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I need to upgrade my home service from 100amp service to 200amp. My main panel is in the basement which then also feeds a line going into my garage panel (20 amp). I'm looking to get more power feeding into the garage to power my tesla charger at max charging speeds.
Can anyone recommend a certified electrician that won't annihilate me when it comes to pricing ?
I've had electricians tell me all kinds of nonsense, I need to re-do my grounding even though I've lived at the house for 4 years now and never had any issues even though I have a black ground wire going to the water main, etc. Another one wanted to re-do all electrical wiring into the house and on top of that not even patch up the collateral damage that is the sheet rock.
Appreciate any kind of response here. It's not doable to supercharge the car every day or to top it off every day.
Many variables.
I’m a little rusty on code, but I believe if you do a service upgrade everything involved in the job must be brought current as well. Electric is no joke. It’s not something you skimp on or hack. Done wrong you will die.
So, a good, honest electrician will want to do the job correctly, and not risk their license & livelihood by cutting corners to make a buck. Yeah if you want to save money you can take your chances and hire some hack.
Always get multiple quotes.
Many variables.
I’m a little rusty on code, but I believe if you do a service upgrade everything involved in the job must be brought current as well. Electric is no joke. It’s not something you skimp on or hack. Done wrong you will die.
So, a good, honest electrician will want to do the job correctly, and not risk their license & livelihood by cutting corners to make a buck. Yeah if you want to save money you can take your chances and hire some hack.
Always get multiple quotes.
Never said I wanted a hack or skip proper code but some things mentioned felt like an upcharge, I'm in marketing so I know when I'm being sold to rather than what I'm asking for. No code violations came up when the home was purchased and ran thru inspection.
Never said I wanted a hack or skip proper code but some things mentioned felt like an upcharge, I'm in marketing so I know when I'm being sold to rather than what I'm asking for. No code violations came up when the home was purchased and ran thru inspection.
hotkarl is right. You may not have any code violations now, but you're upgrading a major service. For example, lets say your car can tow 2000 pounds. You buy a boat that is 7000 pounds. Your 4 cylinder engine can't hack it, so you need to put in a bigger engine. You could drop a 6 or 8 cylinder engine in there for more power, but now you need more towing power. You now have to upgrade the gearing as well. The engine alone can't do it.
Similar to just dropping a 200 amp panel in there. You want to make sure everything can be handled correctly.
Never said I wanted a hack or skip proper code but some things mentioned felt like an upcharge, I'm in marketing so I know when I'm being sold to rather than what I'm asking for. No code violations came up when the home was purchased and ran thru inspection.
What do you mean felt like an upcharge? Can you elaborate.
“No code violations found when we bought the house” is a whole ‘nother topic lol…
Anyway, not insinuating *you* want a cheapo hack job, but often things like this, there’s more than meets the eye. Service upgrade is a big job.
https://allwayselectriccorp.com I would not use anyone else they did my upgrade from 100 AMP to 200 Amp in 2005 plus other electrical projects. My mom uses them too. they were excellent when we had a storm a couple years back and a tree came down on the wires in front of my mom's house. They replace everything and put in a new meter and gave her a discount. They did every thing they said they would do and more.
Never said I wanted a hack or skip proper code but some things mentioned felt like an upcharge, I'm in marketing so I know when I'm being sold to rather than what I'm asking for. No code violations came up when the home was purchased and ran thru inspection.
Code violations only show if you actually applied for a permit. My old home had no code violations. I direct wire converted halogen to LED had exposed wires in no junction boxes. None of this safe or to code, I did it so I was aware and it wasn’t an issue. Also had a illegal extension and bathroom, no violation because we never asked just went ahead and did it. I also pigtailed pigtails to add switches not to code not very safe it wasn’t going to cause a fire. Inspector would never know because they aren’t taking off the outlet or switch cover.
Previous electric code allowed for just a hot/neutral from main to the sub-panel The sub could then have a separate local ground. The new code requires a third (ground) wire from the main panel to the sub-panel.
No idea if this applies to your situation, but could be why an electrician would say you need to "re-do" your grounding.
Best to get quotes from other licensed electricians. You could also ask the current one to better explain what he means by re-do the ground and why you need that. If he describes the above scenario, he is not trying to pull a fast one.
edited to add: the "new" code wouldn't apply when you bought the house. Assuming is was done to code (and approved by the town) when the work was done, it would be grandfathered in. The new code only applies when you have work done. Leave things alone and you are fine. Upgrade the panel, and the new panel has to follow the current code. You cannot do new work to old code.
Just hope the current code doesn't require all new GCFI breakers. (And FYI - NEC updated every three years. However, states usually take much longer to adopt the current code. I'm pretty sure NYS is still on the 2017 NEC).
No good electrician repairs your drywall that they cut and destroy.
The federal government and nys government give you tax rebates buying these cars . Use it to update your old main panel.
Cough up the money to do it right Or go back to gas powered cars. I know plenty of people who’s teslas broke down and completely stopped working. I had to drive them home when the right side of the car wouldn’t move.
Your in marketing but got up sold on a Tesla. Do it right. Why cheap out now.
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