Here's a list of all switches serving the apartments, it was placed on the meter bank
Notice almost all apartments are shown twice, all switches are 100A 3 pole
The breakers in the meter bank are lower than 100 amps
Apartments being fed by (2) 100A 3-pole switches
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Notice almost all apartments are shown twice, all switches are 100A 3 pole
The breakers in the meter bank are lower than 100 amps
We would need a lot more detail especially the age of the apartment building.
Some of the older apartment buildings here with all gas appliances & gas heat prior to air conditioning had 5 and 6 units on 100 amp service risers.
The advent of air conditioning often led to a 2nd riser.
Some of the older apartment buildings here with all gas appliances & gas heat prior to air conditioning had 5 and 6 units on 100 amp service risers.
The advent of air conditioning often led to a 2nd riser.
The building is pre-war, their electrical switchboard serving apartments are new but they still have old meter banks
Pre war as in pre WW2 lol and yea electrical trade was like the wild west back in the day"Pre-war" LOL for us dinosaurs that can be anything from 1940 til last year,
In the 50s most apartment here did not have HVAC and 4 circuits was "normal"
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
@ 208/120 three phase a 100 amp feeder can supply similar kVA as 150 amp 120/240 single phase can. If there is gas heating, cooking, etc it very possible.
I just spoke to the superintend and he said that each apartment has 1 panel served by (2) legs, 1 switch serves 1 leg so that's why there is 2 switches per apartment. Now tell me if I'm not crazy for thinking how ridiculous this design it.
He said these switches are not dedicated to apartment AC units
He said these switches are not dedicated to apartment AC units
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
You're not cray, the installation is!
I'd like to see how the switches are actually wired.
Strathead
Senior Member
- Location
- Ocala, Florida, USA
- Occupation
- Electrician/Estimator/Project Manager/Superintendent
Everything seems confusing. I cant tell whether you re saying the disconnects are on the load side or the line side of the meters. How do you have a meter for each apartment ,but a disconnect for several apartments? Are the meters utility company meters, or private meters? What is that bank of breakers above the meters?
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
That would be a serious code violation.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
Not only that but it's just downright strange that the electric company would allow a switch on the line side of the meters.
The meters are on the load side of the disconnect switches, the breakers above the meters are also serving the apartments, the meter banks are old and power is being fed from the new switchboard to the circuit breakers
Oneline would look something like this:
Service end box -> service switch -> switchboard -> disconnect switch -> meter -> breaker -> apartment
Honestly not sure if the meter is going before the breaker though
but exactly my point, I do not understand why someone would install 2 disconnect switches for each apartment.
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- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
It is not much different than a main device feeding a multimeter stack. Yes, there are two levels of line side switches but it is still simply cold sequence metering.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Now explain how each apartment can have its own meter.
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
Maybe the two individual switches feed a stack of meters, each of which feed a single apartment breaker. There is a grouping of breakers above the individual meters.
Maybe they splice the conductors after the disconnect switches and distribute the conductors to each associated meter ? notice the large wireway above the meters
Honestly, I really don't know, I wish I can tinker with this to find out but I can't
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LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Sure you can. Turn off one switch at a time and listen for how many people start yelling.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
You have switchboard with three pole swithces in post 1 but looks like maybe the later mentioned 1 pole breakers in post 18? Those old breakers in post 18 might very well been intended at one time to have a handle tie to make multipole unit out of them - though they still would not have common trip feature. Seen a lot of those in 1940-50's service poles on the farms (where still present) Many them still out there in pastures where there is only a livestock well to supply.
The breakers on top of the meter bank are single pole breakers, each apartment utilizes two single pole breakers. These have no handle ties present, in theory you could install it since there are holes
That makes a bit more sense, they never installed the handle ties. But the 100A switches are still very odd, to say the least.
Did this ever pass an inspection?
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