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Home > Archive > Electrical code Compliance > June 2005 > Cross-Premises Wiring? Billing Selector Switch....
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Cross-Premises Wiring? Billing Selector Switch....
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| Andrew Thomas 2005-06-17, 11:30 pm |
| I own a duplex. My renters and I share common laundry facilities, on the
renter's floor: back porch actually, more like a lean-to. Each flat has
it's own meter, but they share a common drop of course. I was thinking
it would be nice, through an arrangement of keyswitches and interlocked
(ie: lockout) contactors to be able to bill my usage to my meter and
their usage to their meter.
This implies running a line from my panel up to what might be arguably
described as their premises: certainly within proximity of a circuit
that bills to their meter. My copy of the NEC is old and misplaced, but
knowing the NEC on principle as well as I do I'm betting the chances are
better than even that this in and of itself is prohibited.
It also may by necessity imply that a circuit from each meter be brought
into a single box: if not a single box, certainly the outputs from the
relay boxes would feed (alternately) into a single outlet. It wouldn't
surprise me to find otu this is explicitely prohibited, too.
Ultimately I don't see a technical or safety problem. I'll make sure
each circuit is on the same line (ie: phase) in case there's a fault,
though even if I didn't and there was a fault (ie: both contactors stuck
on) it would just pop a breaker.
Please break it down (violations) as best you can, if it's prohibited I
might hike to the library and read the sections. Failing a slick
installation there's always the guise of "temporary wiring", IE plugging
into an extension cord run up from my back porch to bill to my side.
Here again if there would be a specific prohibition against this let me
know: generally I assume almost anything goes with extension cords,
construction trade "crosses premises" with them all the time.
Regardless, if it comes to that I'll probably just forget the whole thing.
It would be nice to do the same with the natural gas supply, and perhaps
even the hot water supply.... but I guess that's mostly a matter for the
UPC.
-Andrew
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| mroberds@worldnet.att.net 2005-06-17, 11:30 pm |
| Andrew Thomas <cornheadorama@hotmail.com> wrote:
quote:
>I own a duplex. My renters and I share common laundry facilities, on the
>renter's floor: back porch actually, more like a lean-to. Each flat has
>it's own meter, but they share a common drop of course. I was thinking
>it would be nice, through an arrangement of keyswitches and interlocked
>(ie: lockout) contactors to be able to bill my usage to my meter and
>their usage to their meter.
My washing machine says it draws 10 A at 120 V and I guess an average
load takes about 30 minutes, for 0.6 kWh. My gas dryer says 6 A at
120 V and an average load is longer, maybe 45 minutes, for 0.54 kWh. If
you're worried about the electric usage I'm assuming it's an electric
dryer - by code, it won't draw any more than 80% of 30 A, or 24 A, at
240 V, for 4.32 kWh a load. If you average one load a day, that's
about 1.1 kWh a day for gas or 5 kWh a day for electric - 33 to 150 kWh
in an average month - something around $3.30 to $15 depending on the
rates where you live. Tell the renters you're knocking $5 or $10 a
month off their rent for your laundry usage and use the money you saved
on contactors and wire and inspections and such to buy yourself dinner
or beer or something.
Matt Roberds
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| Andrew Thomas 2005-06-17, 11:31 pm |
| mroberds@worldnet.att.net wrote:
quote:
> Andrew Thomas <cornheadorama@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> My washing machine says it draws 10 A at 120 V and I guess an average
> load takes about 30 minutes, for 0.6 kWh. My gas dryer says 6 A at
> 120 V and an average load is longer, maybe 45 minutes, for 0.54 kWh. If
> you're worried about the electric usage I'm assuming it's an electric
> dryer - by code, it won't draw any more than 80% of 30 A, or 24 A, at
> 240 V, for 4.32 kWh a load. If you average one load a day, that's
> about 1.1 kWh a day for gas or 5 kWh a day for electric - 33 to 150 kWh
> in an average month - something around $3.30 to $15 depending on the
> rates where you live. Tell the renters you're knocking $5 or $10 a
> month off their rent for your laundry usage and use the money you saved
> on contactors and wire and inspections and such to buy yourself dinner
> or beer or something.
>
> Matt Roberds
>
Yes, in past that's how I've worked it: $10 a month. Still I'm curious
if it's against code.
-Andrew
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