two meters to one apartment

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jmgreer

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northeast arkansas
i went to look at a job today that didnt have a electrical drawing on the prints. to try to make a long story short, the contractor is going to convert 2 1 bedroom units into 1 3 bedroom unit. this times six times. i told the contractor that we would have to demo the unit enough to re-route and or repull wires to one of the two existing panelboards so the apartment would be feed from one meter etc. etc i am trying to make a long story short. i have to be back tommorrow afternoon to explain why i need to do this. at this time the owner of the complex believes it will be legal to have two seperate panelboards in a apartment each coming from there own meter. i am short of time and out of town without a codebook and will buy another one before my return visit.i will not get to check my computer until around lunch on 3-7-12. please. any comments or code articles that apply to this would greatly help.
 
jmgreer said:
i went to look at a job today that didnt have a electrical drawing on the prints. to try to make a long story short, the contractor is going to convert 2 1 bedroom units into 1 3 bedroom unit. this times six times. i told the contractor that we would have to demo the unit enough to re-route and or repull wires to one of the two existing panelboards so the apartment would be feed from one meter etc. etc i am trying to make a long story short. i have to be back tommorrow afternoon to explain why i need to do this. at this time the owner of the complex believes it will be legal to have two seperate panelboards in a apartment each coming from there own meter. i am short of time and out of town without a codebook and will buy another one before my return visit.i will not get to check my computer until around lunch on 3-7-12. please. any comments or code articles that apply to this would greatly help.
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Find a way to tie the feeders together at the source end and connect to only one meter. There is no problem with multiple panelboards in the dwelling unit.
 
kwired said:
Find a way to tie the feeders together at the source end and connect to only one meter. There is no problem with multiple panelboards in the dwelling unit.
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I imagine the line side of the meters are already connected to one service. Just upgrade the load side lug on one meter to double conductor lugs and move the feeders from the second meter over to the first. Use whatever blank cover is necessary to cover the hole for the second meter and have it returned to the power company.
 
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I ran into a situation like this a few years ago. Customer bought a duplex and opened the separating wall to make 1 dwelling. It had 2 meters feeding 100 amp panels in each section. The simplest way for this lay out was to install a 200 amp meter combo with a 8 circ buss, remove the closest 100 amp and replace it with a 200 amp panel fed from the feed through lugs and move the other sides A/C and water heater to the 200 amp panel. I then installed a 100 amp breaker in the combo and fed the 100 amp with it.
 
jaylectricity said:
I imagine the line side of the meters are already connected to one service. Just upgrade the load side lug on one meter to double conductor lugs and move the feeders from the second meter over to the first. Use whatever blank cover is necessary to cover the hole for the second meter and have it returned to the power company.
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Chances are that load side lug is the terminal of a circuit breaker and instead of the double barrel lug a Polaris connector or something similar will be what ends up working best.


I don't see the need for 200 amp panel in most cases, just because there may have been 2 - 100 amp panels does not mean after all the rennovations are done that the load calcs will require a 200 amp supply. By turning two dwellings into one , you likely lose a kitchen and some SABC's, a range, maybe a dishwasher, possibly a laundry circuit, possible a clothes dryer, possibly an electric water heater.

In fact in most cases I would probably remove one panel and run remaining needed circuits to the other one - might only be a couple circuits if all you are gaining is bedrooms.
 
Most POCO's allow only one meter for one "unit". A building can have multiple meters and only one service per code, but two meters to a single unit is, at least with our utility, a no no.

As mentioned above, since there would be a "facilities fee" for each meter, I don't see why anyone would want to do it anyway.
 
the owner wants to keep both heating units and both condensor units active. the owner wants to keep 2 30 gallon low boy hot water heaters. each unit has a 100 amp service that comes from a 4-gang meterbase. each meter is rated for 125 amps and each panelboard is protected by a 100 amp 2-pole breaker at the meterbase. i am beginning my research and am hearing that millbank makes a 2 gang meterbase that has provisions to install 2 2-pole breakers, sounds perfect for my situation that way i can protect both panels from one of the two meters. of course i would use the other meter for the other apartment remodel. anybody seen this meterbase before?
i am limited with my residential but it seems like there would be some kind of violation to have the potential for the tennent to be running the heat of one system and the cooling of the other system at the same time. you know this is going to happen at some point. or i believe it will.
looking forward to any other comments.
 
jmgreer said:
the owner wants to keep both heating units and both condensor units active. the owner wants to keep 2 30 gallon low boy hot water heaters. each unit has a 100 amp service that comes from a 4-gang meterbase. each meter is rated for 125 amps and each panelboard is protected by a 100 amp 2-pole breaker at the meterbase. i am beginning my research and am hearing that millbank makes a 2 gang meterbase that has provisions to install 2 2-pole breakers, sounds perfect for my situation that way i can protect both panels from one of the two meters. of course i would use the other meter for the other apartment remodel. anybody seen this meterbase before?
i am limited with my residential but it seems like there would be some kind of violation to have the potential for the tennent to be running the heat of one system and the cooling of the other system at the same time. you know this is going to happen at some point. or i believe it will.
looking forward to any other comments.
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Might want to make sure that it is 2-2pole breakers per meter and not 1-2 pole breaker with each meter in that duplex meter base.

Do a load calculation - if less than 100 amps tie the feeders together an put on one 100 amp breaker. If it is more than 100 amps - you will likely be changing meter equipment anyway - you can then make each meter supply two feeders somehow. If you don't do that then it is run larger feed to apartment and combine loads - which is likely more expensive.
 
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