Why do you "have to upgrade the panel"? The usual reason for upgrading the panel is because you are adding circuits because of a remodel - kitchen addition, bath remodel, etc.

(unless you have something totally obsolete like fuses and not breakers)

The only reason to add another 100 AMPs of capacity is if you added 50-75 amps worth of circuits.

Our pre-listing inspector said we had too many lines running off each switch. He said we had 15 switches when we needed 30. He said it would be ideal to upgrade to 200 amp, but not necessary.

Does any of this make sense?

You need to talk to an electrician before you make a decision, maybe talk to a couple to compare prices & 'good feelings'.

Sometimes inspectors report shortfalls or inadequacies & recommend that they be corrected in order to comply with their licensing requirements or to protect themselves from a liability problem, even though a homeowner might not elect to do what the inspector recommends.

For instance, one thing we see here on nearly every report is "recommend inspection & servicing of the central heat & air unit by a licensed professional air conditioning company", even if the unit is as clean as a whistle.

Check with an electrician.

Inspectors are clueless when it comes to the electrical system. There may not be anything wrong. They just want to cover their butts, so they make a recommendation to upgrade.
However, potential buyers will probably also have clueless inspectors that spout out the same uninformed advice.
So having an electrician take a look and make a recommendation or give it a thumbs up would be a good idea.

BTW I think you mean "circuit breakers" when you say "switches". Circuit breakers turn the circuits on/off. Switches turn lights on/off.

This post was edited by greg_2010 on Wed, Nov 26, 14 at 11:47

And to answer this question:

In your experience how important would the difference between 100 and 200 amp be to prospective buyers?

It depends on the size of the house and what the big electrical draws are (ie. electric water heater, electric heat, electric oven, hot tub, workshop, etc).

Again, an electrician will do a load calculation and make a recommendation.

Based on the responses here, I got a licensed electrician in this afternoon. He said we only need 100 amp ( gas heat, has water heater, only 2000 square ft), but he said that we had too many wires hanging on 15 switches. The panel is original to the house, and he said that while the 48-yr old panel might be creaking by, the town doesn't like too many connections to a single switch.

He also said buyers would question the electrical system in general if they saw the old panel. He said it would be a selling point to get a 30-switch new panel with an "approved" inspection sticker on it. He also showed me the electrical wire hanging on the outside of the house was repaired with duck tape which is coming off. The wire is fraying as well. That was a surprise.

He's charging us $1,500 to replace the panel and repair the outside line. I looked at the other threads on GW, and that seems to be a decent fee.

Thanks, everyone!

hayden, it sounds reasonable to me. I had an old Zinsco breaker panel replaced as I was selling my former house 1 1/2 years ago....never had any issues with it and the same model/brand was in most of the homes on my block, but it had enough of a bad reputation it made sense to upgrade.

Evaluation and estimate were free. I paid $1650 and sold with clear conscience.

Thanks, mors8. And congratulations on selling the house.

BTW, greg_2010 is completely correct - I've been saying switches when I mean circuit breakers. Thanks, Greg.

When we bought our current house in 2003, it had a 100-amp fuse box. We had to contact 4(!) insurance companies before we found one that would insure a house with a 100-amp system. Although that was ample for our electrical needs and never once gave us any problems, we had a heavy-up to a 200-amp breaker box in 2009 (~$1500) because we plan to sell in 2015. We didn't want prospective buyers to balk at fuses or a 100-amp system.

probookie,
Did you also have knob and tube wiring? That is what insurance companies will hesitate insuring. Or maybe the fuse panel. I really doubt it was because the service was 100 amps.
100 amps is sufficient for a lot of houses and still very common.

Greg, the fuse box might well have been what concerned the insurers. Our wiring (copper) is young enough not to be problem -- house built in 1956.

Is your wiring original to the house in 1956? Because that isn't young. Not as old as knob and tube, but you probably don't have ground wires. Which means you can't plug in most modern electronics.
Hopefully at least some of those circuits have been updated to more modern wiring.

We purchased a house last May that needed a new panel. I struggled with whether to replace with a 100 amp, which it had, or upgrade to 200 amp. In the end I picked the 200 amp, even though it added quite a bit to the cost. My thought was that we might someday have need for it, perhaps an electric car or something that might require more amps down the road..

In our area 200 amp service is the norm. If you can get yours upgraded from 100 to 200 amps for $800 I would do that in a red hot minute. A year and a half ago upgraded our electrical service from 200 to 400 amps and it was $3800 -----AND we had to stay in a hotel for two nights!

kswl, I agree in principle but it's not like we're just paying $800 for the change. We're already paying $1,500 for the new 100 amp panel. The $800 is the incremental cost to upgrade the new panel from 100 to 200, which means a total outlay of $2,300.

That's a lot of money for a house we're selling, on top of other repairs we have to make as a result of our inspection report. That's why it's not such a no-brainier.

Our inspector found a cracked ceiling beam inside the roof, some electrical issues in the attic, and a couple of other things.

We've spent about $5,000 to repair stuff we didn't know was wrong with the house, but I don't want a sale to fall through because of a problematic inspection report. Having a sale fall apart just adds up our days-on-market and snowballs the problems.

I understand it is on top of your electrical panel cost, but $2000 to upgrade your home to 200 amp service, which ideally every home should have, is still very reasonable.

Why don't you look into the comps for your house that are currently on the market or recently sold, and find out the amperage of their service? If there is a predominant answer that will tell you what is reasonable and customary in your price range and area.

I think that was a wise move. We went under contract to buy a couple of houses in the last year or so and it was a pretty big selling point for me that the houses had an electrical system upgrade to 200 amp and everything all switched out. Granted, both homes were pretty old (1907 for the one we ended up with and the other one was 1920) so there was knob-and-tube that had to be replaced in the upgrade, but it was good that it was all handled. Our inspector found some electrical stuff on the house we ultimately bought, so we had the electricians who did the original upgrade come back and fix it (minor) and also double check to make sure the knob-and-tube that was left behind was not live and part of the system. It cost about $200 for that peace of mind but now we're good to go indefinitely in the electricity dept. If the electrical system in our current house had not been completely redone, it might conceivably have made a difference in our offer/whether we made one.