How Many 220v Outlets On 100 Amp Service

Looking for wire size for 100 amp service? If you are trying to prepare a 100 amp conduit circuit, yous will need to make sure to choose the right wire size. 100 amp excursion at 240V can handle upwards to 24,000W of electricity.

Power = 100 Amps × 240V = 24,000W

In the U.s., we take an AWG approximate organization for wire sizes. These wires range from the biggest 0000 AWG wire with 230 ampacity to the smallest twoscore AWG with less than 0.1 ampacity.

With 100 amps sub console wire size, we go a number of dissimilar questions, such as:

What size wire for 100 amp service?
What size wire is good for 100 amps?
What size wire for 100 amp service 100 feet or 150 feet abroad?
What is the 100 amp breaker wire size?

Many homeowners use smaller #4 AWG and #2 AWG wires for 100 amp service and wonder why they fried their sub panel. To avoid frying your circuit, it'due south vital to account for two key factors that come up into play here:

80% National Electrical Code (NEC) requirement (NEC 220-2 Code).
Distance from the sub panel due to the voltage drop (NEC 310-16 Code).

Nosotros will use both of these factors when determining what size wire you need for 100 amp service.

Here is how you adequately size a wire for 100 amp service:

First, bank check the wire approximate chart here. Yous have all the AWG copper wires and their ampacities listed (at median 75°C or 167°C temperature). From that chart, you can see that we take 4 wire sizes with amps in the vicinity of 100 amps. These are:

Now, it seems that a #3 AWG wire with 100 ampacity is the perfect 100 amp wire size. That'southward a very common mistake. In fact, the most advisable wire size for 100 amp service is the #1 AWG wire with a 130 amp median chapters.

To understand why this is, and what wire size you need for 100 amp sub panels 100 or 150 feet away, let's look at the what the NEC code requirements are for 100 amp wire size:

100 Amp Wire Breaker Size With eighty% NEC Requirement

As you lot can see from the chart above, these are the wire ampacities in the vicinity of 100 amps:

#4 AWG can handle 85 amps.
#3 AWG tin can handle 100 amps.
#two AWG tin handle 115 amps.
#1 AWG can handle 130 amps.

Here is what NEC code says about 100 amp sub panel wire sizes:

Maximum loading for any branch circuit is lxxx% of the rating of the excursion for ampacity of wire for whatsoever load. (NEC 220-2)

This is a safety measure. Yous never put the excursion nether 100% ampacity; at most you wire it to hit 80% ampacity. For our wires, this is what the actual ampacity is:

#4 AWG has 85A ampacity but should conduct at most 68 amps.
#3 AWG has 100A ampacity but should acquit at most 80 amps.
#ii AWG has 115A ampacity but should bear at nigh 92 amps.
#one AWG has 130A ampacity but should conduct at most 104 amps.

As we can see, the #3 AWG wire might have 100A ampacity just it should just exist used in circuits that require 80 amps or less.

With the 80% NEC rule, the best wire size for 100 amp service is #1 AWG.

Now, this is the correct wire size for a sub panel that is close to the electric device you desire to run. What is the sub console is 100 feet abroad? You lot volition need a bigger wire, and here'south how you determine the 100 amp wire size for sub panel 100 feet away:

Wire Size For 100 Amp Sub Console 100 Feet Away

With altitude, inevitably the voltage in the excursion drops. This drop is insignificant at low distance (less than 3%) but at longer distances like l, 100, or 150 anxiety, the voltage drop is significant enough and you volition accept to account for information technology.

To counter the 100 amp voltage drib, you lot have to increment the amperage. The key question here is how much you have to increment the amps to counter this voltage drop.

NEC 310-sixteen rule tells us that, roughly speaking, we need to increase the amps by xx% for every 100 feet of altitude from the sub panel.

Here's what that ways for a 100 amp sub console 100 feet away (we take to account for 2 things):

Beginning, we need to business relationship for lxxx% NEC lawmaking as we did before.
On acme of that, we need to account for this 20% voltage driblet due to sending electricity 100 feet away.

Here how we determine the ampacity nosotros demand from the wire:

Account for 80% NEC code: At 0 anxiety distance, nosotros demand 100 amps. This 100 amps should be at virtually 80% of the ampacity of the wire. If 100 amps is lxxx%, what is the 100% wire size?

Min. Wire Ampacity = 100% × 100A / 80% = 125 Amps

If the sub panel would be 0 feet away (very close) nosotros would need a minimum 125A wire.

Account for 100 feet away: Our sub panel is 100 feet abroad. That means nosotros need to boost the amps by an additional 20%. How much does that become u.s.?

Min. Wire Ampacity (100 ft away) = 125A × 1.ii = 150 Amps

That means that nosotros need a wire with at least 150 ampacity to evangelize 100 amp service 100 feet away. If you check the wire size chart (you lot have the link in the introduction), the #0 AWG wire (as well known every bit 1/0 AWG wire) has 150 ampacity. That ways that #0 AWG wire is the perfect size wire for 100 amp service 100 feet away.

Using this kind of adding, you lot tin pretty much determine which billow size yous demand for 100 amp service at whatsoever altitude. To illustrate, let'southward look at 150 feet distance:

Wire Size For 100 Amp Sub Console 150 Anxiety Abroad

Alright, equally we take calculated before, we need at least 125 ampacity wire to handle 100 amp current. Now we need to add together the 30% amp heave (+20% per every 100 feet, hence +xxx% for 150 feet) to these 125 amps:

Min. Wire Ampacity (150 ft abroad) = 125A × one.3 = 162.5 Amps

For sending 100 amps current 150 feet abroad, we need a wire with at least 162.5 ampacity. If you consult the wire estimate chart, you lot see that the #0 wire can handle 150 amps. Information technology'south too small.

100 amp service 150 feet abroad from the sub panel requires #00 AWG wire (also known equally ii/0 AWG wire). This wire has a median ampacity of 175 amps; more than enough than the required minimum 162.5 ampacity.

We hope all of this helps. If you haven't found the answer to your 100 amp question, you can utilize the comments below and we'll endeavor to help you out. For 100 amp aluminum wires, y'all tin can consult the aluminum AWG wire chart.

It might also exist helpful to read some of our related articles on similar topics, including:

20 amp wire size.
30 amp wire size.
forty amp wire size.
50 amp wire size + sub console at a 100 anxiety distance.
lx amp wire size + sub panel at a 100 feet distance.
200 amp wire size.