredible for me seeing a 200 Amps in a house, I have a usefull house and I have 5,5 Amps, and I pay every two months close to 100 $ "Anthony" escribió en el mensaje news:Xns96FF85919CC18acziparle3sp835@216.77.188.18...

US is just one country, I think the post said 'most' first world countries.

I Think you will find that most first world countries have domestic supplies around the 50A-80A range.

Krik Johnson - Stretchin it wide since 1977.

Be careful about comparing amps. In many places, the utilization equipment runs on 220-240 volts rather than 120. Their toaster oven, microwave oven, space heater, etc. draw half the amps, but equally on both lines. Ours draw twice the amps, but typically on only one line and neutral. We may not use both sides of the system equally, but the highest line amps determine the service ampacity requirements.

Ben Miller

In the US a 200A main breaker theoretically supplies 48kVA of power. It doesn't matter if you look at it as 2 120V circuits or 1 240V circuit, it's still 48kVA. In reality somewhat less since the two legs aren't going to be perfectly balanced and you're limited by whichever leg draws the most current.

Assuming you live in a 220V or 240V country, 200A on 3 hots will supply

132 to 144 kVA. Much more than you'll likely need. In theory, to have the same 48kVA power available, all you'd need is a 67-75A main breaker. Again, the 3 legs aren't going to be perfectly balanced, but this is similar to the two 120V legs in a US service not being perfectly balanced, either.

What LARGE power users will you have? Electric range/oven/dryer? Electric hot water? Electric heat (cringe)? Air conditioning (is it hot there?) ?

Most 220/240v countries will have a single phase supply, so 48KVA is 200A.

Krik Johnson - Stretchin it wide since 1977.

Yes its very hot there, and I will use Electric range/oven/dryer/hot water and Air Conditioning.

The original poster explicitly mentioned 3 phase. I don't know if that is standard whereever he is or he's explicitly requesting it.

A typical "all electric" home in Florida would have a $200 a month bill when the A/C was running. We oversize our services as a general rule. The house may have a 200a service but the utility will probably have a service cable closer to 100a capacity although they do have "free air" around it so they get away with smaller wire. Our side will be 4/0 al (107.2mm) the utility will use #2al (33.62mm). They know we are not using 200a. My bills show 1700-1900kwh a month. A/C, hot water, cooking, spa and a pool.

It seems that the service for an American home is in the range of

100A-400A at 240V. Let's say 200A. The capacity is then 48 kVA.

In Sweden a home has a service in the range of 16-25A @ 400V (3 ph). Let's say 20A, which gives some 14 kVA. That is about 30% of the American.

An average Swedish home of 150 sqm (1600 sqft) uses 27 700 kWh per year, of which 1 000 kWH is the lighting, 5 000 is for the hot water, 5

700 is for household use and finally the heating takes 16 000 kWh.

Let's assume that the ratio between service size and annual electrical usage in a home is the same. Then the American home would use 27 700 /

0,30 = 92 000 kWh per year.

According to you, a dollar buys between 7-10 kWh. Let's say 8 kWh as an average. Then an American home would use some 92 000 / 8 = 11 500 dollars worth of electricity per year, or about $1000 per month.

Sigh, American wages are higher than ours...

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in news:1130934293.817150.51180 @g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Lets also note, that the figures I gave were for service sizing, and not actual load. While the peak demand can sometimes approach the 200A @

240V, the average usage is going to be very considerably less. I don't know about the rest of the country, but in my area, you would be lucky if the whole family was home and awake, more than 4-6 hours a day (probably closer to 4). [Both parents working, after-school activities for the young ones, etc.] But still..you have to size the service for peak potential demand.