branch circuit ampacities

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sparky17

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I am responding to a home inspectors report for a client of mine. There are many mistakes made in his interpretations of our code. There was one line item of which i had never heard before, and before I responded I wanted to make sure no such rule existed. It was written " the ampacities values of the branch circuit breakers should not exceed 3x the ampacity value of the main breaker and thus the service size should be increased." My question is; does any such rule exist?
 
not that I know.
if one cared to do so, he could place each outlet on an individual breaker and the total load would still be the same.
 
That rule of thumb is pretty useless and is not support by anything in the NEC. The only real way to confirm if the service is too small is by determining it's calculated load.
 
infinity said:
That rule of thumb is pretty useless and is not support by anything in the NEC. The only real way to confirm if the service is too small is by determining it's calculated load.
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Exactly,

I may have 20-20 amp breakers in a panel but that does not mean I have a calculated load of 400 amps.

I scares me when people feel like the breaker size is what determines the actual load of the circuit.

Chris
 
You should reply, "A Home Inspector shall not make bogus statements when he/she is out to lunch"

If I chose to, I could feed every receptacle in a house with a dedicated circuit, that doesn't mean I will be adding additional "connected load" to the service.

Roger
 
augie47 said:
not that I know.
if one cared to do so, he could place each outlet on an individual breaker and the total load would still be the same.
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Sorry Gus, I didn't mean to repeat you.
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Roger
 
I would add that the number that appears on a breaker handle is not an "ampacity." It is the value, in amps, that the breaker is rated to be able to carry. It says nothing about the amount of amps that any given breaker is carrying at any given moment, nor about the amount of load, in amps, that is connected to that breaker. The home inspector is absolutely wrong about this issue.
 
Home inspectors are just as qualified to evaluate the electrical system of the house as they are for all other systems.
 
I agree totally with the moderators on this. An inspector's responsibilty in his/her job is to require compliance with whatever the adopted codes are in his/her jurisdiction as written. It should not be a function of requiring his/her preferences, or misinformation, or misunderstanding, or lack of education to be followed.:roll:
 
sparky17 said:
I am responding to a home inspectors report for a client of mine. There are many mistakes made in his interpretations of our code. There was one line item of which i had never heard before, and before I responded I wanted to make sure no such rule existed. It was written " the ampacities values of the branch circuit breakers should not exceed 3x the ampacity value of the main breaker and thus the service size should be increased." My question is; does any such rule exist?
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What part of the country are you from. SOunds pretty reduculous.
 
sgunsel said:
Home inspectors are just as qualified to evaluate the electrical system of the house as they are for all other systems.
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I have yet to see a home inspector that is qualified to judge electrical systems. They have ZERO training requirements in electrical systems or electrical code.
 
OTT2 said:
I have yet to see a home inspector that is qualified to judge electrical systems. They have ZERO training requirements in electrical systems or electrical code.
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I would absolutly agree. The real crappy thing is many of these HI will state " have a licensed electrician check x x and x. You get a call from the real estate broker and they then want you to look at the stuff for free.

I'd rather be out enjoing the great outdoors before I do that. :roll:
 
Since you ultimately want this guy on your side, a good approach for questioning may not be to point out that he is an idiot. Rather, wherever you are questioning him on an item, you may want to state something like this;

"We will make every attempt to comply with the local state and national code requirements. Could you please provide an NEC code reference so we can ensure all the repairs meet the requirements". then go on to say; "Items without a Code reference will be presumed to be personal preferences and not deemed to be deficiencies.

This gives him the ability to retract his statement.
 
Thats a fairly technical sounding requirement he is quoting. Wonder where it came from. Do you suppose he is smart enough to have developed this on his own or is it something he picked up in some home inspectors class? Someone is badly misinformed. I am also of the opinion that home inspectors are qualified to inspect a home system for obviuos defects like thier infamous "double tapped circuit" and lack of grounds on knob and tube,gfi recommendations etc but to evaluate athe load requirements? NOT
 
OTT2 said:
I have yet to see a home inspector that is qualified to judge electrical systems. They have ZERO training requirements in electrical systems or electrical code.
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Let's not turn this into a bash the HI thread. There are many competent home inspectors. Some are even licensed electricians. Not all of them are unqualified.
 
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