help with some electrical questions

[JDMStanced]

here are some info upfront.
i've got some mining rigs using about 2900W on 110V, and 720W on 240V.
Main Breaker has 50A.
Dryer outlet has 30A.

I experienced the Main Breaker tripping about 3 times now. Not sure why.
It seems that i'm well below 50A for the main breaker to trip.

So i'm planning to move a rig or two from 110V to 240V. (800W each rig.) so i can safely run my current set up and add some more GPUs.

How much Wattage can i run on 110V and 240V outlet in order to stay safe?

PS. most of the companies i call, they require the estimator to come WITHOUT getting any prior info on the job. One place quoted $69 for estimate. Is this normal?

 

[Blaylock]

First and foremost, I am not an electrician and any advice offered should be followed up by a certified electrician.

OK, so just to be clear you say your Main Breaker is a 50A. Is this the whole house main breaker? So the simple math for a 50A breaker is a peak max of 12,000 W with a constant load we generally factor 80% of max, or in this case 9,600 W. The reason I ask if this is your whole house breaker is that there are many appliances that may only pull 800 w constant, like a furnace blower, but will peak around 2300 W when starting up. It's very possible that a furnace and refrigerator both start-up at the same time pulling 4500 W at the same time.

 

[JDMStanced]

First and foremost, I am not an electrician and any advice offered should be followed up by a certified electrician.

OK, so just to be clear you say your Main Breaker is a 50A. Is this the whole house main breaker? So the simple math for a 50A breaker is a peak max of 12,000 W with a constant load we generally factor 80% of max, or in this case 9,600 W. The reason I ask if this is your whole house breaker is that there are many appliances that may only pull 800 w constant, like a furnace blower, but will peak around 2300 W when starting up. It's very possible that a furnace and refrigerator both start-up at the same time pulling 4500 W at the same time.

i assume that's what it is.
i just found out that if the main breaker has 50A then adding a sub panel won't give more power than 50A.. is that right?
i was thinking i can keep 50A main breaker and add a sub panel with like 40A 240v.
If that's true then i need to upgrade the main panel with ~100A which requires a lot of work with upgrading the existing cable and all. = very expensive work.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Adding a sub panel cannot increase amps more than the mains.
That would be like downloading more ram. lol
You need a main upgrade.

 

[Blaylock]

Correct. Main upgrades aren't that expensive here, not sure where you're located. I think I upgraded my mains from a 100A to a 200A for about $500 when I moved in in 2015.

 

[JDMStanced]

Correct. Main upgrades aren't that expensive here, not sure where you're located. I think I upgraded my mains from a 100A to a 200A for about $500 when I moved in in 2015.

huh really? i'm in michigan. I've asked about the estimate on reddit and these guys are saying it'll cost upwards of 10k and 20K lol...
This one electric company says they dealt with electrical on crypto mining, and they expect me to pay $1k or 3k depending on the rigs. i don't know why the rigs would have an effect on the cost of the service.
I'm getting very mixed estimates everywhere.

 

[Blaylock]

It could get up to $1000-1500 if you needed all new parts(ie panels, breakers, etc) but the only way I could see it being in the 5 digit range is if you lived in the sticks and they needed to run all new main power lines down to your house. And even in that case, that would be in the electric company. It's their responsibility to get you the amount of power you need, we just pay for the use and delivery.

EDIT: My wife just pulled up the receipt. Lol. It was $750 plus the permit fee in 2015

 

[torin3]

It could get up to $1000-1500 if you needed all new parts(ie panels, breakers, etc) but the only way I could see it being in the 5 digit range is if you lived in the sticks and they needed to run all new main power lines down to your house. And even in that case, that would be in the electric company. It's their responsibility to get you the amount of power you need, we just pay for the use and delivery.

EDIT: My wife just pulled up the receipt. Lol. It was $750 plus the permit fee in 2015

In PA about 17 years ago it cost roughly that to about $1000 for me to upgrade from 100amp to 200amp with new panel. I can't say for sure because they were supposed to run a line out to the garage so I could have 100amp service there, and I paid $1600 total, but they never came back to install the line to the garage.

I wound up digging a trench, putting it conduit and fishing the 4/0 aluminum cable myself.

 

[dfonda]

Just catching this now...What type of dwelling only has 50a service? Even a mobile home need more than that for an oven, cooktop, fridge and HVAC. In any case if it really is a 50 amp service , that is the issue with the overheating and breaker faults.