kaiser
Member
- Location
- los angeles, ca. USA
Hello, Everyone
I have a situation that I would like some help and feedback with.
Here is the description of what I got dragged into.
Large commercial building, needed a new water heater. The old water heater was fed by 208 volt 60 amp 3 phase with a 60 amp fused disconnect at the water heater and a 60 amp breaker in the stand up section in the electric room.
The plumbers installed a new water heater and in trying to save the customer money or to make money or some stupid reason, they installed a water heater that is residential rated and operates on either 240 volt or 208 volt single phase.
They want me to convert the 3 phase 208 v to single phase 208 v to power the water heater instead of installing the commercial rated one.
This building is a very large air frieght and cargo shipping center and the electric rooms are powered with only 120/208 v 3 phase and 277/480 v 3 phase systems.
The amperage is close enough to not need new wires pulled for size and rating, so my thoughts for the easiest way to do this would be replace the 3 pole 208 volt breaker with a 2 pole breaker and get 208 off the buss bars that the breaker bolts onto and since the water heater needs no neutral wire only two hots and a ground, I can make the connection and call it a day.
Is that a good way of doing that or not?
The water heater is a dual element (upper and lower) that run simultaneously so there is no concern of one leg being unbalanced and causing problems. But is it a hack fix that I don't need to be doing just to help the plumbers in their screwed up situation? Is there a cost effective alternative? The commercial water heater that should have been installed would cost between $2k and $3k so, as long as I can do the job for around a grand or so they will be happy. And I would like to help them if I can.
Oh, the plumbing company gives me a lot of business and the owners have been close family friends for over forty years and want to help but not at safety or my business expense.
Thanks for your help, in advance
I have a situation that I would like some help and feedback with.
Here is the description of what I got dragged into.
Large commercial building, needed a new water heater. The old water heater was fed by 208 volt 60 amp 3 phase with a 60 amp fused disconnect at the water heater and a 60 amp breaker in the stand up section in the electric room.
The plumbers installed a new water heater and in trying to save the customer money or to make money or some stupid reason, they installed a water heater that is residential rated and operates on either 240 volt or 208 volt single phase.
They want me to convert the 3 phase 208 v to single phase 208 v to power the water heater instead of installing the commercial rated one.
This building is a very large air frieght and cargo shipping center and the electric rooms are powered with only 120/208 v 3 phase and 277/480 v 3 phase systems.
The amperage is close enough to not need new wires pulled for size and rating, so my thoughts for the easiest way to do this would be replace the 3 pole 208 volt breaker with a 2 pole breaker and get 208 off the buss bars that the breaker bolts onto and since the water heater needs no neutral wire only two hots and a ground, I can make the connection and call it a day.
Is that a good way of doing that or not?
The water heater is a dual element (upper and lower) that run simultaneously so there is no concern of one leg being unbalanced and causing problems. But is it a hack fix that I don't need to be doing just to help the plumbers in their screwed up situation? Is there a cost effective alternative? The commercial water heater that should have been installed would cost between $2k and $3k so, as long as I can do the job for around a grand or so they will be happy. And I would like to help them if I can.
Oh, the plumbing company gives me a lot of business and the owners have been close family friends for over forty years and want to help but not at safety or my business expense.
Thanks for your help, in advance
