kurfgator
New member
- Location
- Ft. Lauderdale
Before I even get into it; yes this is for my personal home. I am also a construction professional. I am a graduate of the Rinker school, PM for a commercial GC, and passed my Florida GC exam (never activated the license as we have one in the office). I also do not plan on doing the service upgrade myself. I am having our usual electrician do the job. However, he is swamped and really doesn't work residiential so he asked if I comeplete the load calcs and discuss requirements with the local POCO so he doesn't have to invest too much time in doing me a favor. I did my calcs, panel schedule, etc for the interior portion of the house and got an owner/builder permit so I do know what I'm doing; just not enough experience to completely understand the requirements for my duplex.
Here's what I have:
-1700 SQFT Duplex; rental side is 650 SQFT, my side is 1050 SQFT
-Currently one weatherhead with 2" conduit feeding 2 meters and two 100 AMP FPE fused disconnects.
-The rental side is staying 100 amps. I already switched the old FPE panel out for a Square D with all upgraded wiring. Everything is wonderful and up to if not beyond code. It does have it's own washer/dryer.
-My side is getting an upgrade to 200 amps. I did the load calculation including my Tempra 24 water heater and I definitely need 200 (plus that is what Stiebel Eltron requires for that model anyway). Only other additional load I have over the tankless is a 1/2 HP jacuzzi. Everything else is typical: 2 kitchen (GFCI), 1 laundry, 1 circuit for the two rooms (AFCI), 1 bathroom (GFCI), dishwasher, disposal, washer/dryer, etc, etc. All that has already been approved.
-I have attached a picture of the existing meters/disconnects.
What I need:
-Meter choice - The electrician mentioned a duplex pan but my problem is to find one that can handle 200 amps on my side will also handle 200 amps on the rental side and they seem astronomically expensize and too big for the current location (looked at the Square D EZ-Stak, C-H, Siemens...everything I could find). It seems to me the better bet would be a lockable tap box (I know POCO will want it tamper proof) off the existing weatherhead conduit split into seperate 200 and 100 amp meter/disconnect combos.
-Service Size - I know I can simply combine the two loads for a total of 300amp and depending on opinions here that might be my best bet given the high load of the tankless on my side. Obviously an optional calc will work more in my favor but I want to make sure it's safe.
-Service Entrance - Depending on my final service size I need to know if it will be compatible with the existing 2" weatherhead conduit. I JUST had the roof done and don't really want to have a cut, replace, patch on the brand new membrane just to upgrade to a bigger weatherhead but I will also do what I have to to be safe/code compliant. My electricain mentioned compact wire as an option especially to help keep my 1.5" conduit running from the disconnect to the insde of my side. He said a 200 amp service can use a 1.5" pipe if it's compact.
-Grounding - Appropriate grounding for whatever the final layour is. Duplex can=two grounding rods? Seprate meter cans=4 grounding rods?
I appreciate any advice/direction you can give me. The elctricain I have is working on a lot for us at the moment so any help I can provide him in helping me is greatly appreacited. If I haven't provided enough info please let me know. Thank you in advance!
Here's what I have:
-1700 SQFT Duplex; rental side is 650 SQFT, my side is 1050 SQFT
-Currently one weatherhead with 2" conduit feeding 2 meters and two 100 AMP FPE fused disconnects.
-The rental side is staying 100 amps. I already switched the old FPE panel out for a Square D with all upgraded wiring. Everything is wonderful and up to if not beyond code. It does have it's own washer/dryer.
-My side is getting an upgrade to 200 amps. I did the load calculation including my Tempra 24 water heater and I definitely need 200 (plus that is what Stiebel Eltron requires for that model anyway). Only other additional load I have over the tankless is a 1/2 HP jacuzzi. Everything else is typical: 2 kitchen (GFCI), 1 laundry, 1 circuit for the two rooms (AFCI), 1 bathroom (GFCI), dishwasher, disposal, washer/dryer, etc, etc. All that has already been approved.
-I have attached a picture of the existing meters/disconnects.
What I need:
-Meter choice - The electrician mentioned a duplex pan but my problem is to find one that can handle 200 amps on my side will also handle 200 amps on the rental side and they seem astronomically expensize and too big for the current location (looked at the Square D EZ-Stak, C-H, Siemens...everything I could find). It seems to me the better bet would be a lockable tap box (I know POCO will want it tamper proof) off the existing weatherhead conduit split into seperate 200 and 100 amp meter/disconnect combos.
-Service Size - I know I can simply combine the two loads for a total of 300amp and depending on opinions here that might be my best bet given the high load of the tankless on my side. Obviously an optional calc will work more in my favor but I want to make sure it's safe.
-Service Entrance - Depending on my final service size I need to know if it will be compatible with the existing 2" weatherhead conduit. I JUST had the roof done and don't really want to have a cut, replace, patch on the brand new membrane just to upgrade to a bigger weatherhead but I will also do what I have to to be safe/code compliant. My electricain mentioned compact wire as an option especially to help keep my 1.5" conduit running from the disconnect to the insde of my side. He said a 200 amp service can use a 1.5" pipe if it's compact.
-Grounding - Appropriate grounding for whatever the final layour is. Duplex can=two grounding rods? Seprate meter cans=4 grounding rods?
I appreciate any advice/direction you can give me. The elctricain I have is working on a lot for us at the moment so any help I can provide him in helping me is greatly appreacited. If I haven't provided enough info please let me know. Thank you in advance!