Re: ATM - Kiln Design

["Peter D. Brooks" <pdbrooks@pacbell.net>]

Richard Andersen wrote:
>  Are you sure that is all you can draw? In these times it is very
> rare to find a house with only a 100 Amp service and 200 amp is
> extremely common. 

Not sure current trends, but where gas heat is common and central air
conditioning isn't, 100A service is common.  That's assuming you don't have a
pre-WWII house, where 60A, sometimes even 110 only is common.

I'm lucky, the mains is 200A, with 100A going to my detached garage.  

 
> Perhaps a bunch of 110 volt circuits might be brought into use as
> additional power sources. Those circuits are usually 15 amps 

Using 110V heaters from random circuits is A Very Bad Idea.  When (maybe if)
you have an electrical disaster with this arrangment, you'd discover that your
fire insurance expired shortly before the fire.  Read the electric code and
follow it....

If the service can handle 220V you can usually run an extra 220V line.  IIRC,
you can have breakers for 1.2X the nominal capacity, so if you do have 100A
service, you can have a 50A 220 circuit, and still run the rest of the house
with 50A x 2 110 circuits.  Just balance the loads, kinda.


(> Finally, it wouldn't be a very complex task to add another 220 outlet
> to your service. The only limitation is that the total current can
> not exceed the rating of your main breaker.

If you are comfortable wiring your house, go for it.  Just follow the code and
all will be fine.  If you aren't sure about doing the wiring, pay an
electrician.  if you feel OK doing the wiring, but not sure with the code, you
can either get a book like _Wiring Simplified_ (Fatbrain should sell it) or pay
some more for a design.

Pete Brooks (rebuilt a house some years ago)

, pay someone to give you 
> 
> Richard Andersen
> Victoria, B.C., Canada