Beauty Salon Load Calc

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aline

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I'm currently doing a load calculation for a beauty salon.
It's going into an existing building with an existing 200amp 240volt single phase service.

The only problem I'm having is determining what to calculate for the workstation receptacles. There are 7 workstations where they will be cutting hair and using hand held hair dryers. Each station will have two duplex receptacles.

Would I be able to calculate these receptacles at 180 VA each?
Would these be considered general purpose receptacles?
180 VA seems low to me in this situation.

The other way I thought of calculating the workstations would be to factor in 1,800 VA per station for the hand held hair dryers but this seems a bit excessive since it's not likely the hand held hair dryers would all be running at the same time.

Would I figure 1,800 VA for each station, add these to the 180 VA general purpose receptacles and use Table 220.44?

There are 3 other seperate fixed hair drying stations dedicated just for drying hair that are not a part of these work stations. They are rated at 1800 watts and I factored these at 100%.

I'm pushing the limit of the 200amp service and how I determine the load calculations of the 7 workstations will make a difference of whether or not I exceed the 200amps.

I've read through Article 220 of the NEC but I'm still not sure how I should factor these workstations into my load calculation.

I appreciate any help with this.
 
aline said:
I'm currently doing a load calculation for a beauty salon.
It's going into an existing building with an existing 200amp 240volt single phase service.

The only problem I'm having is determining what to calculate for the workstation receptacles. There are 7 workstations where they will be cutting hair and using hand held hair dryers. Each station will have two duplex receptacles.

Would I be able to calculate these receptacles at 180 VA each?
Would these be considered general purpose receptacles?
180 VA seems low to me in this situation.

The other way I thought of calculating the workstations would be to factor in 1,800 VA per station for the hand held hair dryers but this seems a bit excessive since it's not likely the hand held hair dryers would all be running at the same time.

Would I figure 1,800 VA for each station, add these to the 180 VA general purpose receptacles and use Table 220.44?

There are 3 other seperate fixed hair drying stations dedicated just for drying hair that are not a part of these work stations. They are rated at 1800 watts and I factored these at 100%.

I'm pushing the limit of the 200amp service and how I determine the load calculations of the 7 workstations will make a difference of whether or not I exceed the 200amps.

I've read through Article 220 of the NEC but I'm still not sure how I should factor these workstations into my load calculation.

I appreciate any help with this.
Click to expand...

My brother-in-law runs a salon, which I did the electrical installation for. Passed inspection with flying colors. Been running trouble-free (except for a failure of a POCO meter lug a few years back.) 3 phase, 125 amp Zinsco (cringe) panel. This has been in operation for over 15 years. :grin:

Assume a continuous loading for all seven stations. Run a dedicated circuit to each station, and run no more than two of the sit-down dryer chairs on a circuit.

The 200 AMP service should be ok. Be sure to balance the loads as closely as possible.

To answer your questions/statements in order:

1: No
2: By Code, maybe, But I'd say no.
3:Yes, 180va would be too low in this case.
4: In a busy salon. ALWAYS assume that ALL dryers, handheld and otherwise, will be in use at the same time. The average dry time is usually 5-10 minutes max for the handheld dryers, and can be up to 1 hour continuous for the sit-down dryer chairs. :smile:
5: IMHO, yes add each station at 1800va, general at 180va and use Table 220.44

The calcs may come out borderline, but there is still generally enough load diversity so that you'll be o.k. with the 200amp service.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and true story about this install I did: My BIL complained when the install went over his original budget when I insisted on giving each station it's own circuit..but when a summer brownout happened, and his competitor's shop in the same complex (with Identical service panel, but poorly planned circuits) lost thier power when the panel literally exploded into flames as his shop kept right on running, he called and thanked me for being so stubborn on the electrical spec. :D He actually allowed that shop's stylists to work in his shop while thiers was being repaired. And the EC doing the repairs came over and copied my circuit plans. :cool:
 
Thanks for the replies.

I plan on running a seperate dedicated 20amp circuit to each of the seven work stations and a seperate dedicated 20amp circuit to each of the three hair drying stations.

I thought maybe I could apply the demand factors from Table 220.44 to the work station receptacles.

The panel is a 40 space panel with only 10 spaces currently in use so I have plenty of circuit space available.

The only issue is if I calculate 1,800 VA for each workstation into my load calculation I get 210 amps. If I use 1,500 VA I get 205 amps. I guess I'll need to talk to the AHJ to find out what he says about this and see if he'll require a service upgrade in this situation.
 
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