Washington State Masters/Admin Exam

[dneprcowboy]

Hello all,

finally joined this forum, 'cause I've run into a cat I can't seem to skin. My employer has me sitting for the Wa state admin exam and I've failed the load calc section twice. I've been doing these exams for years so this is nothing new to me. The biggest problem seems to be the questions are very poorly written. Statements like, " disregard laundry and house loads" leave me scratching my head. What in the world is a "house load"? Are they referring to general lighting and recep calcs? Has anyone here passed this exam and actually understood the questions? Also, all the motor calc info was in 120v or 240v, but the code book list hp amp draw under 115v and 230v. Am I supposed to look it up in the code book and multiply to get watts, then divide by the voltage the wa test gives me to get the actual amp draw, then use those #s? Any help would be appreciated,

Steve

 

[charlie b]

It took me two tries to pass that exam, but that was ten years ago. My trouble was not with calcs, but rather having an outdated set of WAC/RCW rules with me during the exam.

The phrase "house loads" will only come into play in an apartment complex, or a multi-tenant retail building, or a similar facility. The idea is that each tenant pays for the electricity for their own space, and the owner of the building pays for the electricity in the common areas (e.g., lobby, hallways, meeting rooms, any space that is open for use by any of the tenants). There is generally a separate power panel to serve house loads, and it has its own meter.

As a design practice, I will look up the amps in the HP table, and multiply by 120 or 480, ignoring the fact that the column is labeled 115 or 460. That gives me a slightly larger number than I would get by multiplying by 115 or 460, and is therefore conservative. I do not know whether this is the same approach taken by the person who wrote the test question. I suppose you could do it both ways, if you have time, and see which one gives you an answer that is among the multiple choice options. If both answers are there, you are in trouble.

 

[tom baker]

Many of Washingtons questions are the same as Mike Holt uses. I have had students tell me the questions are the same. The motor voltage question is one that throws off a lot of electricians. 220.5(A) tells us what voltages to use. Motors have a lower nameplate rating (115 vs 120) to allow for voltage drop.