Residential electrical plan software for the NEC (beta)

In an NEC project Avenler draws in feet and inches, proposes circuits with GFCI and AFCI protection following US practice, builds the load center and panel schedule, calculates the dwelling load per Article 220, and produces a material list and a quote in USD from the drawing. It is a design aid, not a permit document.

Create an electrical plan Already have an account? Sign in

Before you start: an aid, not a permit document

Avenler is a design aid, not a permit document. Approval of a US plan is up to the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) and the NEC edition actually in force, and the program's NEC values must always be checked against the official text of that edition. NEC mode is in beta: the program knows the common residential rules, not the whole code, and it makes no claim of code compliance.

Project region: feet, inches and the NEC

In the project settings the Units can be metric or imperial (feet, inches) and the Electrical code system can be IEC or NEC (USA); with NEC you can also choose the edition (NEC 2020, 2023 or 2026; the default is 2023). The setting applies to every level of the project, to the checks, the take-off and printing.

In an imperial project you enter and see lengths in feet and inches, for example 12'6", 12'-6 1/2", 150" or 12.5'. The grid is 6 inches, and take-off lengths, exports and DXF use the project's units too. For printing you can choose Letter, Legal, Tabloid and Arch D paper and an architectural scale (for example 1/4" = 1'-0").

For a quick start, New project from template offers the US Starter House, a one-story house of about 1600 sq ft with imperial units, circuits based on NEC 2023, a 200 A load center and the US symbol set; you can modify it freely.

US symbols and automatic circuit assignment

The US symbol set draws according to "general American practice" (these are not standard symbols). In an NEC project the device toolbar adds a GFCI receptacle, a 20 A receptacle, a 240 V (NEMA) receptacle, a dimmer and a ceiling fan.

In an NEC project, Automatic assignment… proposes circuits following US practice, which you can accept or discard in the preview:

• at least two 20 A circuits for the kitchen receptacles, and 20 A circuits for the bathroom, laundry and garage receptacles;
• GFCI protection for bathroom, kitchen, garage, outdoor, basement and laundry receptacles, AFCI protection for the 120 V circuits of living areas and similar rooms, and a dual-function breaker where both are needed;
• 240 V loads (for example a dryer or a range) on a 2-pole circuit with NM-B cable matching the rated current.

The proposed values are starting values; the designer must review them.

Load center, panel schedule and load calculation

In an NEC project the board is a load center: you set the number of spaces and the main breaker / bus rating, breakers are 1- or 2-pole, and the protection type is Standard, GFCI, AFCI or dual function. The panel schedule shows the circuit, current, poles, protection and the L1/L2 load for each space, and it prints as a sheet of the drawing set; the single-line diagram is drawn as a load center too.

On the boards page, the dwelling load calculation (NEC Article 220) takes its inputs from the drawing and shows the working of both the standard and the optional method, with the suggested service size and conductor. Without a drawing you can try it in the NEC load calculator.

NEC checks, material list and quote in USD

In an NEC project the Checks panel also runs US rules: for example it flags missing GFCI and AFCI protection, a missing 20 A circuit, receptacle spacing, 125 % of continuous load, box fill, and too few spaces or unbalanced legs on the load center; some findings come with a suggested fix. A material list is produced from the drawing, and the quote can be in USD, with a sales tax rate that you set for where the work is performed.

The Designing to the NEC chapter walks through the steps in detail, and the standards references are on the standards page.

Create an electrical plan