Does anyone have any experience with modular commercial buildings? We were asked to quote a large installation of one at one of the local military installations. The job consists of 20 sections of building all linked together. Each section comes with it's own 150A panel. There is mostly lighting and basic office loads in the building. The HVAC units come separate from the building so we can wire them to the MDP if we need to. It seems like it would make more sense to run the HVAC units to the MDP and group the 150A panels together on a few circuits. I guess the other option is to run all home runs to the MDP and pull the HVAC units from the sub panels. Is there a typical wiring method for these buildings? Any thoughts?
Modular Building Feeders
- Thread starter ccrtech
- Start date
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GUNNING
Senior Member
- Location
- Gainesville, Florida
Are there any plans or specifications? What about Grounding?
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I would think you are dealing with something that is pre fabricated and may require some assembly on site, but is otherwise complete besides the supply to it, and maybe the HVAC as you mentioned.
Hopelfully you have the load calculations done for you by whoever designed/built them as far as knowing what size of service and feeders you need to provide, as well as any other specifications on things you need to install like the mentioned HVAC. If some assembly is required on site you may want to find out if that is expected of you or if the manufacturer or their set up representatives will take care of that, so you will know if you may need to include that in a bid.
Think of it as being somewhat similar to connecting a few mobile or manufactured homes in some ways.
Hopelfully you have the load calculations done for you by whoever designed/built them as far as knowing what size of service and feeders you need to provide, as well as any other specifications on things you need to install like the mentioned HVAC. If some assembly is required on site you may want to find out if that is expected of you or if the manufacturer or their set up representatives will take care of that, so you will know if you may need to include that in a bid.
Think of it as being somewhat similar to connecting a few mobile or manufactured homes in some ways.
GUNNING
Senior Member
- Location
- Gainesville, Florida
Mil Spec?
Mil Spec?
Look out for demand factors. It is not a residence and they may have a different idea of what bonding and grounding is all about. I knew of a contractor that built one of these. Made a mint. Got a local electrician to do the install. It was on a NAS and nobody new what was in the ground or who owned the POCO or how to get a meter on it.
Mil Spec?
Look out for demand factors. It is not a residence and they may have a different idea of what bonding and grounding is all about. I knew of a contractor that built one of these. Made a mint. Got a local electrician to do the install. It was on a NAS and nobody new what was in the ground or who owned the POCO or how to get a meter on it.
Cow
Senior Member
- Location
- Eastern Oregon
- Occupation
- Electrician
With HVAC units coming seperate from the modular buildings, make sure you don't get called on running two feeders to the same building. If you feed both of them from the MDP and the inspector considers that HVAC unit as part of the modular building you could be in trouble. Likewise, if he calls them two seperate "structures" you'll need grounding electrodes and disconnects for both most likely. Just something to think about. Might be worth a 5 min call to the inspector if you have questions.
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