Assisted Living Facility Load Calculations

[Andy Sherrill]

I am working on designing an assisted living facility. I am debating whether or not the demand factors or the optional load calculation methods for multifamily dwellings apply. This unit has 59 living units. Only 17 have permanent cooking appliances. The facility has a lot of "commons" areas as well as a full kitchen facility. I understand this is not a multifamily dwelling occupancy. However, from a load perspective I don't see why the optional method would not apply to the living unit portion of the load as long as you assume each of the 59 units has an 8 KW range (per 220.84(2) Exception. It seems like massive overkill to assume all 59 of the living unit HVAC units will be sized at 100%? If you cannot use the dwelling unit portions of Art. 220 for this application, I have to assume the 17 ranges are "commercial cooking equipment" and apply the demand factors of Article 220.56. This does not seem reasonable either since these ranges are definitely not commercial cooking equipment. I appreciate anyone's opinion or experience with this type of application.

 

[ItsHot]

multi-family

multi-family

I would think you would handle this like a multi-family structure. Welome to the forum!:smile:

 

[bob]

Where are you located? What factor were you going to assign to the A/C units. I am surprised the the A/C is not a central unit.

 

[Andy Sherrill]

I am located in Arkansas. The HVAC in the common areas will be central units. Each living unit will have its own HP and furnace with electric strips back-up. The HVAC in the living units is added to the load before the application of hte demand factor. I normally apply all HVAC at 100% (heating or cooling depending on worst case) if the code does not allow specific demand factors. I had planned on no demand factors for the common areas HVAC units. That seems conservative, but in the dead heat of summer, I guess all of the HVAC could be on at one time. Are you aware of an allowance for a demand factor on HVAC for non-dwelling areas?

 

[dduffee260]

What about the kitchen, water heaters, attic heaters, emergency power and other things like that?

We are in the middle of a 100,000 sq ft assisted living facility and it has a 208 volt 4500 amp service with an 800 amp stand-by aux transformer powered from another power company. It did have a generator but they took it out for budget reasons.

One thing I noticed is the electrical rooms are extremely small for the gear installed. It does meet clearance but still seems like there is alot of gear in such a small room. I think there are 6 electrical rooms in all.

 

[ericsherman37]

That seems conservative, but in the dead heat of summer, I guess all of the HVAC could be on at one time. Are you aware of an allowance for a demand factor on HVAC for non-dwelling areas?

Not aware of one, because like you said, it's not unreasonable that all of those units could be running at once. Check 220.51.

I think in general, for all of the living areas, you'd treat them as a multifamily dwelling. For the living units with kitchen areas you could probably apply the demand factors of Table 220.55 and such, where applicable. The central facility kitchen would also probably be able to be calculated in accordance with Table 220.56.

A good way to look at it is it's similar to a hotel - guest suites (some with kitchens), common areas, a central restaurant, central laundry (maybe?) etc. I think you'd calculate the dwelling areas separately from the commercial areas and then lump them together at the end.

 

[Andy Sherrill]

I had planed to calculate all house loads like any normal commercial load and add them to the living unit loads.

This project will have a stand-by generator, but the architect has said there is nothing other than emergency lighting that is required to have back-up. We plan to have emergency lights with batteries and prevent this from being a legally required emergency generator. Are you aware of other loads that are required to have back-up? This is the first assisted living facility I have worked on, so I appreciate any experience you have!

Sorry, I just realized you guys can't tell who I was answering. This response was to dduffe260. I am trying to learn the tricks of the forum. I am new, but I really enjoy reading and posting. It's great to read other people's questions and answers!

 

[Andy Sherrill]

Not aware of one, because like you said, it's not unreasonable that all of those units could be running at once. Check 220.51.

I think in general, for all of the living areas, you'd treat them as a multifamily dwelling. For the living units with kitchen areas you could probably apply the demand factors of Table 220.55 and such, where applicable. The central facility kitchen would also probably be able to be calculated in accordance with Table 220.56.

A good way to look at it is it's similar to a hotel - guest suites (some with kitchens), common areas, a central restaurant, central laundry (maybe?) etc. I think you'd calculate the dwelling areas separately from the commercial areas and then lump them together at the end.

Thanks, that sounds exactly like what I am doing. I am lumping everything together for the overall service. I have MDPs feeding the different units, so the load calcs for these are exactly like multifamily dwellings. I think I started thinking too much and second guessing. Thanks for your help!

 

[ericsherman37]

Thanks, that sounds exactly like what I am doing. I am lumping everything together for the overall service. I have MDPs feeding the different units, so the load calcs for these are exactly like multifamily dwellings. I think I started thinking too much and second guessing. Thanks for your help!

I work with a guy who took a calculations class - he's always bringing in all sorts of hypothetical calculation scenarios. There have been several "combination" type building calculations that I tried. Such as, a part-warehouse, part-office type building. Rather common. You just calculate the different occupancies separately, but in some cases there might actually have to be a recognized delineation between the areas. Our local hospital has the "hospital occupancy" and the "administrative occupancy." All in the same building. But each section was engineered and wired accordingly.