What Size Generator For 100 Amp Service?

A 100 amp panel is mainly made for homes and small businesses. It is ideal to power up a small to a medium refrigerator, a 1 ton to 1.5 tons air conditioner, a dishwasher, and a few fans and lights. The service panel isn’t made for large home appliances.

Therefore, you won’t need a big generator for it. However, you may still ask, “What size generator for 100 Amp service panel is ideal?” When you know the electricity handling capacity of the service panel, you can quickly find the right generator for it too.

The short answer is you will need a 10KW to 15KW generator to power up a 100 Amp service panel. It will be adequate to provide 100% back up to all the home appliances connected with the service panel. However, many experts suggest that you will need a higher-powered generator if you plan to run air conditioners with the service panel.

So, we will look at the devices you may run with the 100 Amp panel. Then, we will elaborate on the generator size requirement for the service panel.

Appliances That You Can Run Using 100 Amps

When you need a generator for the 100 Amp panel, you should first know its capacity. For this, you must count how many home appliances it runs and their total wattage requirement. Once you have calculated the wattage of all the devices connected with the 100 Amp service, you can purchase the correct generator accordingly.

However, you must understand that the 100 Amp service panel isn’t made for large residences and industries. It will only accommodate a few small to medium home appliances within its limited amp rating. If you have bigger devices such as a whole-house heater or central air conditioner, you should pick a panel with at least a 200 Amp rating.

Typically, a service panel of 100 amps will give enough power to run multiple devices in a medium house. Usually, the board will run with a 120V cable. It also includes some appliances of 240-volt along with air conditioners. However, the panel isn’t suitable for multiple and large air conditioners. You can run only one air conditioner with a 100 Amp rated panel. Also, its capacity shouldn’t be more than 1 ton to 1.5 tons. You need to shift to 150 Amp rating or 200 Amp rating panels for a larger air conditioning machine.

You may want to improve the electrical service to get more power if you have planned to complete an essential restoration or house addition. For example, when you have a 12volt and 100ah battery, it can run an appliance of 100W for about 20 hours with a draw of 5 amps per hour.

Drawing over five amps an hour quickly decreases its ability because of energy losses and inverter inefficiency. But it’s pulling less slowly than the release rate. Although the slow release of battery or electricity seems impractical, in reality, it improves the performance and consistency of the devices. So, you don’t need to be anxious about it. All you need to do is focus on how much Amp the device consumes.

When you know the Amp requirement of all the devices, you can quickly sum them up for an accurate calculation. Usually, the 100 Amp service will have enough current at its disposal to run essential home appliances.

It includes:

• One medium air conditioner (Capacity less than 1.5 tons)
• One refrigerator ( Its size shouldn’t be more than 22 cubic feet)
• Alternatively, you can run a chest freezer or deep freezer
• Microwave oven
• Coffee maker
• Blender and juicer

As the list suggests, you shouldn’t connect high-electricity-consuming devices with a 100 Amp panel. Thus, you should avoid connecting dishwashers, electrical furnaces, central room heaters, or air conditioners with the 100 Amp rated panel. Or else the service panel will break down and get damaged permanently. So, consider the Amp requirement of your home or small business while installing the panel.

100 Amp Service Can Run Other Appliances

You already know that 100-amp service is typically good enough to run smaller to moderate-sized houses with general branch circuits. Moreover, it can run one or two larger electric appliances. The appliances include a water heater, a range, or a cloth dryer.

If your heating appliances work on gas, this service would be adequate for a house under 2,500 square feet. For example, a lead-acid battery with a 100ah deep-cycle can run a refrigerator for more than 13 hours using 630kWh/year. We assume it’s 80% of the discharge.

But, it has recommended 50% DoD with the same battery. In this case, it’ll run a refrigerator for more than 8 hours. If you go with a 100ah battery made of lithium iron phosphate, it’ll run in a fridge for more than 15 hours with a 95% discharge rate.

What Size Generator For 100 Amp Service Is Suitable?

We have described the number of home appliances a 100 Amp panel can handle. Once you have summed up their wattage requirement, it’s time to pick the right generator. Alternatively, you can find the voltage of the wring and calculate the generator size accordingly.

Typically, a 100 Amp panel will run with 120V wiring. So, its electricity handling capacity will be 12000W which is the multiplication result of its amp-rating and voltage. If the service panel runs at 220V, its capacity will be 22000V. Considering 15% power loss, the actual wattage handling capacity of the 100 Amp panel will be around 8000W to 15000W, mostly.

So, you can easily choose 8KW to 15KW generator for a 100 Amp service panel. It will adequately provide the right amount of electricity to all the connected devices. Also, it will be a safer option for the panel to run without any inconvenience.

Related Articles:

• what size generator for 400 amp service?
• What size generator for 600 amp service?
• what size generator for 200 amp service?
• what size generator for 150 amp service?
• what size generator for 500 amp service?

Conclusion

It should be an easy task when searching for the size generator for 100 Amp service is accurate. Since it doesn’t run big appliances, you can peak the 10W generator for the service panel. So, 10000W to 15000W load capacity generators will work fine for the 100 Amp rated service panels. It is enough to run the devices safely without any power turbulence. However, you may even choose 8000W load-capacity rated generators if you don’t run any air conditioner with the 100 Amp service panel.

Also, always leave 10% of the Amp accommodation of the panel unused for emergencies. It provides you with the best and safest electrical performance from the panel.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):