Inspectors and Engineers

Chamuit

Chamuit

Grumpy Old Man
Location
Texas
Occupation
Electrician
Are any of you having these ...problems... (way more frequently) with inspectors and engineers?

On the last several inspections I have had with AHJs, inspectors have walked up, looked at the projects, and handed me a green sticker. No opening of panels, equipment, nothing. The 50-foot stare is all the scrutiny I've gotten.

For the last (rough-in) inspection, I met the inspector, took him to the equipment and panels, and asked which covers he wanted to be removed. He turned to me and said, "We don't remove covers anymore, arc-flash potential." I said, "There's no power." Inspector, "Here's your green tag. I'll note you passed rough-in."
Man shrug


Then, today, on a submittal to a TDSP, they wrote back that the equipment being added needs to be located on the load side of the Main Panel and that it appeared the whole building load would be going through the equipment, but wire sizes and amps shown do not match up. I had to screenshot the drawing and use arrows to show the circuit flow and equipment arrangement and why wire sizes were correct.

Another project was sent back because they said the model number and nameplates on a piece of equipment didn't match. I had to send back a screenshot of their own documentation that showed the equipment, and nameplates were associated with an assembly. Geez, do I have to educate someone else's folks on how to read things??
 
As an inspector, who admittedly does not know everything, rely on the contractor to work with me on installations. I try to time my inspections prior to covers being placed because I will not remove covers either. The exception would be de-energized residential services. I have never been afraid to ask a contractor to walk me through his installation and I hope that the contractor appreciates that I am constantly trying to learn more. If I see something that looks weird, I will dig into the code book on that specific issue or come to this site and present the questionjj to this panel of experts. If I ever quite learning from inspections in the field, it is time for me to retire.
 
Joe.B said:
In your case I suspect one of two things, either the department is way understaffed and the inspectors are told to "pass and move on" or there was some kind of incident that involved insurance and/or lawsuits.
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I'd wondered that. But the equipment was offline, and I was the one to open it up...
 
102 Inspector said:
As an inspector, who admittedly does not know everything, rely on the contractor to work with me on installations. I try to time my inspections prior to covers being placed because I will not remove covers either. The exception would be de-energized residential services. I have never been afraid to ask a contractor to walk me through his installation and I hope that the contractor appreciates that I am constantly trying to learn more. If I see something that looks weird, I will dig into the code book on that specific issue or come to this site and present the questionjj to this panel of experts. If I ever quite learning from inspections in the field, it is time for me to retire.
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Fair enough. It just seemed that it was happening a lot more often.
 
Governmental agencies tend to over react. I'm imagining a scenario where some newbie inspector opens up a live box and reaches in with a screwdriver, shorts out the panel and burns the house down. City gets sued and from the top down come the directions "no inspector is to get within 10 feet of anything electrical."
 
Joe.B said:
In your case I suspect one of two things, either the department is way understaffed and the inspectors are told to "pass and move on" or there was some kind of incident that involved insurance and/or lawsuits.
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That's the reason I was given why they won't poke their heads into an attic ever even if there's a permanent ladder.
 
I experience what you describe quite often and it's disappointing because you work hard to do things right and neatly and then it doesn't matter, and other electricians do crappy work and do so purposely.

some of the new inspected stuff I saw at a new retail plaza where I was working was just wrong and potentially dangerous related to proper working clearances. This inspector inspected my work and didn't really look carefully. I had a question regarding my job's plans and just got no where with him and just couldn't continually call and explain and bla bla bla. But then you get the inspector with long list of petty violations like supports 1/2" short, no re id white wire at hvac pullout, etc.
 
Years ago, I re-wired a house for my parents-in-law that they gutted and re-built. He told me to put the meter on the rear screened porch. I told him it had to be outside and why, but he insisted.

I told him the inspector would tell us to move it, and he said he does not want the meter on the outside of the house, and he would deal with the inspector.

I wasn't there for the inspection, but I was told that the inspector looked in the panel and said, "I don't need to check the rest of the house. But you have to move the meter to the back of the house."

So, I relocated it and earned a few respect points. 😊
 
I always have everything opened up for my inspectors before they get there. Prolly why they all like me. 😬

Ive actually noticed that the guys in the field are almost always easy going, good to work with, willing to work on finding a solution to tricky problems, and honest and willing to learn if they don’t know something.

I’ve walked a couple inspectors through some installs, mostly transfer switches, which can be tricky to understand if you don’t do them all the time.

However, the office staff, new plan checkers, etc, seem to be getting worse all the time. I’m guessing the agencies are hiring kids out of college or some other training course, with no real world experience.

I have one local ahj which loses my applications constantly. They send back plan check comments asking for things that I submitted in the packet, misunderstand plain drawings and explanations, and nitpick over obscure wording.

I wish I could just deal with the field inspectors. 👍
 
zbang said:
I'm not sure why they would have to learn the NEC, an EE degree isn't specific to a country and the student might be more interested in small-signal stuff than power.

Now for a PE license, that's a different ball
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What's the difference? Do they learn NEC if they go for a PE?
 
jim dungar said:
They might not. It depends on the test they are taking.

Way back when, my test did not require the NEC as a reference.
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So I guess my real question is do electrical engineers that create electrical prints on commercial jobs have school related training on the NEC?
 
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