ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Condo/Apartment buildings

Somebody mentioned in another thread about some apartment buildings being fed with 3-ph 120/208.

Bearing in mind that residential is normally 120/240, how is this handled? Do the apartments have a normal 3-wire panel connected to two of the three phases, or does each apartment have a 3-ph panel?

I see that higher-powered heaters are easily obtainable for 208, and that some are dual rated 208 & 240, but what about domestic appliances such as dryers and ranges that normally run on 240 volts? Are some special 208 versions available, or do you just accept the reduced output?

Same question for A/C units. I would think that normal 240V versions could have problems on the lower voltage.

Paul;
Siemens , as well as Milbank , and a variety of others make a 3 ph 4 wire condo-pack ( slang) that will meter 2 legs.

( you could probably cruise the links & request a catalog, there are usually some schematics..)

There are some problems stepping down to 208V, things that are uncooperative get small buck/boost x-formers..




[This message has been edited by sparky (edited 05-15-2002).]

Thanks. I see that Milbank have catalogs available in PDF for download.

I'll take a closer look later.