Not April Fools

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don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
While not disagreeing, I do note there seems to be some sort of arcing or heat damage around the knockout on the line side. Possibly from when this 'work' was done.
That was my assumption...that is from the incident that triggered this installation.
 

ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
While not disagreeing, I do note there seems to be some sort of arcing or heat damage around the knockout on the line side. Possibly from when this 'work' was done.
I have heard that the way some guys determine which breaker feeds the outlet or whatever they are working on is to simply short the connectors to trip the breaker. Whatever works, I guess...

Here, hold my beer. :D
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
I'm sure the individual that did this had nothing but safety in mind and was a highly trained electrician. Maybe his way of limiting available fault current the the bus and branch breakers. :p
Every time I see things like this it makes me wonder why we don't have more injuries and fires than we do. The other thing I notice is how many of these types of things are done by so called trained electricians and how little professionalism we have in the trades (and getting worse).
 

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
... However looking at the load side conductors, there is no evidence of any heat damage so the total load must be small.
Well, if it's a single woman in a small house alone with no A/C and gas appliances, she likely doesn't run more than one electrical thing at a time, so that makes sense. Even if my wife is alone in the house, she turns the TV or stereo off when she goes into the next room to brush her hair, or if the dishwasher is running she reads a book rather than watch TV or sit at the computer. She says she can't handle the noise distraction. Not me, I leave everything on while I do anything else until I leave the house.
 

ActionDave

Chief Moderator
Staff member
Location
Durango, CO, 10 h 20 min from the winged horses.
Occupation
Licensed Electrician
Well, if it's a single woman in a small house alone with no A/C and gas appliances, she likely doesn't run more than one electrical thing at a time, so that makes sense. Even if my wife is alone in the house, she turns the TV or stereo off when she goes into the next room to brush her hair, or if the dishwasher is running she reads a book rather than watch TV or sit at the computer. She says she can't handle the noise distraction. Not me, I leave everything on while I do anything else until I leave the house.
My wife is the same as yours and I'm the same as you.
 

fmtjfw

Senior Member
You larn something every day

You larn something every day

Gee, so, bus clips are sized for insertion of #12 wire. That should be useful some day. The reason the #12 insulation is not damaged is because they used a 001 Amp breaker.
 

GlennH

Member
Sorry I don't have more info on this. Our guys were there to change out her central AC unit and discovered this when they opened up the panel. She is a widow living alone there for many years. I think the AC unit was the only 240 volt breaker in the panel, heated with gas etc. Probably a "gift" from her husband.:(

Boss told we were not turning on the AC till she got this fixed, The electrician she called was going to be there today, I think the boss scared her:)
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I'm sure the individual that did this had nothing but safety in mind and was a highly trained electrician. Maybe his way of limiting available fault current the the bus and branch breakers. :p
Every time I see things like this it makes me wonder why we don't have more injuries and fires than we do. The other thing I notice is how many of these types of things are done by so called trained electricians and how little professionalism we have in the trades (and getting worse).

i have no idea what you are talking about.....
i walked in to certify a lighting install this morning....
this is what the lighting panel looked like when i opened the door.
they have a little bit more work to do, imho.

 

norcal

Senior Member
They put the main CB in upside down. Idjits.


There were some old Murray panels that used a main that ON was the reverse of a normal plug-in so that the handle would be up in the ON position, if it was replaced with a off the shelf 100A 2 pole plug-in breaker, OFF was then in the up position, to give a timeline these were made before Murray became Crouse-Hinds.


If they were going to do a site hack like shown by the OP, a cable in, cable out breaker* would have been better, but still wrong.

*Don't know the equivalent Westinghouse/C-H/Eaton of the SQ D QOU breaker is.
 

ebwolf650b

New member
Location
Cheyenne Wy
WOW

WOW

This is so bad that I'm very confused on what is even going on here. Its a miracle that that house is still standing and no electrical issues have came up.
I of our guys saw this today. Lady who lived there had no idea how long it was this way.
 
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growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
I of our guys saw this today. Lady who lived there had no idea how long it was this way.

This is so bad that I'm very confused on what is even going on here. Its a miracle that that house is still standing and no electrical issues have came up.


I think the wiring is very bad and that's it's obvious they didn't know what they were doing. But?

What happens if you overload one of those #12 conductors? Not much. First the insulation would melt and smoke and then with more heat the conductor would burn into.

Where is the fuel to start a fire? I have removed main breakers where the lugs were glowing red hot and still no fire because there was no fuel in the area.
 
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