What Size Wire Do You Need For A 200 Amp Service?
200 amp wires are quite big. They tin be used as 200 amp ground wires, wires for 200 amp breaker, they tin be copper or aluminum 200 amp wires. The common question for all these applications here is this:
What size wire do I need for 200 amp service?
If you look at the AWG gauge wire chart here, the answer seems to be quite articulate (it's not that uncomplicated, still):
As you can meet, the obvious – merely wrong – the choice is using a #000 AWG wire for 200 amp service (also known as iii/0 AWG) because it has a 200A ampacity. That, nevertheless, will likely end with you frying the wire.
For safety measures (in lodge to avoid frying a 200 amp circuit), the National Electric Code (NEC) dictates the following requirement:
Maximum loading for any branch circuit is 80% of the rating of the circuit for ampacity of wire for any load. (NEC 220-ii)
This is known as NEC fourscore% requirement for wire sizing. In the case of 200 amps breakers, this means you will need a wire with at to the lowest degree 250A ampacity to connect a 200 amp service.
Looking at the AWG wire chart, you will demand an even bigger than #0000 AWG wire for 200 amps. Y'all accept to go beyond the AWG nautical chart at look at the KCMIL wire chart.
KCMIL wires are bigger and can handle currents of 200 amps and higher. Here is a shortlist of KCMIL wires that can be used for 200 amps:
- 250 KCMIL wire with 255A amperage.
- 300 KCMIL wire with 285A amperage.
- 350 KCMIL wire with 310A amperage.
- 400 KCMIL wire with 355A amperage.
- 500 KCMIL wire with 380A amperage.
The 250 KCMIL wire is the perfect size wire for 200 amp service because it has 255A ampacity (a minimum of 250A ampacity requirement is satisfied).
We will show you how this 250A ampacity is calculated. On top of that, you will also need a bigger wire gauge if yous want to send electricity 100 feet or 150 feet away from sub panel (we will show you how to calculate what size wire y'all need in this case besides).
200 Amp Wire Approximate Calculation: What Size Wire You Need For 200 Amp Excursion?
To adequately determine the 200 amp wire approximate, yous first need to summate the minimum ampacity requirement equally per the 80% NEC rule.
In the case of the 200 amp circuit, hither is how the adding looks like (you have to leave twenty% extra amps capacity for safe reasons):
200 Amp Wire = 200A × 100% / 80% = 250A Ampacity
That means that you can to utilize a wire that has an ampacity of 250A or higher in order to set up a 200 amp circuit.
As you tin can encounter from the list of KMCIL wires to a higher place, the 250 KCMIL wire is perfect for a 200 amp service since it has an ampacity of 255A.
Now, if the sub console is some distance away (50 feet, 100 feet, 150 feet, 200 feet, and so on), you will probably have to employ an even bigger wire to counted the voltage drop.
The NEC 310-sixteen requirements embrace this nicely:
How To Account For Sub Panel Beingness 100 Anxiety Away?
When sending electricity a long way from the sub console, the voltage will drop with the distance. To counter this drop, you accept to boost the initial amps. That means that the circuit has to handle more than amps; in plough, the wire you're using has to handle more than amps.
How much more exactly?
Roughly speaking, the NEC 310-xvi requirement states that for a 200 amp copper or aluminum wire, you accept to add together xx% to the total amps for every 100 anxiety of altitude.
Example: Permit'southward say yous desire to use 200 amp service 100 feet away from the sub panel. Nosotros already know that such a circuit will require wires with at to the lowest degree 250A ampacity. On pinnacle of this, we take to increase the amps by 20% to get the true size wire for 200 amps at such a altitude:
200 Amp Wire (100 ft away) = 250A × 1.2 = 300A Ampacity
Now we have to find a wire with 300A ampacity or more than. If you consult the KCMIL list above, you tin can run across that the 350 KCMIL wire is perfect for 200 amp service 100 feet away. That'south because it has a 310A ampacity.
You tin can make a similar adding for 50 feet (ten% addition), 150 feet (thirty% add-on), and 200 anxiety (forty% addition), and choose the corresponding KCMIL wire.
Hopefully, now the 200 amp wire sizing is a scrap clearer.
You should also await into different amp wires and like calculations for:
- 20 amp guess size.
- 30 amp gauge size.
- xl amp gauge size.
- 50 amp judge size.
- lx amp gauge size.
- 100 amp guess size.
If anything is unclear, yous can use the comments to pose a question and we'll try to help yous out.
Source: https://learnmetrics.com/200-amp-wire-size/
Posted by: brinkthapide.blogspot.com
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