What Size Service Entrance Cable For 150 Amp

Looking for wire size for 100 amp service? If you lot are trying to set a 100 amp conduit excursion, you lot volition need to make sure to cull the right wire size. 100 amp excursion at 240V can handle up to 24,000W of electricity.

Power = 100 Amps × 240V = 24,000W

In the US, we have an AWG gauge arrangement for wire sizes. These wires range from the biggest 0000 AWG wire with 230 ampacity to the smallest 40 AWG with less than 0.1 ampacity.

With 100 amps sub panel wire size, we become 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 anxiety away?
What is the 100 amp breaker wire size?

Many homeowners use smaller #4 AWG and #two AWG wires for 100 amp service and wonder why they fried their sub console. To avoid frying your circuit, information technology'south vital to account for two key factors that come into play hither:

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

We will use both of these factors when determining what size wire y'all need for 100 amp service.

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

Outset, check the wire estimate nautical chart hither. Y'all take all the AWG copper wires and their ampacities listed (at median 75°C or 167°C temperature). From that chart, you can run into 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's a very common mistake. In fact, the about appropriate wire size for 100 amp service is the #1 AWG wire with a 130 amp median capacity.

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

100 Amp Wire Breaker Size With 80% NEC Requirement

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

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

Hither is what NEC code says nearly 100 amp sub console wire sizes:

Maximum loading for any branch excursion is 80% of the rating of the circuit for ampacity of wire for whatsoever load. (NEC 220-2)

This is a safety measure out. You never put the circuit nether 100% ampacity; at most yous wire information technology to hit 80% ampacity. For our wires, this is what the actual ampacity is:

#four AWG has 85A ampacity but should acquit at most 68 amps.
#three AWG has 100A ampacity merely should conduct at most fourscore amps.
#ii AWG has 115A ampacity simply should conduct at most 92 amps.
#1 AWG has 130A ampacity only should carry at most 104 amps.

As nosotros can see, the #3 AWG wire might accept 100A ampacity but it should but be used in circuits that require 80 amps or less.

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

Now, this is the correct wire size for a sub console that is close to the electrical device you want to run. What is the sub panel is 100 anxiety away? Y'all will need a bigger wire, and here's how yous decide the 100 amp wire size for sub panel 100 feet abroad:

Wire Size For 100 Amp Sub Panel 100 Anxiety Abroad

With distance, inevitably the voltage in the circuit drops. This drop is insignificant at low distance (less than 3%) only at longer distances like 50, 100, or 150 feet, the voltage drib is significant enough and you will have to account for information technology.

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

NEC 310-xvi dominion tells u.s.a. that, roughly speaking, we need to increment the amps by 20% for every 100 feet of altitude from the sub panel.

Here'south what that ways for a 100 amp sub panel 100 feet away (nosotros have to business relationship for ii things):

Commencement, nosotros need to account for lxxx% NEC code as we did before.
On top of that, nosotros demand to account for this 20% voltage drop due to sending electricity 100 feet away.

Hither how nosotros determine the ampacity nosotros need from the wire:

Business relationship for 80% NEC code: At 0 anxiety distance, nosotros need 100 amps. This 100 amps should be at about eighty% of the ampacity of the wire. If 100 amps is 80%, what is the 100% wire size?

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

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

Account for 100 anxiety abroad: Our sub console is 100 anxiety away. That means we need to boost the amps past an additional 20%. How much does that become us?

Min. Wire Ampacity (100 ft away) = 125A × i.2 = 150 Amps

That means that nosotros need a wire with at least 150 ampacity to deliver 100 amp service 100 feet away. If yous check the wire size chart (yous have the link in the introduction), the #0 AWG wire (also known equally 1/0 AWG wire) has 150 ampacity. That means that #0 AWG wire is the perfect size wire for 100 amp service 100 feet away.

Using this kind of calculation, you lot can pretty much determine which billow size you need for 100 amp service at any distance. To illustrate, let's await at 150 feet distance:

Wire Size For 100 Amp Sub Panel 150 Feet Abroad

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

Min. Wire Ampacity (150 ft abroad) = 125A × 1.3 = 162.5 Amps

For sending 100 amps current 150 feet away, we need a wire with at least 162.five ampacity. If you consult the wire approximate nautical chart, you meet that the #0 wire can handle 150 amps. It's likewise small.

100 amp service 150 feet away from the sub panel requires #00 AWG wire (also known as 2/0 AWG wire). This wire has a median ampacity of 175 amps; more than plenty than the required minimum 162.5 ampacity.

We hope all of this helps. If you lot haven't establish the answer to your 100 amp question, y'all tin can use the comments below and we'll endeavor to help you lot out. For 100 amp aluminum wires, you 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 panel at a 100 feet altitude.
60 amp wire size + sub panel at a 100 feet distance.
200 amp wire size.