The electrical panel is usually found in a home’s basement. If you go down there, you’ll locate it with little difficulty. It should have a door that swings open, and behind it, you will have various circuit breakers that correspond to different parts of the house.
You can have either a 100 or 200-amp panel in your house. You might not know what the difference is between them, though.
Before you decide to buy the best square D 100-amp breaker on the market, let’s talk about the benefits of 100 and 200-amp panels.
The Main Difference
Let’s start with the most basic difference between the 100 and 200-amp panels. The 200-amp version is going to be larger. It will also have more circuits.
That version will be able to handle more power as well. If you have a 200-amp panel, you can capture and use more of the electricity that is entering your home. Your power company supplies that electricity, and if you have a 200-amp panel, you can harness more of it. Not everyone needs to do that, though.
What Can You Do with a 200-Amp Panel that You Can’t with a 100-Amp Panel?
The average-sized home isn’t going to need a 200-amp panel. Say that you have a house that’s about 1,500 square feet. You don’t have anything in the house that needs a ton of electricity. If that’s the case, then probably the 100-amp panel will do fine.
Maybe you have a band, though, and you all plug your instruments in so you can practice together. If you do, you’ll likely need the 200-amp panel.
Perhaps you live in a state that has legalized recreational marijuana. You have some plants in your basement, and you need more electricity because you’re running some grow lights. You will likely need the 200-amp panel in that situation as well.
What About Potential Drawbacks?
There’s one major drawback of the 200-amp panel, and you’ve probably already guessed it. If you get a 200-amp panel and you’re using more electricity on a regular basis, you can expect to pay a much higher electric bill.
In situations where you feel like you need a 200-amp panel, you are probably going to be using a lot more of the juice that the power company provides. Having more circuits and using them frequently will run up your bill. It might be four or five times what you’d pay if you had a 100-amp panel instead, depending on what exactly you’re doing in the house.
Most individuals or families don’t need 200-amp panels. If you do, you might have a much larger house, or you may have one of the situations we mentioned or another one where you need much more electricity than the average consumer.
If you want a 200-amp panel to replace your current one, you can easily buy one at an electronics store. You will probably need to hire an electrician to handle the installation, though, since that’s a major job.
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