Transformer in Toilet Room

[adams1]

I have a 60 KVA transformer that is being hung below a supspended acoustical ceiling. The install will be in a single occupancy, non-public, ADA restroom. The overall clearances are there, and the bottom of the unit will be above 7'-0" AFF, but is there any conflict with installing in this room since it will be above a sink? thanks

 

[matc]

will there be a panel in the same room?

 

[adams1]

The panel will be in an adjacent room.
The room with the transformer will have a toilet and sink.

 

[dpc]

60 kVA is a heavy boy to be wall-mounted. And it will be noisy, as well as producing a fair amount of waste heat.

I don't think it would violate the NEC, but seems like a really poor place for it.

 

[EEJaime]

Depending on what feeds the transformer and the distances from the distribution panel feeding it, and the distance to the branch panel it feeds, you may also need OCP on the secondary and or primary as required by NEC 450-3. You should consider where these might be located as well. As the others have said, not necessarily a code issue, but not the optimal location. What are your voltages and location? 60kVA seems an odd size.

 

[BJC]

What kind of facillity?

General public? Are you going to have people who pass their idle time with rubber bands and paper clips trying to shoot paper clips in the opening at the top?
Will it need tamperproof screws? Can I take a cup of water and throw it inside the transformer?

 

[adams1]

The toilet is a staff toilet at a doctor's office. The staff have to pass through the staff pantry to get to it. General Public cannot get there. The reason the unit (on second review a 75KVA) is hung below the ceiling is that the size cannot be hung above a finished ceiling according to code (already rejected). If it were 50 KVA, in Fairfax County Virginia, I could hang it above. So this is the only room that is not occupied by someone full-time where we are thinking of placing it. Additionally, there is not a good spot in the space plan to locate it on the floor. I have all of the clearances, just didn't know if there is a safety issue with a handsink below. The staff being scared to be around this thing is another issue to address, but didn't know if there was a clearance or location where this unit can't go such as a toilet room. I am an interior architect so thanks to all for their feedback.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

Why does the propane association commercial where propane says to electricity, "remember, you and water; not the best of friends" keep going through my head while reading this post? Isn't there a space without pressurized water and people present and therefore the remote possibility of water spray and electrocution hazard?

 

[dpc]

This is an awfully big transformer to wall-mount in the first place. Whoever manages this building will be listening to the doctors bellyaching about this installation until they move it somewhere else.

It's not a code issue, but there has be another alternative. Maybe break it down into two smaller panels and put the transformers up in the ceiling space where they belong.

 

[itsmoked]

Agreed this sounds like a major bad idea.

You realize how much waste heat is going to pour out of that 75KVA? That room may get, (unacceptably),toasty.

I cannot begin to imagine a wall that wasn't designed for it supporting a 445lb transformer.

And the wall sound-boarding of the acoustical noise.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[jraef]

Let alone radiated noise conducted through the walls. You actually could consider an outdoor rated transformer however, i.e. epoxy encapsulated.

http://stevenengineering.com/pdf/55XFMR_3PH_ENCAP_OLD.PDF

Hey, one good aspect; it will limit the amount of "study time" spent on the throne! I would want to finish my business as quickly as possible and be out of there!

 

[itsmoked]

Yeah and a vermin free zone!

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com