we probably never have to do this, but just in case, here's how to make the maid’s quarters a separate rental unit:
1) install a submeter beside the main panel. found one in olx for P500. connect the submeter to #9 breaker, which connects to the outlets in the kitchen (except the stove outlet) and the outlets in the maid's quarters.
2) cover the outlets in the kitchen (except the stove outlet) with an outlet cover and seal with elasto seal.
3) the outlets in the living room, hallway and master bedroom share a circuit (#5 breaker). the maximum load per circuit is around (15 amp X 220 volts) = 3,300 watts. if you live in the states which uses 120V, this might wow you that you can put twice more applicances in a standard 15 amp circuit in the philippines. you might be wondering why the higher the voltage, the more appliances you can put in a circuit. that's because P(power) = I(current) . V(voltage), or I = P/V which means current and voltage are inversely proportional. voltage is energy or pressure of each electron passing through the circuit. so the higher the energy each electron carries, the less electrons need to pass by to deliver the same amount of power.
a conservative load estimate on this circuit would be:
- 2 52" tv (living room and master bedroom) @110w each = 220w
- around 4 lamp shades @ 30w each = 120w
- 2 electric fans @ 60w each = 120w
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total: 460w, much less than the 3,300w capacity. this means it's ok to share this circuit with the kitchen appliances. at first i was thinking of running a conduit from the nearest outlet in the living room to the kitchen (just chip out a small cavity in the kitchen door to give room for the conduit). but then i found out the doorbell in the kitchen (above the kitchen entrance) is part of the living room circuit. so i can just tap into that and install new outlets in the kitchen using pvc conduits. basically just shadow the 3 original outlets: 1) fridge outlet 2) near the kitchen sink and 3) near the stove. let's try to estimate the potential load on these outlets:
- rice cooker 500w
- fridge 100w
- microwave 1,200w
- toaster 650w
- blender 300w
- coffee maker 650w
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total: 3,400w + 460w (living rm/master br) = 3,860w. it may be over the capacity but they will all have to be running at the same time in order to trip the breaker, which is highly unlikely. and this is not much different from the current or original configuration, which shares the outlets with the maid's quarters which could even have higher load than the living room and master bedroom outlets. the maids' probably won't be sporting a 52" flat screen but most likely there will be a washer (325w) and spinner dryer (300w) so let's say the maid's tv will be 50w and their electric fan 60w that would be 735w, which is higher than the estimate on the living room and master bedroom outlets. so if anything, this change will actually improve the load distribution.
4) now that the outlets in maid's quarters has the #9 breaker circuit (with submeter) all to themselves, the next step is to disable the lights in the maid's bedroom, laundry balcony, and the maid's bathroom by covering the bulb sockets with something and sealing with elasto seal. then tap into one of the outlets and run conduits to the ceilings to install new light bulb sockets in the maid's room, bathroom and laundry area.
let's estimate the load on this rental unit. the tenant would most likely be a call center agent.
- 3 light bulbs @ 23w each = 66w
- .5hp aircon 500w
- mini fridge 100w
- washer 325w
- rice cooker 300w
- small electric stove 1000w
- microwave 1200w
- kettle water heater 200w
- 32" tv 50w
- electric fan 60w
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total: 3,802w. again it's above capacity but we just need to educate the tenant to not have the microwave and electric stove running at the same time.
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