I believe I meant to say 100 amp fuse box to 200 on circuits.

I believe I meant to say 100 amp fuse box to 200 on circuits.

Let's see if we can clarify the question first. Is this paraphrasation accurate?

I bought a home with a 100-amp main electrical panel that uses fuses. I want to replace this panel with a 200-amp panel with circuit breakers. Will I have to rewire the whole house?

I'll try answering the question in increments.

In the first place, the existing panel can probably be replaced with a new panel rated for 200 amps (featuring circuit breakers, of course) without a total rewiring. That's the simplest case as it is nothing more than a panel replacement.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that you now have 200-amp service. The new panel would have to be protected by a 100-amp main breaker even if the panel is rated for 200 amps unless you also upgrade the service. Which brings us to the next step...

The service feeds and possibly the meter, meter pan, etc. would also have to be upgraded to 200 amps. OK, now you'd have 200-amp service servicing all your old circuits.

Is this adequate? Would you have to rewire everything?

Without a thorough evaluation of the state of the wiring, who knows? As a general rule, and depending on codes in your area, old circuits can usually be "grandfathered" without a total rewiring when the main service is replaced. But that's an iffy proposition to rely on.

It's best to get the opinion of a local reputable electrician who knows what the power company and code enforcement folks in your area will require.

Thanks terribletom.
You're not so terrible after all.

Lets say I do rewire everything and install about 12 baseboard heaters, how much time and money "could" something like this cost?

The house is 1000 sq feet on the main level, and 1000 in the basement. The basement has an open ceiling. Eleven rooms total.

Just guessing. Probably take a 2 man crew, 2 to 3 weeks. $8000 for the re-wire including a 200 amp service. Another $3000 for the heaters including the units and thermostats. Some areas or electricians may want up to $20,000 for this job. Or around here, Kansas City, some fool would come beat my bid and do it all for $4500, service, re-wire, heaters, and everything people around here enjoy working for free :) Many other areas, $100 an hour is a favor.

Thanks Spencer.
I'm gonna come down a lot on those figures.
Heaters: $60 each plus thermostats $80 = about $1000.
Panel replacement: $1300.

Around here, no more than 2 weeks for this. Electricians are so busy and in demand, they'll want to finish ASAP and move on.

Anyone else want to make a guess?

PS I didn't include the other costs as I obviously have no idea the price of wiring.

Next question. Instead of upgrading to 200 amp, could I just replace the 100 amp fuse panel to a 100 amp circuit panel and still install heaters without any problems?

When I buy heaters at grainger supply, I usually pay a little over $100 for the heater and the t-stat. I don't see how your heater figures add up being 1000 when you say you want 12 of them at $60 and 80, that would be $1680. So I would say about $1200 and maybe 100 bux a pop for installing them, the breakers, and wire. So maybe $2400.
I just finished re-wiring a small house, all crawl space and nasty attic, today for $5500 with a 200 amp service. It took me about 10 days by myself so if I did it again, there probably would of been an extra $1000 on that. At least there were add ons :) Under counter lights, outdoor security light, couple cans, extra circuits. But I'm nice and charge the real price for them instead of extra to keep up with the loss.

Don't know why you want all that heat but a 100 amp service sure won't handle it. I had a service call on a 20 degree day January at a Jewelery store that blew their main 100 amp fuse because someone put in 5 or 6 heaters. I found all 40 amps of their display lighting was on one leg of the panel. I divided it up so the load went down to 55to 70 per leg instead of 85 to 105 on one leg and 35 to 55 on the other. But that shows how even 5 or 6 adds up. If you can do without the heat and use gas cooking. A 100 amp may be fine but won't allow for much in the future. If the outside portion has a real 100 amp meter and the mast is in good condition, it could be as simple as changing out the fuse panel to breakers. If the outside has to be upgraded, then it becomes a $1300 job and why not spend the extra 2 or 3 hundred to get 200 amps at that point.

Well lets see if I'm overdoing it on heaters.

Ok, I'm located in Canada, so winter is -20c.
3 bedrooms, bath, living room, basement rec room must have heaters. Total six.

Now here's where I need advice:
Kitchen, hall, laundry, basement bedroom, basement bath and another basement room: Which ones would need heaters? Keep in mind I'll be studding, insulating and drywalling the basement.

Spence, you a bad man...but Grainger? Good Lord, them people'll stick it in ye' and break it off. And yo', jewelry store w/100 amp svc? Honest questions.

Bad man? Maybe that came across as me wiring the Jewelery store. I had nothing to do with the jewelery store having a 100 amp service installed in the early 1950's. I was simply called in on a service call to replace a blown fuse. I don't like to sell a service upgrade every time I go on a service call especially to a tenant that is only renting the space. Some previous bonehead landed 5 circuits of track lighting (all the lighting for the store) on the same bus while the other contained breakers for un-used receptacles, alarm system, other light use circuits. Balancing the load a bit (Not to worry, no multi-wire circuits in the panel) brought them to a somewhat "tolerable" range. To make you happy, for future service calls, instead of replacing a fuse I'll leave the power off to the place for a week and install a 2 or 400 amp, 3 phase service.

Being on account with another company that spends up to 100k at Grainger a year, gets me a 8 ft dayton heater with a thermostat for $100 which I do not find too bad. My favorite is the 500ft rolls of thwn for over $200. Maybe they take more than half off on the wire too, or maybe there are fools that just buy it at that price. I only go there for baseboard heaters.

spencer, "you a bad man" = "good job." Pardon my ghetto-ese.

hah, sorry loansparky, never heard that one.

It is often interesting how circuits are divided in homes. We have been working with a client to update a 70 ear home she recently purchased. Lot of recessed lights, fans, chandeliers, icemaker, wine cooler, undercabinet lights, etc. Was necessary to begin seperating circuits and adding breakers as too many areas were on the same breaker. Example, one 20 amp breaker covered the living room, family room, dining room and part of kitchen. We often see this in older homes.