Ne townhouse - one service per group or separate services?

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olc

Senior Member
New townhouses - say four per "building"
I assume that there should be one service location with a group of 4 meters with disconnects.
Does any know any different? (like individual services)

Rated partitions between the townhouses but not fire walls.
 

Iron_Ben

Senior Member
Location
Lancaster, PA
I've seen it done both ways. At the poco it was so much simpler and cheaper for us if all the meters were grouped at the same location, and this was the norm. Sometimes as few as two or three, or as many as 25 meters. But we had some developers who built fourplexes, but sold rather than rented each unit. So we had to run individual services to the meter at each unit.
 
New townhouses - say four per "building"
I assume that there should be one service location with a group of 4 meters with disconnects.

That would be very common. Sometimes you may see 230.40 ex #1 used: no disconnects at the meters and a service disconnect in each house. That may be a little cheaper if the setup was conducive to it, but having disconnects at the meters and running feeders would give you more flexibility.
 

mgookin

Senior Member
Location
Fort Myers, FL
New townhouses - say four per "building"
I assume that there should be one service location with a group of 4 meters with disconnects.
Does any know any different? (like individual services)

Rated partitions between the townhouses but not fire walls.

Townhomes can have different definitions in different places around the country and even multiple definitions in the same jurisdiction (as we have here in FL).

I've always worked townhomes as single family homes which share a common wall. They're sold with the land underneath and any unit can be removed/ demolished while the rest of the units stand. We would never allow the dependency on other units as you're describing.

You don't provide a location. I suggest you check with your AHJ to see how they classify townhomes. It's cheaper to change it on paper than on the Earth.
 

curt swartz

Electrical Contractor - San Jose, CA
Location
San Jose, CA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Townhomes can have different definitions in different places around the country and even multiple definitions in the same jurisdiction (as we have here in FL).

I've always worked townhomes as single family homes which share a common wall. They're sold with the land underneath and any unit can be removed/ demolished while the rest of the units stand. We would never allow the dependency on other units as you're describing.

You don't provide a location. I suggest you check with your AHJ to see how they classify townhomes. It's cheaper to change it on paper than on the Earth.

I agree with you 100%. In my area it the exact same way. Homeowner owns entire unit including land. The units just share a common firewall.

All of the townhouses I have seen have separate utility services on their unit. You can't pass through another unit since it is private property,
 

olc

Senior Member
Townhouse is a dwelling unit (generally two story) that may share a sidewall with other units but does not have other units above or below.

In my case it would be rental units where the building and property is owned by the landlord.

On the other hand I could see a situation where the exact same building had individual owners (like row houses).

I have not seen where this is specifically addressed in the NEC.
 

mgookin

Senior Member
Location
Fort Myers, FL
Townhouse is a dwelling unit (generally two story) that may share a sidewall with other units but does not have other units above or below.

In my case it would be rental units where the building and property is owned by the landlord.

On the other hand I could see a situation where the exact same building had individual owners (like row houses).

I have not seen where this is specifically addressed in the NEC.

Then you are dealing with a single building of the classification multi-family. It's the same as building apartments. The fact that there are no other units above or below is moot.

And what the realtors call it is moot as well.
 
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