Multi-family Housing Service

[dmott]

Multistory multifamily residential apartment complex has electrical rooms at the end of each floor (locked and only accessible to building management). The owner wants to knock out a wall between two units to make one larger unit.The wish to do this with four units per floor. Is it correct that the new larger unit now has two services which is not permitted, therefore the wiring must re-worked to feed one panel from the other (assuming ratings and breakers are properly sized)?

The engineer has proposed to place a two breaker panel in the electrical room and feed it from one of the two meters and then feed the two panels in the apartment from that panel. Is this permissible?

Thanks

 

[George Stolz]

Re: Multi-family Housing Service

Originally posted by dmott:
Multistory multifamily residential apartment complex has electrical rooms at the end of each floor (locked and only accessible to building management).

What is contained in these rooms? The disconnects? The panels?

 

[physis]

Re: Multi-family Housing Service

The NEC recognizes the service conductors as ending at the service disconnect. That means that after the disconnect the conductors become feeders. The meter doesn't determine whether the equipment is service equipment.

I think if the meter buss and terminals have the ampacity to handle both apartment panels everthing should be fine. They're subpanels.

Is continuous supervision in 230.72(C) Exept. satisfied?

Are there differing opinions?

 

[dmott]

Re: Multi-family Housing Service

Originally posted by georgestolz:

Originally posted by dmott:
Multistory multifamily residential apartment complex has electrical rooms at the end of each floor (locked and only accessible to building management).

What is contained in these rooms? The disconnects? The panels?

The electrical rooms contain the meter stacks for all the units on that floor. Each meter has a 60 ampere circuit breaker (typical) as the disconnect for the unit. The proposed solution (if 2 separate feeds/services to the new larger unit is not permitted) is to put a sub panel in for each unit in the electrical room, feed it from only one meter with a larger circuit breaker (if necessary), and put two smaller breakers in the panel to feed the two panels in the unit. A separate sub-panel would be provided for each unit.

The primary question is if given that the unit is isolated by fire walls, etc. do we need to treat it as a separate building/structure? Do the two feeds to it constitute two separate services in this case then, similar to a retail strip mall with multiple tenants and each meter constitutes a service?

 

[physis]

Re: Multi-family Housing Service

Article 100 defines buildings, structures, service equipment. A lot of the things you're asking about.

 

[steve66]

Re: Multi-family Housing Service

The primary question is if given that the unit is isolated by fire walls, etc. do we need to treat it as a separate building/structure?

I believe the answer to that would be no. Storage rooms and corridors often have some type of fire rating. But that doesn't mean we have to provide a separate service for a storage room. And it also doesn't prevent us from running a feeder over the storage room.

Be warned though, one of the codes (maybe IBC?) does limit what can be ran into an "exit access corridor" (which usually, but not always, turn out to be stairwells).

Steve