Had an electrician tell me that you could put a newer 200A mobile home on a 100A power pole because “they really don’t draw 200A anyways”. Says he’s done this before without trouble.
We all know it is better to have 200A pole for a 200A home. But has anyone actually put this theory to the test and have it work / not work? I’ve heard of good size site built homes running off 100A with no issue so it seems plausible.
It can be done safely, my park has 6 gang meter bases which can handle 6 100 amp disconnects. The key to doing it is to use 100 amp wire (2/0 aluminum) from the panel to the 100 amp disconnect. The breaker will trip every time the tenant tries to use more then 100amps, which is rare depending on the size of the home. If you are using it for a large double wide I would recommend that you upgrade to a 200 amp meter base and a 200 amp disconnect. But if it’s a smaller home then 100 amps will work. Remember that the point of a breaker is to protect the wire. And that’s what the 100 amp disconnect does, it will trip if too much current is drawn from it. The biggest mistake you could do here would be to use 100 amp wire on a 200 amp disconnect cause then the breaker will never trip but the wire will burn out. Hope this helps.
I guess the real question is do you trust the electrician? There are alot of details that determine if you could/should do this. What is the pole size base on? Is it the transformer, wire, the combined load of all the other homes in the park, etc. all of these will be critical. I’m never an fan of pushing the infrastructure to 100, or 150% of rated. What most people miss is amp rating of wire and panels is based on 86 degree F with new wire, tight connections, and no corrosion. Going from 86 to 100f you lose 10 to 20% of rated amp draw on wire. This is why most of your master metered drama happens when temps hit 100 degrees f. People say its because every home has 2 or more window ac units that of course doesn’t help but it’s really the temperature. When its 100 out the temp in the metal breaker panel is much hotter. Old breakers and fuses just pop for “no reason”. This is one reason why you really should only load your wire, panel, and breakers at 75 to 80% or less of rated. Sorry for the soap box it was not really targeted at you I have just been on one to many systems on the hottest day of the year that was Mickey moused together and for “no reason” breakers where popping all over the place.
I wouldn’t do that.
I would get the home de-rated to 100 amp.