Another "hack" strikes

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wbalsam1

wbalsam1

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Location
Upper Jay, NY
I was asked to look over a wiring job today for an old friend of mine. Not a real inspection, but just check on the job and make recommendations if something was wrong. The guy will have it inspected at a later date.

What a mess! :mad: His kid had a friend do the work.

The building is an outdoor-type gazebo, all screened in and with a roof over it. It was all wired in NM cable which was run in pvc buried about a foot underground. The conductors were all wound around the screws on the receptacles and switches backwards (against the direction to tighten) and the equipment grounds were just twisted around one that went to the green grounding screw.

I advised him to get an electrician before getting an inspection. He was thankful...I went on my way...
He's already paid $300.00. .....shaking my head in wonderment.
 
wbalsam1 said:
I was asked to look over a wiring job today for an old friend of mine. Not a real inspection, but just check on the job and make recommendations if something was wrong. The guy will have it inspected at a later date.

What a mess! :mad: His kid had a friend do the work.

The building is an outdoor-type gazebo, all screened in and with a roof over it. It was all wired in NM cable which was run in pvc buried about a foot underground. The conductors were all wound around the screws on the receptacles and switches backwards (against the direction to tighten) and the equipment grounds were just twisted around one that went to the green grounding screw.

I advised him to get an electrician before getting an inspection. He was thankful...I went on my way...
He's already paid $300.00. .....shaking my head in wonderment.
Click to expand...

he will be lucky if any material will be salvagable....
 
ultramegabob said:
he will be lucky if any material will be salvagable....
Click to expand...
he might be able to use the NM to pull appropriate conductors through the PVC and put a GFCI on the other end. the rest of it is probably salvageable.
 
Another "hack" strikes

wbalsam1 said:
I was asked to look over a wiring job today for an old friend of mine. Not a real inspection, but just check on the job and make recommendations if something was wrong. The guy will have it inspected at a later date.

What a mess! :mad: His kid had a friend do the work.

The building is an outdoor-type gazebo, all screened in and with a roof over it. It was all wired in NM cable which was run in pvc buried about a foot underground. The conductors were all wound around the screws on the receptacles and switches backwards (against the direction to tighten) and the equipment grounds were just twisted around one that went to the green grounding screw.

I advised him to get an electrician before getting an inspection. He was thankful...I went on my way...
He's already paid $300.00. .....shaking my head in wonderment.
Click to expand...


Why should he hire an electrician to correct the work? Why not require the person that did the work call for an inspection?

Also why did he pay for the work done without a inspection?

I have a feeling that the work may have been done w/o a permit.

Sometimes home owners learn the hard way that what seems like a good deal is really a bad one.
 
petersonra said:
he might be able to use the NM to pull appropriate conductors through the PVC and put a GFCI on the other end. the rest of it is probably salvageable.
Click to expand...

Usually the cost of labor burnt up trying to figure out what is usable and what is not will exceed the cost of the NM. You also end up making compromises with layout when you are trying to use up recycled cable. Also consider when you hire an EC they have to stand behind the work, where I am one year warranty is standard. That being the case I am not highly motivated to put in anything might cause a call back.

But considering only one of us has actually seen the installation all bets are off. :smile:
 
romeo said:
Why should he hire an electrician to correct the work? Why not require the person that did the work call for an inspection?

Also why did he pay for the work done without a inspection?

I have a feeling that the work may have been done w/o a permit.

Sometimes home owners learn the hard way that what seems like a good deal is really a bad one.
Click to expand...

I've always said, "The stingiest person spends the most!"
 
romeo said:
Why should he hire an electrician to correct the work?
Click to expand...

If that's the work he did in the first place, why would you even want him to touch it again?:-?

I do agree with you though that he probably didn't have a permit and never intended that work to be seen by anyone that knows better.

It's sad when you look at a job and the first thing you say is "I can't even start to fix this."

I was told by an old timer, "cheap, is expensive".
 
wbalsam1 said:
I was asked to look over a wiring job today for an old friend of mine. Not a real inspection, but just check on the job and make recommendations if something was wrong. The guy will have it inspected at a later date.

What a mess! :mad: His kid had a friend do the work.

The building is an outdoor-type gazebo, all screened in and with a roof over it. It was all wired in NM cable which was run in pvc buried about a foot underground. The conductors were all wound around the screws on the receptacles and switches backwards (against the direction to tighten) and the equipment grounds were just twisted around one that went to the green grounding screw.

I advised him to get an electrician before getting an inspection. He was thankful...I went on my way...
He's already paid $300.00. .....shaking my head in wonderment.
Click to expand...
Just think how much money your friend will have in his job when he gets it inspected. Permit fee, reinspection fee, wasted material that was installed in violation, $300.00 to kids friend and now he can start over.
 
from Romeo: Why should he hire an electrician to correct the work? Why not require the person that did the work call for an inspection? The person who did the work should be stopped from all electrical work and be made to crawl back into his cave

Also why did he pay for the work done without a inspection? I don't believe he was intending to get an inspection until I showed up and pointed out the deficiencies

I have a feeling that the work may have been done w/o a permit. Spot on

Sometimes home owners learn the hard way that what seems like a good deal is really a bad one. Spot on
 
480sparky said:
I've always said, "The stingiest person spends the most!"
Click to expand...

Your adage is perfect for this situation. Rather than hire a bona-fide electrician to start with, it's clear that the intention was to save $ and side-step the rules. Nice guys, but cheap. ;)
 
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