Please help identify this wire


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Old 07-18-07, 10:28 PM
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Please help identify this wire

I have the wire running to the main breaker in my panel and it has the following written on the side of the wire. I am trying to figure out what gauge it is. The wire says, "GENERAL CABLE 3 TYPE THW 600V MTW GUARDIANT 090 3 MACHINE TOOL WIRE OIL RESISTANT 60 C"

Thanks ahead of time.
 
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Old 07-19-07, 04:13 AM
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From the information you gave it is a Thermoplastic (T), Heat resistant (H), and can be used in wet or dry conditions (W). I am assuming it has copper conductors, and could possibly be a 3 gauge wire, which will handle from 100 amps in a raceway or 145 amps in free air. Describe the situation in which it is installed and where it goes, and what is supplies.
 
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Old 07-19-07, 09:00 AM
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my aerial line comes from my meter (meter on pole) and ends just before it goes into the conduit on the side of my house. this is where 6 runs of this wire start by being clamped to the end of the aerial line. THe 6 runs go throught the conduit and come into the house, where 3 of each feed my two seperate 100amp load center panels. I wanted to upgrade one of hte panels to 150 amp but i did not know if this wire would handel it.
 
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Old 07-19-07, 09:18 AM
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I'd say 99% chance that no, it will not handle it. Services are almost never installed with larger wire than necessary, so if you have a 100A service you have 100A wire.

What you have now is actually two parallel 100A services which equivalent to a 200A service. Upgrading beyond 200A will require replacement of the meter, meter base, grounding electrode system, and perhaps the power company lines as well.

Are you tripping the main breaker in your panel now? If so, you could just have a faulty main breaker and not a capacity problem. This would need to be verified by an electrician with a clamp ammeter. It's fairly rare to actually trip the main breaker on overcurrent unless you have installed some huge load like a spa, A/C or electric heating which the panel was not designed to accommodate.
 
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Old 07-19-07, 09:45 AM
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I wanted to install a tankless water heater that requred three 50 amp breakers.
 
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Old 07-19-07, 09:46 AM
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The tankless water heater sellers rarely tell their customers that a large percentage of them will need electrical service upgrades...
 
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Old 07-19-07, 10:06 AM
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Yes, I have not bought it yet for that reason. I was wondering, with two 100 amp panels, could i put two 50amp breakers in one panel and one 50 amp in the other ?
 
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Old 07-19-07, 10:10 AM
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Let's see. Two 50 amp circuits in a 100 amp panel means that the panel is essentially maxed out, since those 50 amp circuits would be running at the same time. What would you do with everything else in that panel?

I think you just might max out the 200 amp panel with three 50 amp circuits and the existing load.

You might want to rethink this idea.
 
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Old 07-19-07, 10:32 AM
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I hate to step in on this part but i going to agree with Racraft with the issuse with the exsting loadcentre you haveing now.

Please belive me on this one i have alot expernice with this one and you may not be happy with this one [ i am electrician btw ]

One , with the instat waterheater you plan to install you will defintly have to upsize the service system up to either 320 or 400 amp service and the cost go pretty high with it. [ please dont ask the price in here thanks ]

Second thing is the Power Company may charge you extra due they have to change the service drop and also change the transformer and also it will affect other peoples whom using this tranformer to feed few other house as well.
the common thing will do is make the light blink more noticeable.

Thrid i do not know where ya loactaed if you are in northen area the city or well water if they are very cold you may end up getting luke warm water not really hot if you run the Instat water heater full speed with high water flowage

few case i heard in short while some of them did disconnected the instat water heater and go back with storage tank type again

If you still want the instat water heater why not check out the gas verson they will really kick butt with it but you have have to change the gas pipe to handle the extra flowage of gas

so the choice is your here

Merci , Marc
 
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Old 07-19-07, 11:39 AM
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The tankless water heater models that require 3x50A circuits usually specify minimum incoming service of 300A. There are smaller tankless units that are compatible with a 200A service, but they have lower flow capabilities. Since you only have 200A, you would need to upgrade to a "residential grade" 320/400A service. This upgrade is usually several thousand dollars. Tankless water heaters are rarely a good idea outside of new construction as the cost to upgrade the electrical or gas services far exceeds the potential energy savings over a traditional tank heater.
 
 

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