Blueprints Deciphered: How to Read Commercial Plans (For Electricians)

let's talk about reading  commercial blueprints [Music]   you have not seen the residential blueprints  video that I did make sure that you check that   out as well very similar kinds of stuff but  residential and Commercial are different in   that uh commercial are going to be engineered  drawings so things in commercial a lot more   specific you typically you have an engineer  that's doing a bunch of calculations because   there's things with buildings a lot of businesses  tend to have specific type of power that affects   the entire power grid so they have to figure  out if they have a lot of inductive loads a   lot of like motor loads and equipment and stuff  like that that can really affect the utility   system more than a residential application  would where you've just got like you know   somebody's got some computer and they've got  lights and they're vacuuming and watching TV   the impact on the utility is not as severe so it  doesn't need to be calculated so dramatically so   specifically for residential so most of the time  in residences we're dealing with architectural   drawings some architect just drawing stuff up  and it's up to you the electrician to figure   out where everything goes but with a commercial  plan things are very very planned down to the   T calculated very severely so let's break into  actually what's inside of one of these foreign so typically the beginning of a plan is going  to have the the overview of the whole property   right we're going to have like kind of a street  view a block view so that you know where what the   whole lot is and it kind of gives you some extra  information parking all kinds of stuff like that   and then you're going to have some general symbols  General notes General things about the entire job   and then as you flip through you're going to go  through um more details again in the beginning   of this we're talking architectural so you're  going to see all of these pages are going to   be A1 A2 A10 things like that so that's just  the architectural uh general information about   the the structure and the design of the place  the next page they show this is a kitchen so   um or it's a restaurant so they're gonna show  you know the the general kitchen area of this   whole thing while there is you know some  storage and bathrooms and stuff back there   that's not like this is the main meat and cheese  of what's going on and then the dining room is   the other kind of like you know main thing  that's going on restaurants are typically   I talked about as front of house and back of house  back of house is always where the food's made and   the whole business is run and then the front of  house is where everybody sits so just kind of a   general overview of that um I'm not going to  go through every page but uh we should have a   uh elevation just like we had on the  other one shows the front elevations we've got a ceiling floor plan so this is the  existing framing plan so this building already   had a whole bunch of ceiling trusses throughout  the whole thing and it shows where all of the   walls are and then it has a elevation so you can  kind of see you know this reflected horizontally um anyway so this is you know that's General  you're going to have a roof plan as well so the   the ceiling plan was inside the roof plan is up on  the actual roof what's going on up there because   there's going to be ducks and Air Handlers and  exhaust fans and all kinds of equipment going up   on the roof so they just give you an overview  of that then we've got more elevations so it   shows walls bathrooms mirrors sconces just like  we had in the residential um and then we've got   an equipment plan so this is in this situation  we've got all of this kitchen equipment this   is a restaurant right so we've got all kinds of  stuff on the cook line we've got a prep area in   the back we've got a dishwashing section we've got  Walker a walk-in cooler refrigerators freezers we   got this whole front of house section where people  take orders and there's point of sale you know you   walk up and give your order a lot of times there's  like little refrigerators and drink stations and   salad stations and stuff like that in that area  so this just shows all of the equipment that's   being installed so that we know what to wire so  the mechanical contractors know you know what   where they need to put things another thing that  we've got is a reflected ceiling plan so this is   not actually the lighting plan but it shows all of  the lighting on it so it shows that there's going   to be all these two by four LED lights throughout  here there's going to be some 1x4 lights that are   going in the back spotlights it shows all these  little cans and everything but this is just kind   of showing what the ceiling looks like for  everybody there's exhaust you know in there   but that's not actually electrical again we're  still in the A's so let's skip through foreign so that was all of the architectural side of  things now the rest of the plan is going to be   our MEP drawings or our mechanical electrical  and plumbing drawings so we've got a general   notes and Provisions thing we've got a symbols  page but this is like everything the mechanical   contractor needs to know it's a good thing it has  to be an electrician to read this as well so that   you understand what they have to do you don't  have to go through every single detail but it's   a good idea to understand what they're doing  as well because the more that you know about   all the other trades the more you're going  to be able to like work with them and know   what's going where so you're not like double  doing all of the work because you didn't read   the plans and you didn't know where something  like a duct was going and they might have some   monster duck riding through it you put a whole  line of cans right above it so it just helps   to know what they're doing so you can go talk  to these people so a mechanical plan it's all   mechanical stuff right this is the rooftop  so they know where to put all their ducks   and they know where the air handlers are going  and where they need to make their penetrations   it's same thing as the electrical it's going to  give them details on what kind of Hardware what   kind of mounting they need to do you know so this  is all going to be inspected so this is what the   mechanical contractor has to follow just like  our plans you know that we give a plan we get   it submitted and then we have to wire it to that  and then little things are going to change for   sure but it's just um overall all the big things  that we need to know are in here so anyways that's   mechanical then the next is electrical same  thing on electrical right we have a whole plan   here or a whole list of notes Provisions  Legend everything so this is the general   read through all of this stuff because this  is everything you need to know for the job   typically with a little start out well they're  all gonna be different you're going to have one   page that's lighting it's not going to be power  it's not gonna be all your receptacles and all   that stuff typically you're gonna have a lighting  plan and then on a different page you're gonna   have a power plan so in this case we've got  lighting shows what they wanted like specific   layouts of switches switch Banks to turn certain  things on I when I'm wiring stuff you can see all   these say L3 these say L2 L5 each one of these  numbers corresponds to a specific switch bank   or a specific switch because they have a lighting  control system in here so I just wanted to make   it very visually easy to understand that these are  all on one switch and that's the T switch so I put   t as yellow and I highlighted yellow I'm crazy  with highlighters on jobs and I draw like every   red box right here is a junction box that I've got  in a ceiling and I write what panel it's going to   L1 L2 so I just know where all of the junction  boxes are because this isn't this whole thing   is a grid ceiling so if I need to know like oh  there's a junction box I I can't figure out where   this is I think there was a junction box up there  open up the plan oh yeah I got three of them right   there I even wrote the circuit numbers and pencil  next to each one so I already know what circuits   are in that box that's just how I do things you  guys don't have to do that but that's what I do   another thing you're going to see you're gonna  see these little circles with a number in them   um a lot of places you'll see like one here three  one three five if you look over here circle with   a number in them these are all the notes for the  drawings so a lot of times instead of just having   long crazy notes or putting just some random  little number somewhere that's not going to   get seen they will call it out with a big circle  and so it lets you know like hey if you're curious   about this exit sign right here or this combo  it's a it's an emergency and exit go to one and   then you might have something I don't know what  was five over here it looks like an occupancy   sensor call out maybe uh switch Bank oh yeah that  was a switch Bank location so they wanted to hide   the switches so customers didn't have access to  them so there's this back storage area that they   wanted to put all of these lighting control switch  banks in so they just said this is the location of   the switch bank and then there's another one five  actually has two call outs for that same one note   so there's a switch Bank location for one of them  in the switch bank for the other one so anyways   you have the lighting plan these are all one kind  of light they're two by fours these are one by   fours and these are all cans or they're not really  cans they were like kind of little mono points   um but that's the lighting next page is power so  we're still within ease now you notice there's   no Lighting on here at all this is just call  outs for equipment so uh with this specific   job I remember this was years ago but what they  did is they had a separate sheet that came with   the plan that was just an addendum to the plan  and it listed like E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 all of the   equipment that was going into this kitchen so  we knew exactly what model numbers Dimensions   how much power it took everything so all of these  little call outs they're similar to notes but you   can see they're not over here but like E64 right  there's so many that they had to create a separate   page just for that but it wasn't actually part of  the plan because it's just a schedule of equipment   and Equipment often changes another thing you'll  notice is that you've got all these l1-43 l1-45   um well a lot of these are hand-drawn l1-53 l1-51  those are circuit numbers and panel numbers L1   means panel L1 so I've got three panels over here  I've got l1a l1b and L2 so it lets me know this   is from panel L1 circuit 43. so I've got four  panels that are going on the inside of this   restaurant so I need to know where I'm wiring  things to so that's what all of that's about I   like to again highlight typically I'll do colors  so anything that's panel L3 I'm going to do all of   the home runs in that color just makes it easier  to identify things when you're going through it   you'll notice too on the the home runs  that are marked by the architect or by   the engineer they have these little lines  on them and it's just telling you it's a hot   neutral on the ground that's what those lines  mean so all of their home runs that they draw   they're gonna do that like this one right here  is three phase so you've got one two three four   and three little ones so you've got uh three  different phases in neutral and grounds for each   phase and then when I draw mine you know I do it  a little bit different like two lets me know that   it's going to be 220 stuff like that but that is  your power plan it's going to show receptacles all   your home runs sometimes it'll have equipment if  it's a situation like this where there's lots of   equipment now we have a roof plan as well so it  says rooftop but we're in electrical this lets me   know what all of the HVAC equipment is we've  got little exhaust fans up on the roof so in   the kitchen and bathrooms and stuff we have to you  know have air that leaves so we have all of these   pieces of equipment and it shows what circuit  numbers what panels everything comes from it shows   that you need a GFI circuit up there to service  the equipment so it's the electrical version   of the HVAC equipment plan and then we have a  lighting control panel schedule this you might   not have on your job but with this I said we have  lighting Control Systems so it shows what circuits   are specifically designated for the lighting  control system and then I have a light fixture   schedule another thing you're going to have on  jobs is all of your light fixtures are going to   be planned out ahead of time so they already  know you know from from Acuity lighting 120   volts recessed can it's a four inch LED down light  so if you're ever wondering like what size cans   are getting put in here if you're in a commercial  environment you're probably going to have a light   fixture schedule so you can answer that question  on your own just flip through and then uh on the   actual lighting plan you'll have it'll say like  L1 next to it or within the light or something   like that it'll say L1 L2 L5 not panel L1 and L2  don't get confused on this uh it'll just say L1   or it might say like a A2 something like that but  it shows you this that's the call out so that you   can look at this lighting light fixture schedule  and figure out what lights uh go where okay so on   Commercial uh plans we've got the service notice  on the residential we didn't have any of that   that's not planned for services are planned for  by Engineers uh in commercial so we have a riser   diagram some people call it a one-line diagram  but a one line diagram is going to show you how   everything is wired at the service it doesn't  necessarily have to look exactly like this but   the series or the order in which things are done  has to be called out so this will actually this   is the service grounding detail so this shows you  how they want everything grounded all connected   you know from the CT and it even shows you what  size grounds you need to run now it may be wrong   for code but the engineer drew it so if you follow  what they did they take the liability on for that   because it's drawn exact it's wired to spec if  something's not right then you need to get a   hold of the engineers and say hey this isn't right  or they might say yeah but we derated and we have   our own way of doing things and we still stand  behind it and you can still do it that way but   a lot of times code and Engineering is a little  bit off if something's like way off you know   like you have way too small a wire on here for  what's uh what's actually being installed like   that's something you need to make a call and  let the Builder know and just be like I don't   feel comfortable running what they said I think  it's just a misprint I think you type something   up Engineers are wrong a lot you know like they're  great Engineers are awesome you know they're smart   they're also human and they mess up so you're  going to come across drawings that are not right   um so we've got the Riser diagram but it'll show  this is where the meter is going they're going   to have a CT enclosure which just means that  they're going to have little Donuts inside of   there in each hot that's coming in to the building  from the Riser is going to be metered because the   wires are probably so big that you can't fit  them inside of an actual meter so there's low   voltage wires that go to those donuts and the  meter just uses low voltage wires to detect how   much current is flowing through each one of those  conductors through the donuts so the CTS all go in   a CT enclosure that goes down to a wire way some  people call these gutters auxiliary gutters but   a just some kind of way to run the wire a wire  away and then from then you're tapping out for   um what is Note 4 say a new 240 volt 225 amp  panel number five is 240 volt 225 amp three pole   so you've got a single phase and a three phase um  and then it shows you know like how these should   go up into the building or you know go across  to these other panels so from this number five   panel we're going to be going up and running to a  new L2 panel and then from the other number four   panel from this new 225 amp single phase we're  going to be running up and over to L1 which is   a two section panel it's really interesting is  section one section two which essentially just   means it's one monster panel because there's  so many circuits they don't make a panel big   enough so they're going to have two panels side  by side that are just wired into one they connect   it to the other one so it's essentially if you  just flipped them they would be one like massive   panel so that's what a two section panel is it's  just two different panels that are the same panel   um from one of those you can see another wire or  another conduit goes up and goes and feeds panel   three so panel two is isolated panel uh L1 has  L3 coming out of it so that's how you can read   where are where's the main power coming from and  what how is all of the electrical system actually   working now one other thing that's really helpful  to note is all of these conduits that you see   there's little notes this says three number twos  and a number six copper G or ground and it says   one and one quarter inch C which means in a one  and one quarter inch conduit another example   um over here it shows what the actual Riser is  it says two sets of four three out conductors   that means there's gonna be four of them they're  three odd and there's two sets of those so they're   parallel feeding and it says two inch conduit  then uh tail five foot minimum at Weatherhead   so they're saying just like leave five feet at the  weather head so that they have something to work   with but yeah so it gives you every bit of detail  that you need to know about the service really so   um that's your one line diagram and then the  last page that you're gonna have uh this is 601   this is your panel schedule so we have a lot of  different panels going on here we've got our L1   section one L1 section two it gives you  information about the actual panel it's a   225 amp mlo which means it's main lug there's not  a main breaker it says it's voltage 120 240 it's   a single phase three wire panel meaning hot hot  neutral three wire it shows that it's a 225 amp   bus or 225 amp panel so what I do you don't  have to do this but it just makes it easier   for me and my dummy helpers I put red black  red black red black you'll notice red starts   first city of Austin always does red on the  left it's just different than the rest of the   NEC but to make it easier visually to understand  I just on my one lines I do it on all of these   too so you can see single phase right there's  no blue in any of that but there's blue here   so this is my one three phase panel anytime  I make changes I I take uh white out and like   actually rewrite stuff in there because a lot of  times things do change but yeah that's it panel   level three panel L2 this is a 225 this is a 100  amp panel this is a 225 this is a 225 so if you   ever get a bunch of equipment too and you're like  oh crap I don't know which one was L2 out of all   of these enclosures sitting here you can just  come over and look be like oh l3s are 100 amp   so that's going to be that tiny one right there  it's just that's how you might see journeyman know   where things are going really quickly and you're  like how do you just know that it's because we've   had to look at all of this stuff right we've had  to look through these plans so many times and talk   about and think where things are going so we have  to remember what single phase and what's three   phase so we just have all of this information at  our disposal and we're flipping through this thing   all the time so as a helper I recommend that you  do the same thing start to really pay attention   to what's going on in the plans I wouldn't be  sitting here while everybody's working and you   should be working and wiring stuff just like  sitting here looking at the plan but if you're   a journeyman and you got 10 people on a job site I  would be sitting here looking at the plan because   you should be running the other nine people on  that job site making sure that everybody else   has stuff that they're doing and at that point  you're just keeping the train going so you need   to really pour over this thing in detail to make  sure that you have a plan for everybody and that   you're executing that plan how it should go so if  you ever just on a job and you see a journeyman   just staring at a plan for like hours it might  be because the job's really crazy and they need   to understand all of the details and then when  you've got 15 people coming up and asking you   all these questions you don't have enough time  to work anyways so knowing the plan very very   well is really important and then anyways I'm  not going to go in depth Plumbing pretty much   the same thing as mechanical it's just Plumbing  right same layout same information just lets them   know everything and then you might have handicap  accessibility stuff this was actually something at   the very beginning that I didn't show but this has  stuff about hinges doors openings um you know like   doorways it has you know what all of the handicap  rules are for things so there's ADA compliance   and a lot of things this is commercial so this  definitely has to have Ada involved so it has   to be accessible for somebody within a wheelchair  or anybody that's got mobility issues all right so   that is it for commercial plans again if you have  not seen the residential video make sure that you   go check out the residential video very similar  kind of things but there's a lot of differences   to consider as well thanks for watching I love  you crazy people and I'll see in the next one

Channel: Electrician U

Views: 44,870

Keywords: electrician, electrical, electricity, dustin stelzer, electrician vlog, construction, commercial, residential, electrical courses, electrician courses, electrical class, electrician class, electrician school, commercial blueprints, commercial plans, perkins, duplex, how to read blueprints, blueprints for future homes, commercial electrical blueprints, electrical blueprint reading, electrical blueprints, electric blue acara, electrical contractor, contractor business help, ibew

Id: UkR0l8GOraQ

Length: 21min 37sec (1297 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 14 2023