Apartment Building Electrical and Water Systems Installation

Electrical Installation of an Apartment Building

General Safety and Distribution

General Safety Protection: The installation includes all necessary elements for the building's safety.

Distribution Line (Repartidora Line): Connects the main overall accounting box.

Individual Meters (Counters): These meters measure the electric power consumed by each tenant.

Single Spur Lines: Connect the meter to the internal dwelling installation.

Common Ground Network: This is a bare copper conductor that forms a ring buried under the building. It safely dissipates electrical leaks that might occur in various devices or circuits.

Key Elements of Electrical Installation

Power Control Switch (ICP)

Checks that the power used at any point in the installation does not exceed the maximum contracted power limit set by the user.

Control and Protection Panel (CGMP)

• General Automatic Switch (IGA): Protects the entire installation against short circuits and excessive current intensities.
• Differential Switch (ID): Switches off the equipment when a ground fault or leakage occurs in any device.
• Small Circuit Breakers (PIA): There is one for each internal circuit. They provide overload and short-circuit protection, allowing individual areas to be isolated or switched off.

Ground Line

This network connects to the building's common ground system and consists of several circuits that reach all parts of the installation where equipment must be connected.

Internal Circuit Components of the Dwelling

• Cables: Wires made of conductive material covered by an insulator. Their color indicates their function. For each junction box, there are generally three wires: phase, neutral, and ground.
• Junction Boxes: They allow the necessary connections for each circuit.
• Power Outlets (Sockets): Devices used to conveniently and quickly connect and disconnect appliances (usually consisting of a female terminal) or to connect two cables.
• Switches and Commutators: Used to open or close lighting circuits, connecting or disconnecting lamps and appliances.
• Lamps: Not part of the fixed installation; they are placed at the end of the circuit point of light through a socket connector.

Water Circuit Installation

The water circuits are open systems, meaning they have a final output and a transport path for water to reach each element.

Components of the Water System

• Water Meter (Counter): Allows tracking the volume and cost of water consumed.
• Pipes: They are usually copper and have different diameters depending on the required flow rate.
• Shut-off Valves: Internal keys within the pipes that allow interrupting the flow of water and isolating parts of the circuit.
• Pressure Regulating Valves: Used to increase or decrease the pressure inside the pipes.
• Gutters (Drains): Channels that allow wastewater to flow into the sewer system.