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Per @Harper-ReinstateMonica, asking a new question as a follow up to the previous question found here (What TYPE of wire should I install to future proof this install?).

Need help doing an electrical load calculation.

First, high res pictures of my panels:
Main panel: main panel with door open
Main panel inside: main panel inside
Main panel updated 2x label(s): enter image description here Sub panel: sub panel with door open
Sub panel label on inside of door: sub panel label on inside of door Sub panel inside: sub panel innards 1 and sub panel innards 2.
The wire from the main panel to the sub says: "Alcan S Stabiloy AA-8000 Series U Type XHHW CORS 600 Volts 2 CORS 2 AL 1 COR 4 AL (UL)".
Pool sub panel: pool sub panel

A/C units labels:
A/C unit #1: Bigger A/C unit - guessing 1st Fl
A/C unit #2: Smaller A/C unit - likely 2nd Fl

Double Oven label:
enter image description here

MAIN PANEL:
200A MAIN.
100A (bottom right - breaker #38-40) - feeder wire to sub-panel.
50A - 1st Floor A/C (bottom left - breaker #77-39).
40A - 2nd Floor A/C (breaker 30-32).
40A - Oven (breaker 26-28).
20A and another 20A (not dual pole breakers) - Cooktop (breakers #34 and 36).
20A - 1st Floor Heater (breaker #29).
20A - 2nd Floor Heater (breaker #22).
30A - Swimming pool (breaker #17-19).
20A - Office (breaker #21 - skinny dual pole 20A).
20A - Kitchen Countertop Outlets (dual-breaker #33, both breakers control different walls of outlets in the kitchen).
20A - MasterBathroom heated floor and one GFCI outlet, but not two other walls of outlets (breaker #24).
20A - (Breaker #35) - top is outside lights (4 front door walkway posts, 4 driveway posts, two spot lights on the ground); bottom is lights only, not outlets, for one side, roughly half or smaller, basement. Very likely it also covers an outside outlet right by front door and those front door walkway lights).

So above are all or almost all breakers 20A and above. Unfortunately not everything is labeled. House was built in 1987, we're second owners for 3 years now. Other things labeled on the main panel are:
15A - Kitchen (breaker #9).
15A - Master Bedroom lights (breaker #11).
15A - Garage (breaker #13) there are overhead lights - two florescent long tube fixtures, two garage door openers with their own two bulbs each, a regular outlet and another quad outlet; there's also a second fridge in the garage.
15A - "2nd Fl Bed Room" (breaker #6)

The rest is unlabeled unfortunately, but with the updates below, also reflected above, I think I covered all but possibly one 20A breakers. Everything else is 15A and is either described above or unlabeled. I count 20 separate 15A breakers, in total.

update 1:
Breaker #33 is kitchen countertop outlets, #35 surprisingly killed some of the lights, but not outlets in the basement, surprising because I thought the sub-panel solely controlled the basement.
@ ThreePhaseEel: I believe the basement is 1,664 sq ft, and I thought the sub-panel exclusively powered the basement, but see right above as breaker #35 killed lights, but not outlets, on one side of the basement.

update 2:
Breaker #33 - top and bottom - both cover kitchen outlets; top is one wall including the fridge; bottom is two other opposite walls.
Breaker #24 - one GFCI outlet in Master Bathroom and also appears to cover the heated floor in Master Bathroom. There are two other outlets in Master Bathroom, each on a different wall, and those are not powered by #24.

update 3:
Breaker #35 - top is outside lights (4 front door walkway posts, 4 driveway posts, two spot lights on the ground); bottom is lights only, not outlets, for one side, roughly half or smaller, basement.

updated 4:
Breaker #21 - top is 5 kitchen recessed lights (interestingly this is just one of three separate sets/switches of lights in the kitchen), also these florescent under cabinet lights in the kitchen, and another solo recessed light in the kitchen on its own switch; bottom is Office outlets.

Breaker #31 - seems like it's one outlet in the utility closet right next to the main panel, it used to have the security system plugged into it, and maybe cable modem; maybe it goes somewhere else, but can't find what.

Breaker #16 - this is the one with a weird red sticker, well I now think it says "pool outlet", which would explain why it would trip when I tried plugging a water removal pump into that outlet.
So the pool actually has another sub-panel, I'm adding a pic of it, but again it's all on the #17-19 30A breaker anyway, and the only things on there is the variable speed/efficient pool pump, a blower for the tub, and gas water heater - the pool pump is the only that the really gets used. I run an electric pool cleaner/robot off that outlet. I think back in the day there was a higher power vacuum being used here, and right 15A breaker is in the pool sub panel, but like I said, the one I use now I think is a lot lower power.

update 5:
Pool Pump motorPool Pump/motor
Hot tub blower Hot tub blower

update 6:
@ThreePhaseEel - regarding the two cooktop circuits, just tested and one controls the gas cooktop which has a kitchen exhaust-type fan built in; and the other controls the outlet (buried inside of the cabinet/space under the cooktop that has the microwave plugged into to it). CooktopCooktop
Microwavemicrowave
Connections for both (microwave plugged into the white face outlet, cooktop into the metal one): enter image description here

Added additional pictures.

SUB-PANEL: As noted, the 100A goes to a sub-panel, which is right next to the main panel. The feeder wire between the two panels says: "Alcan S Stabiloy AA-8000 Series U Type XHHW CORS 600 Volts 2 CORS 2 AL 1 COR 4 AL (UL)". The sub panel has 100A main, and contains 8 separate 15A breakers (4 and 4 on each side, see pictures). One of the 15A is labeled as Low Voltage Lts - I believe this is for on the ground lights outside in the front of the house, some of these have been removed, there are currently like 2 working lights not the ground under one tree, and then four light poles around the driveway, and four walk-way lights along the path to the front door (not sure if you need to know all that). The other 7x15A breakers are unlabeled but from testing appear to all be for lights and outlets in the basement, which is finished but almost entirely unused.

HOUSE: 3,700 sq ft, not including the finished but largely unused basement, which itself is 1,664 sq ft per plans. 2 A/C units and 2 Furnaces (gas), as well as 2 Water Heaters (gas). Pool heater is also gas and rarely used. Pool pump is a new efficient variable speed motor that typically is used on low power Stove is gas. Separate dual oven is electric. Washer is electric, Dryer is gas. If it helps, I've replaced almost all the lights around the house with LEDs.
As best as I can tell, heating/furnace and water heaters are gas, but here are pics of them just in case. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1p8j201uyesbec/Furnace_WaterHeater1.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/53zdvy2kjhpwk8e/WaterHeater1.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/hhi3c97a9lf0ag8/Furnace1.jpg?dl=0

So the reason for the question, as from the prior question, is that it is being suggested that I run #2AL wire to the garage for an 80A EVSE circuit; do I have enough "capacity" (probably wrong term) in the house for that? Thanks in advance!!!

Alex
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  • How many square feet is the house? Confirming that you've got gas air & water heat, not some sort of electric (resistive baseboard, heat pump, mini-split, etc), correct? Someone will ask... – FreeMan Dec 13 '21 at 15:19
  • Oops... just noticed the penultimate paragraph detailing the gas heat. May want to include the Sq/ft of the basement, too. Even if it's _currently_ unused, I'm pretty sure it needs to be counted for sizing purposes. Also, please [edit] the info into your question - that helps people find it - things can get lost in the comments – FreeMan Dec 13 '21 at 15:39
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    Edited main question with additional info. Thanks. New to this site, figuring it out. – Alex Dec 13 '21 at 16:14
  • Can you get us the nameplate amp ratings on your A/Cs and the nameplate watt ratings on that double oven please? Also, can you get us a photo of the upper part of your main panel's label? (It got cut off there) – ThreePhaseEel Dec 14 '21 at 00:58
  • @ThreePhaseEel - Edited the main post to add all requested info. Thank you for your help! – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 02:00
  • @Alex -- last but not least, can you figure out which breakers control kitchen countertop circuits? (they should all be 20A) – ThreePhaseEel Dec 14 '21 at 02:46
  • @Alex -- sorry for the extra question, but do you know how many square feet the circuits powered by the subpanel serve? – ThreePhaseEel Dec 14 '21 at 03:06
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    @ThreePhaseEel Please do not apologize, I very much **appreciate** the help you're providing to me. I just answered your questions by updating the main post, see the "updates" section. – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 04:03
  • @Alex -- what do the other halves of breakers 33 and 35 control, as well as breaker 24 and the other half of breaker 21? – ThreePhaseEel Dec 14 '21 at 04:15
  • @ThreePhaseEel - not sure I understand the question, "the other *halves*"? #24 - shoot me but I can't figure it out. I'll go turn it off and walk around some more, but I couldn't find what it was earlier. #21 - Office - it's a live-in/mother-in-law suite, set up as an office on the side of the house, off from the kitchen and actually next to the garage. – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 04:33
  • @Alex -- breakers 21, 33, and 35 are double-stuff/tandem breakers, so there are 2 breaker mechanisms and 2 handles controlling/protecting 2 different circuits, and we need to figure out what both of those circuits power – ThreePhaseEel Dec 14 '21 at 04:49
  • @ThreePhaseEel - got it, so you're suggesting I turn them off one half at a time and try to figure out what they power? – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 04:54
  • @ThreePhaseEel - well thanks for the exercise :) been running up/down two flights of stairs from 11pm to 1am trying to figure this out :). Anyways, figured out just about everything, see updates above. – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 06:01
  • @ThreePhaseEel and yet more updates. I think I got all but possibly one 20A covered. Hope this leads to something :) – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 06:12
  • @Alex -- do both halves of breaker 21 control office circuits, or does one half control the office while the other half protects something else? – ThreePhaseEel Dec 14 '21 at 12:46
  • @ThreePhaseEel answered your question, update #4 in the main post, and added more pictures. If nothing else, this made me trace every 20A and above breaker. – Alex Dec 14 '21 at 15:07
  • @Alex -- what are the HP ratings on the pool pump and bubbler blower? – ThreePhaseEel Dec 15 '21 at 02:45
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    @ThreePhaseEel Added pictures of labels of pool pump motor and the hot tub bubble blower. This has been a great exercise in getting all this info, although believe it or not I already had photos of a lot of these things without a need to go outside and take them. Hopefully this is enough info to do the electrical load calculation. Thanks – Alex Dec 15 '21 at 15:06
  • @Alex I just want to say that's a super-well documented problem - all the clear photos help a lot. Secondly, charging your car at home is frequently overnight, so you may not need the full 80A current... a slow charge is more "gentle" on the batteries compared to hosing it with current. Something to thing about. – Criggie Jan 30 '23 at 22:49

1 Answers1

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While your service isn't overloaded yet, that main panel is quite surely overstuffed!

Running a NEC Article 220 load calculation on your main panel, with 4 kitchen SABCs, the given square footage (including the basement), a 5kVA dryer, and the given oven and motor loads yields 38387VA, or just under 160A @ 240VAC. This is not yet an issue for your service; however, your main panel is badly overstuffed, with several double-stuff breakers present in a panel that does not accept any tandem/double-stuff breakers, never mind the several aliens that are present!

As a result, the first order of business is simple: replacing that main panel with a larger panel (you'd need to go up to a 54-space or 60-space loadcenter to do this), or alternatively fitting another subpanel next to the main panel and moving at least 4 circuits to it to evict the double-stuff breakers in spaces 21, 23, 33, and 35 from the panel. While this is done, the alien breakers in spaces 17-19 and 36 need to be evicted from the panel; the breaker in spaces 38-40 is also an alien, but we'll address it below as there are other things wrong with it as well.

That feeder, though, is overbreakered...

The other piece of bad news is that the feeder to the basement subpanel, while not at all overloaded, is overbreakered, as a 2AWG Al wire is only good for 90A at 75°C. This can be fixed by swapping the alien 100A breaker in spaces 38-40 for a Siemens Q290, or the correct type of 2-pole, 90A breaker for your new panel if you're going for a wholesale replacement.

And there's just not enough headroom for EV charging without upsizing the service as a whole

The final problem is that adding the 80A of EV charging isn't possible without a service upgrade, and would also overload the feeder to the basement subpanel as well were you to try to tap power from there. (The basement panel calculates out to about 15A right now, which is why the oversized breaker isn't currently a critical issue, but I wouldn't want to pull 95A on a 90A feeder on the regular, either!)

As to your options

You have two basic options: you can either scale your EV charging desires back to a single 32A charger on a 40A circuit, or upgrade your service. Unfortunately, in order to get a full 80A of EV charging, you'd need to go with a Class 320 service, which'd require a total overhaul of your service entrance hardware.

ThreePhaseEel
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  • If I understand it correctly (which I might not) a Class 320 service normally ends up with 2 x 200A panels feeding from the meter (or meter main?). So while some work would be needed outside for that, wouldn't that go along with a second *main* panel next to the existing one, but instead of feeding A->B, the new panel would have its own feed and you would throw the subpanel feed (including EV) + a few other loads into it to relieve the pressure (alien breakers, double-stuff breakers and overall capacity) from the existing main panel. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Dec 17 '21 at 04:24
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    @manassehkatz-Moving2Codidact -- yeah, that's what I mean by "complete rearrangement of the service entrance hardware" -- Rule of 6 being no more + the emergency disconnect requirements mean that NEC 2020 requires a somewhat different approach to Class 320 services than the traditional – ThreePhaseEel Dec 17 '21 at 04:34
  • @ThreePhaseEel Thank you! A couple of follow up questions helping me better understand everything: 1. 4 SABCs, not 2? I guess you're counting the ones that control lights, correct? Bc only two breakers control kitchen outlets. 2. Can you explain what this means, especially the bolded portions: "several double-stuff breakers present in a panel **that does not accept any tandem/double-stuff breakers**, never mind the **several aliens** that are present!" 3. Again, what are "alien breakers," and/or why are breakers #17-19, 36, and 38-40 "alien"? – Alex Dec 17 '21 at 14:42
  • **As for my options?** If I upgrade the feeder from the main panel to the subpanel to support 100A, since you say the sub/basement panel currently calculates to 15A, would I be able to run an 80A line from there to the EV charger? I understand you calculated the house to roughly 160A and the service is 200A hence Im asking? I guess the thought is that EV charging mostly happens at night, when most other equipment (other than maybe AC/furnace, and possibly pool (which I usually run at fraction of full power)) are not being utilized. What would happen would it trip the EV breaker if overloaded? – Alex Dec 17 '21 at 14:46
  • @Alex -- for 1), I'm conservatively considering the two cooktop circuits as SABCs (please do let me know if those circuits feed only the cooktop, though) – ThreePhaseEel Dec 18 '21 at 02:11
  • @Alex -- as to 2), "double stuff" breakers contain 2 breaker mechanisms and handles connected to the same breaker "jaw", and thus allow 2 circuits to be run from a single breaker space. Your panel isn't rated for them, as per both the part number and the diagram on the inside of the door, so they don't have any business being there. Worse yet, the alien breakers (Challenger, GE) may not mate correctly with an ITE panel, leading to the potential for trouble (bus stab damage, arcing, fire) down the road – ThreePhaseEel Dec 18 '21 at 02:13
  • @Alex -- as to your options, you'd have to repull the feeder to the basement subpanel with 1AWG SER to make it a proper 100A feeder, which'd fix that bottleneck, but your service would still be an issue with an 80A charger (you'd either slow-cook electrical parts or get intermittent and mysterious main breaker trips). You'd need some sort of load management system if neither upgrading the service nor reducing your EV charging to 40A is an option... – ThreePhaseEel Dec 18 '21 at 02:16
  • @ThreePhaseEel - I added pics of the cooktop and microwave labels, each of the cooktop circuits SABCs controls either the cooktop or the microwave. Does that make a difference as it pertains to the kitchen SABS and overall capacity? – Alex Dec 18 '21 at 14:52
  • @Alex -- not by much, really – ThreePhaseEel Dec 18 '21 at 16:15
  • @ThreePhaseEel **Last question** Not going to upgrade service. Im between running #6Cu on 60A feeder to garage. Initially it would only power a 6-50 outlet, which with Tesla Mobile Charger would only max draw 32A continuous anyway. If we ever get second EV the idea would be to install 2 Tesla HPWall Chargers, which max out at 48A continuous draw, but of course I wouldnt have that much, and at most would have 60A or 48A continuous to share bw the two chargers. Do I have enough for that? Alternative is to run #2Al feeder to garage for a 80A but you say I dont have enough capacity for that. – Alex Dec 18 '21 at 16:46
  • Second EV is at least 3-5 years away, and is a big maybe, and who knows what they will require vis-a-vis charging/power. **With the above as the basis, which route do you suggest I go if I won't be upgrading the service to the house?** – Alex Dec 18 '21 at 16:49
  • @Alex -- who do you have for an electric utility (power company)? – ThreePhaseEel Dec 18 '21 at 17:53
  • @ThreePhaseEel PECO – Alex Dec 18 '21 at 22:49
  • @Alex -- PECO, for some reason, limits Class 200 (200A continuous, 250A max) service/metering to 150A, as per [their meter manual](https://www.peco.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/08%20Metering%20Rev12%202021Nov.pdf), so they may force you to upgrade to Class 320 for *any* additional load; even if they don't, they don't support 225A service, so 40A (8AWG copper on a 40A breaker to a 6-50R) is your only option without upgrading – ThreePhaseEel Dec 19 '21 at 00:50
  • @ThreePhaseEel Not sure I understand - "Class 200 (200A continuous, 250A max)" - is that what I have now? And does that mean that I have 250A max or 150A max coming in? That said, thanks for your help. – Alex Dec 21 '21 at 15:07
  • @Alex -- a Class 200 meter and socket are rated for 200A continuous/250A max. this is further limited by your current service entrance wiring and main breaker to 200A max. However, *when PECO hands out new service*, they require someone with 160A of load to upgrade to a "400A" (Class 320) service instead of coming close to maxing out a 200A service. – ThreePhaseEel Dec 22 '21 at 05:50