Electrical – Measuring total service panel amperage

electricalelectrical-panel

I was reading this article,
amps per leg on 220V?
, and it was very helpful in understanding how to measure a 220v circuit.

My question, based on the answers given there, is how to measure the amperage of the entire panel. The measuring should be similar to measuring a 220v circuit in that measuring only one leg will give you the 220v flow for the entire house, but that would not be showing the 110v flow. So, to properly measure the current usage of my house, would this "formula" work? Using three clamp meters, measure each leg in the panel then:

--Add both hot legs together.
--Subtract the neutral leg.
--Divide by 2.
--- This would be the 220v current usage.
-- The neutral current would be the 110v current usage.
--- Add the two above together to get total current usage.
- Use those two numbers referenced to their voltage to get the wattage.

That would give the 220v and 110v current usage of the house and, referencing each to the proper voltage, determine the wattage?

Best Answer

Sorry. No

You cannot tell the difference between a 10 amp 240 volt load and two 10 amp 120 volt loads, one on each leg. In both cases, you will see 10 amps on each hot and 0 amps on neutral.

In fact, if your loads on both legs were equal and constant, you could disconnect the neutral from the POCO to the panel and you’d see no difference. On the other hand, if the legs are unequal, you need the neutral to carry the difference between the two.

Bottom line, by examining only the feed to the panel, you cannot tell 120 volt loads from 240 volt loads unless the 120 volt loads are completely unbalanced.