2 Family service

[Oakey]

I have a customer who needs a new service in a house that is currently a 2 family setup. They want to convert it back to a single family so here are my 2 questions.
1)Should I install a 2 family meter again (resale/zoning) or put in a single meter pan for them. I dont know how hard it is to get a 2 family meter once its been removed. (blank one side?)
2) Is it permissible to just put in a single or do I need permission from the poco to go from 2 to 1?
Thx guys

 

[mdshunk]

Anything's possible, but I've hung a good many 2 and 3 gang cans and just put glass in the unused gangs for various reasons. At times, it's been an apartment building with no owner load, but we put in an owner meter section anyhow and blank it off. In your case, if you put a 2 gang meter pan in, you'd be well advised to also run the meter load side cable to an empty panel as well (or at least a disco).

 

[e57]

You might want to have them check with planning/zoning to see if they can legally get rid of the other unit. Otherwise they could just continue to get 2 bills.....

 

[ceknight]

) Is it permissible to just put in a single or do I need permission from the poco to go from 2 to 1?

Rules vary from place to place, so you may need some local guidance. Around here, the HO would have to file a change of use (from double to single occupancy) with the governing municipality before the poco would let you replace the 2 meters with a single.

 

[Oakey]

A little more help pls,
I have 2 panels inside now side by side as per the usual 2 family setup, would it be ok if I ran a 200 inside to one panel (with one meter,one blank)and made the other a 100 amp sub ?
Can a 2 family meter pan handle a 200 amp line on one side as opposed to 2-100's or would the poco not allow this..
Why am I thinking about this on a sunday?

 

[satcom]

The questions you need to ask the owners are, do you intend to restore it to a 2 family, any time in the future, if they do, then in New Jersey, most cities require all the utilities to stay intact, once you remove them, you will need get zoning, and construction approvals to restore them, also during that time, they are not in use, they will still have to pay taxes on 2 family rate, and then you will just blank off the meter, not remove it, once removed they will have to re apply, and upgrade everything to current requirements, before applying for 2 family restoration.

Most homes are more valuable as a single family, you can usually turn a nice profit converting some 2 families to a single family, and returning them to the market.

 

[mdshunk]

Can a 2 family meter pan handle a 200 amp line on one side as opposed to 2-100's or would the poco not allow this?

Perhaps you are unfamaliar with multi gang meter sockets. They come in a few variants, with the basic difference being two 100 amp sections or two 200 amp sections. If you have a meter can now with two 200 amp panels hung off it fed with 3/0 or 4/0, you likely have a double 200 can. You'd have to do a demand load calc to see if both panels together come in under 200 amps still. If they do, then there's no special issue with turning one into a sub and feeding it from the other. If you have a double 100 amp meter can, there's no way to feed a 200 amp load from one section. I agree with the others... keep that second meter socket in place for later on so save somebody else trouble with zoning and such.

 

[Oakey]

Thx for the replies. It makes sense about the zoning..I will be replacing the entire service from 100 to 200 amp main. I'm just not sure if the load side of the 2 family pan could handle 4/0 AL as I've only run 2-100's in the past from a double pan.
This is the same job.Click on this picture and see if you can find whats missing on this house LOL

 

[mdshunk]

Yeah, brother, that's a double 100. Looks like you'll be upgrading to a double 200, huh? They're a bit bigger (dimensionally), so I'm pretty sure the new can will cover that old wound in the siding fully. However, I'm not so sure your utility will let you mount a new can so low (it looks like it might only be 2' off the ground). You might have to mount your new can to the left of that window to get it at a more acceptable height.