I asked a question earlier about how to find out what type of wiring I had in my home.?

Question

I asked that question because i was seeking home owners insurance with another company and they asked me that question. My electrical outlets in the house are 3 prong and when I looked in the panel box on the switches I saw that it said 120/240v I am not sure if that is what I should be looking at as far how much amps of power is coming in. I just wanted to know how what answer i would give the insurance agent as to what type of wiring was in the home. I may just call an electrician. Thanks for all the answers thus far.

Answer 1

Easy...Take off your main panel cover. By law (National Electrical Code) the main breaker must be stamped or identified with its amperage rating. It may be on the handle, or a label on the breaker. While you have the cover off, look at the wire connected to the breakers. Is it copper colored? Or is it silver color? Copper is what you want to see. Silver is aluminum. Also look to see if you have any green or bare copper wires connected in the panel to a grounding bar. If so, then your receptacles will be grounded according to the NEC

Your installation may or may not have aluminum service entrance wires connected to the main breaker. This is very common and nothing to worry about.

Looking in your main panel will tell the story.

Answer 2

Most companies want to know the service amount and the wiring type. The service amount can be read off the front of the panel. It will say 60 amp, 100 amp, 200 amp etc... older non-upgraded homes will be 60 and most newer homes are at least 100 and probably 200 due to the amount of electrical demands we are putting on them through tv's, computers, lights, etc. They may lso want to know if you have breakers or fuses. Breakers look alot like little switches on the panel. If you overload a circuit, the breakers switches itself to a central point and breaks the circuit. You need to turn it off and then on again to reset it.
If you have fuses, they look like 25 cent sized round glass screw in units with a copper tab and an amp rating visible through the glass. When they blow, you need to unscrew and replace them.

The type of wiring is either aluminum or copper. Copper is much more common. Aluminum was only used in residential for a short period. Aluminum needs to be serviced every 5 years or so. To service it, each switch and recepticle needs to be disconnected and reconnected with a corrosion resistant guck put on it. Aluminum is more brittle than copper and has proven to move inside the clamp that holds it connected. This causes a poor connection, heat build up and sometimes fire. Because most homeowners don't have the ability to do this, they removed aluminum form the acceptable residential code. Aluminum is still common in commercial applications though. You can get insurance on an aluminum wired house but the companies offering it are not as many as those with copper coverage. If you have it, just keep looking, you'll find a carrier for it.
I doubt you have knob and tube wiring if you have 3 prong plugs.
Good Luck!

Answer 3

You need to go to the main box and see what the rating is on the master switch at the very top. It should say 100 or 75,

Then you need to see if you have a 2 wire(black+white) or a 3 wire (black + white + bare ground) and if its copper or if its Aluminum by removing the cover plate off of an outlet and taking a good look in there to see just what wires are present.

Id suspect the statement to insurance company would read like this as an example:
Have 100 amp service, 3 wire grounded outlets, copper wire.

Answer 4

If a home was built prior to 1960 and has never had an electrical upgrade, it may only have a 60-amp electrical system with one or two outlets in each room, which is inadequate by today's standards. Homes less than 40 years old most likely have the minimum standard for today's electrical systems--100 amps. New homes are often built with a 200-amp system.

Look in your electrical panel to see what amp service you have. If it is not apparent, count the number of breakers (or switches). A 100-amp panel has 20 breakers; 150-amp has 30 breakers; and 200-amp has 40 breakers. If you have 20 or less breakers, you may want to consider a service upgrade.

Don't be fooled by having 3 pronged outlets in any of your rooms. The previous owner might have changed the outlets without upgrading the electrical box. What I stated above should guide you in the right direction.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 5

Insurance co's don't care what amp service you have. What they are worried about is if your premises has copper or aluminium wiring. Copper is maintenance free but aluminium isn't. Every year, you should tighten all the terminal screws on every plug and switch in the house. If not, they arc and spark, causing a fire hazard. Look at your main fuse panel and note the writing on the smaller wires leading from it. It should have the designation nmd 90 cu 14/2 Cu is copper, 14/2 is wire size. If the wire is thicker, 12/2 or 10/2 and has al written on it, it is aluminium. Another way is to open a switch plate and with a flashlight, look at the bare wire itself. If it's silver, its aluminium, if it's copper coloured, guess what.

Answer 6

I think you have your answer, "3 prong outlets and the panel box reads 120/240"

You are not suppose to know all the details, don`t give them any more info, if you tell them something and its incorrect they may try to use it as an out if you have a claim.

Believe me all reliable Ins Co`s have inspectors that come around and look over your home before they will issue a policy. Wiring is just one of the many things they will be taking notice of.

Answer 7

If you have an electrical box with circuit breakers (instead of round screw in fuses), there should be a tag on the door that gives the rating. It will likely say 150 AMP or 200 AMP or something like that. You might also consider removing the cover to the breaker box to see if you have copper wire or aluminum wire. BE CAREFUL..don't touch the wires or anything inside of the box when the cover is off.

Answer 8

The insurance company probably just wants to know if you have aluminum wires. You can see that from your entry panel, aluminum wire would be aluminum color and copper wires . . .

You could also tell them how big your panel is. The top breaker is usually the rating of the panel and would be 100, 150 or 200 amps probably.

Answer 9

The first thing I would do is to go to a light switch or a receptacle and take off the cover plates and see if you can see the colour of the wire. A gold colour being copper and a silver colour being aluminium. If that dons,t satisfy you, go the your breaker box and take off the cover plate and you can see what colour of wire is feeding your house. If makes you nervous doing this, call a electrician.

Answer 10

They probably want to know whether it's copper or alluminum. If you feel comfortable, turn off the power, take an outlet off the wall and have a look at the wire. if it's copper colour, it's copper. If it's silvery, it's alluminum. Also, take note of the coating around the wire...is it plastic black, white, blue/red (depending on where you live), or is it like cabled cloth?

If they want to know the amperage, I'm not too sure how to tell that, unless it says right on it.