Marc's Patio/Garage Studio: Upgrading Service to 200amps

guitardad72 · Post by **guitardad72** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:28 am

In preparation for my studio I am up grading my electric service to 200 amps, having a new main breaker box & pole installed outside at the meter location and relocating my service panel from one inside location to another, which will now become a sub panel.

Current 40 year old 150amp panel is full & I have no main breaker outside. New Sub Panel inside will have 40 spaces with 10 open breaker spaces left after install, main breaker/meter panel outside will have 8 spaces and I guess 7 left after install.

I live in Florida, my entire property & concrete block house sits on sand.

What, if anything should I be concerned about in regards to how electricians install the new service?

One electrician who provided a quote higher then the electrician I am choosing suggested using 2 oversized grounding rods.

On page 3 of my studio thread, half way down and in more than one post I have more sorted details & pics, basically describing options of how I came to this upgrade decision:

Marc's Patio & Garage Studio

I can provide pics of current service if needed.

Marc

Post by **Aaronw** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:34 am

What, if anything should I be concerned about in regards to how electricians install the new service?

One electrician who provided a quote higher then the electrician I am choosing suggested using 2 oversized grounding rods.

I don't see any issue w/ driving a second rod in. In fact you could probably do 3. Just run a wire between them (tie them together) so you've got a good ground. Since you've got sand, you might try and add some soil and copper sulfate (mixed together) and bury it w/ your rods.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:14 am

Also, check out the "sticky" here on STAR grounding systems... Steve