TL;DR
A service load calculation is the NEC Article 220 arithmetic that totals a home's expected electrical demand, applying demand factors to square footage, appliances, HVAC, and large loads, to prove the service and panel can handle additions. Electricians prepare one before installing an EV charger, heat pump, or accessory dwelling unit, and many jurisdictions require it with the permit.
What it means
A service load calculation is the NEC Article 220 arithmetic that totals a home's expected electrical demand, applying demand factors to square footage, appliances, HVAC, and large loads, to prove the service and panel can handle additions. Electricians prepare one before installing an EV charger, heat pump, or accessory dwelling unit, and many jurisdictions require it with the permit. The optional method of 220.82 often shows a 200-amp service has more headroom than the breaker count suggests.
Where it sits in the glossary
Service load calculation is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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