Just inspected a apartment with only a subpanel, no main found in the apartment. Is this normal for apartments. How do you write this up?
Usually it’s because the main service panel is outside at the meter.
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I agree with David, multi-unit condo’s usually have all the disconnects in one location on the exterior of the building and if it’s older they may be in the basement.
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Describe what was observed, what you had access to and what you didn’t and why.
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Very common to have a sub panel at the apt. unit and a main disconnect (for the whole building) outside near the meters or in a central electric closet. If you were inspecting just the one unit and did not obeserve any defects in the unit sub panel, there woud be nothing to write up.
All service disconnects are required to be grouped together in one location so it is not possible to have the service for each apartment within the apartment so when applicable each apartment will have a sub-panel. As mentioned it needs to be wired as such with a separate neutral and EGC bus and a 4-wire feeder.
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Yes. Main disconnects are typically in the utility room mounted on the metering enclosure.
Has this always been the case or were there times that exterior shutoffs grouped together weren’t required?
Look next to the meters.
Are the meters clustered?
Note I see apartments without a subpanel every so often. They generally have two 20A circuits and that’s it: if a breaker pops you have to call the building RM or super.
Grouping of service disconnects has been required for as long as I can remember although that doesn’t answer your question. I’ll have to go back through my old versions of the NEC and check.
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I’m asking because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a lot of apartments, etc. without them grouped. Lots of apartments in my area from the 70s that have split-bus service panels with no exterior shutoffs. I’d guess it came in place (at least in my area) sometime in the 90s.
Same here. Or maybe several pairs of meters spread out across the exterior of a building.
I think that you guys may have been correct. It took me a while to find this but in the 1965 NEC it was permitted for certain low rise apartment buildings to have the service disconnects within the apartments. So I want to correct my original statement that all service disconnects must be grouped. Here’s the code section:
230-75. Multiple Occupancy.
In a multiple occupancy building, each occupant shall have access to his disconnecting means. A multiple occupancy building having individual occupancy above the second floor shall have service equipment grouped in a common accessible place, the disconnecting means consisting of not more than six switches or six circuit breakers. Multiple occupancy buildings that do not have individual occupancy above the second floor may have service conductors run to each occupancy in accordance with Section 230-2, Exception No. 3 and each such service may have not more than six switches or circuit breakers.
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Wow, nice find Robert! I find the disconnects grouped at the exterior as well. Some of these units also had yet another disconnect inside at the panel (when the panel had been replaced). It was a mixed bag. This is a 1970’s build.
There’s nothing to write up.