Hey Kevin,
Yeah, you are going on about things I was already aware of. The key factor is that all the major amp drawing items should not be on at the same time for a long period. We calculated the load on the house with the tank equipment. We came up with 87 amps as a full operational number of everything in the house. That leaves me a 13 amp buffer. Believe me, if I didn't have to tear up the yard and foot the bill for the copper and excavations I would go for the 200 amp service. I have read that people do install 200 amp services on #2 aluminum conductors. However, the electrician suggest that I not to do that. The way the numbers are adding up for larger tank and sticker shock of crap furniture. I may have rethink my tank size any way. I asked someone on the large tank boards about a tank in the size I am considering and it was in the 4K range. I was thinking more in the 3K range. We will see what the future holds.