Electrical code & "Grandfather clause"

[yelbike]

Good posts so far.

I'm an electrical and HVAC contractor in Canada, so the rules may change. If the issues are unrelated to the permit then he can't make you change it. If he does notice something that isn't right, why would you not want to correct it?

A common easily noticed thing I see in homes all the time is plastic dryer venting. Easy fix but a far too common fire risk.:mur:

 

[jonyyuma]

Wow, I love to read about all other persons views on electrical work....Grandfathered in does not exist in this area.If it was done wrong or does not meet the current code then they can pull your meter, if that does not stop you then they will drop the service.. Did you ever stop to think about some of the electrical equipment that was installed, BACK IN THE DAY, having been proven to be a problem..Years ago it was copper clad wiring and or Aluminum wiring..Stab-loc, or....There are panels and breakers that have been proven to be Fire hazards...It is illegal here to Tap the meter, if you don't know what that means get HELP...If you have a suspicious fire, then they can point at your electrical work..Your Insurance , IF you have any, will be certain to be there watching for an reason.???

 

[strum456]

If there are safety issues such as unsafe breakers, overloaded circuits/wires and missing or bad grounds, these things should be fixed regardless. Unfortunately, many of the codes have very little to do with safety and completely overrule common sense.

Example:

We installed a farmstead entrance on our pole below the meter to supply our garage, barn and house. Even though the house had been safely running on the same wire for years, they made us put in a whole new entrance for the house. Their reasoning: we had a 200 amp breaker being fed with a wire rated for 150 amps. Our house definitely does not use that amount of current, but we needed a big box just to fit all of the different circuits. A 150 amp main breaker is not available for our box for a reasonable price (or we would have just changed it).


Yes, I understand the concept....the breaker is to protect the wire, bla bla bla. The hypocrisy: What does the power company use to supply our meter??? 2 gauge copper. So, they are allowed to run a 125 amp Garage, a 60 amp barn, and a 200 amp house off of number 2, but we have to run OOO for our house alone? When we asked them about it, they said #2 is the biggest they ever put up. And for the EEs out there, yes, this is after the transformer, and yes I understand that free air codes are different. This is still a crock of you know what!


No, we were not grandfathered.

 

[BeezFun]

There's no telling what an inspector will look at or do. My personal experience is inspectors bring zero value to ensuring that anything is safe or done right. If you doubt the safety of your installation, or the inspector challenges something, ask a licensed electrician to come and look at it, pay them to make the case with the inspection office. Sometimes when a professional tells them they're full of it they'll just go away.

 

[Little_Grizzly]

My personal experience having a professional's work inspected as well as my own, if the work is extremely neat and orderly they are "less" likely to dig deeper. If they see a rat's nest then they are going to go looking at all the nitty gritty. Notice I put "less" in quotes. Every single inspector is different. THAT you can take to the bank.

 

[whitedogone]

Its my understanding that if the work he is inspecting is outside the perview of the permit for the work required, they cant make you update it.

In other words, as long as you followed code with installing the new breaker, and wireing, the other wirieng and breakers should be outside his perview.

In short, he cant go claiming you have to rewire the entire house because you added the breaker for the new barn.

Ding, Ding, Ding


You are correct, Sir.

 

[whitedogone]

And the bashing of all Inspectors goes on and on at this site as it does in my daily life. I still try my best to make the built enviroment a safer place on a daily basis. And you all wonder why some inspectors seem a bit like Aholes. If you had a clue at the # of morons they encounter on a daily basis you might have a somewhat different view.

 

[frischtr]

"Pretty" ain't in the NEC.

Technically, it is.

Article 110 Requirements for Electrical Installations

110.12: "Mechanical Execution of Work. Electrical equipment shall be installed in a neat and workmanlike manner."

Obviously this is a very subjective sentence. That being said, I've only ever seen one installation failed for violating that clause. I've seen a few others that should have been.

 

[whitedogone]

There's no telling what an inspector will look at or do. My personal experience is inspectors bring zero value to ensuring that anything is safe or done right. If you doubt the safety of your installation, or the inspector challenges something, ask a licensed electrician to come and look at it, pay them to make the case with the inspection office. Sometimes when a professional tells them they're full of it they'll just go away.

Just because an electrician is licensed doesn't mean they know how to do all things correctly everytime. I look at at least 20 residential services a week. About 3/4's of them are done by licensed contractors. I still have those contractors make corrections regularly. It just amazes me how many still can't figure out that you have to: bond at the SERVICE! , how many will try to bond BOTH ends of a metal conduit on the line side of the first disconnecting means! , and still more that won't bond both ends of metal conduit containing the grounding electrode conductor. This should all be real basic stuff for licensed contractors....RIGHT???

 

[whitedogone]

Technically, it is.

Article 110 Requirements for Electrical Installations

110.12: "Mechanical Execution of Work. Electrical equipment shall be installed in a neat and workmanlike manner."

Obviously this is a very subjective sentence. That being said, I've only ever seen one installation failed for violating that clause. I've seen a few others that should have been.

I've got a whole lot more to worry about than trying to pick the pepper out of the flyshit by trying to enforce 110.12:confused2: