LeRoyCorbid
Member
- Location
- Tucson Az Pima County
Hello All, I am having a weird problem with a customer, and am looking to you for some support.
Heres the deal. Wired a new house for this person many years ago and have done some small projects with him since, real nice guy. He own a quonset hut that he has been renting out, and we have spoken about the need to redo the wiring there. Well last week he asked me to come and take a look at it and write up a bid to do the work.
I was expecting to find a bunch of knob and tube wiring and was very pleased to find that all of the wiring was installed in conduit. I was not pleased to find that the electrician had pulled only two conductors and that one of them was uninsulated. I was amazed, in all my years this is one I have never seen. Lucky for me it was obvious that the wires would be easy to replace since they were moving in the pipe nicely. Told him I would send a bid.
Worked it all up and he said he was ready to go then called me two days later and told me that he was told by an "Electrician" friend that the wiring was fine and that there was no reason to replace any of it.
His friend told him that this was a common way to wire in the old days and that the conduit would provide the ground. Obviously my customer didn't tell him that the neutral was uninsulated, and he is now convinced that I am some sort of hack out to screw him.
I am feeling pretty bad because the customer is blameless in all of this, and I feel that this is some of the most dangerous work that I have ever seen. I have found lighting fixtures where the power wires were tied to the ground/neutral conductor and the lamps neutral was carrying the breaker and I could arc weld with his antique sub-panel (40 amps). The 14-gauge solid aluminum wires running the swamp cooler and heater has melted the insulation in places. I can't just walk away.
SO this is my last hope would any of you chime in and help me explain the seriousness of this situation?
Thank you all!! I think I needed to vent a little...too.
Heres the deal. Wired a new house for this person many years ago and have done some small projects with him since, real nice guy. He own a quonset hut that he has been renting out, and we have spoken about the need to redo the wiring there. Well last week he asked me to come and take a look at it and write up a bid to do the work.
I was expecting to find a bunch of knob and tube wiring and was very pleased to find that all of the wiring was installed in conduit. I was not pleased to find that the electrician had pulled only two conductors and that one of them was uninsulated. I was amazed, in all my years this is one I have never seen. Lucky for me it was obvious that the wires would be easy to replace since they were moving in the pipe nicely. Told him I would send a bid.
Worked it all up and he said he was ready to go then called me two days later and told me that he was told by an "Electrician" friend that the wiring was fine and that there was no reason to replace any of it.
His friend told him that this was a common way to wire in the old days and that the conduit would provide the ground. Obviously my customer didn't tell him that the neutral was uninsulated, and he is now convinced that I am some sort of hack out to screw him.
I am feeling pretty bad because the customer is blameless in all of this, and I feel that this is some of the most dangerous work that I have ever seen. I have found lighting fixtures where the power wires were tied to the ground/neutral conductor and the lamps neutral was carrying the breaker and I could arc weld with his antique sub-panel (40 amps). The 14-gauge solid aluminum wires running the swamp cooler and heater has melted the insulation in places. I can't just walk away.
SO this is my last hope would any of you chime in and help me explain the seriousness of this situation?
Thank you all!! I think I needed to vent a little...too.