GG
Senior Member
- Location
- Ft.Worth, T.X.
I did a panel upgrade on a house 1 month ago and it has still not passed the final inspection. The old panel was in a closet so I installed a new outdoor panel on the opposite wall of the closet panel and through a nipple I re-fed the old circuits from the new panel. Well the inspector on his way to the closet to look at the old panel noticed that the hall bathroom did not have a GFCI receptacle, it had just a 3 prong recep. He gave the job a red tag and said everything else looked good, just put a GFCI in the bathroom and he said he would pass the job. Sounded like BS but I did it anyway figuring it would make the insp. feel happy. Now he failed it again saying that the GFCI needs to be grounded to the nearest cold water pipe. By the way other than the 1 GFCI I installed there is not 1 other GFCI in the entire house. So I went down to the city hall where I spoke to the #1 chief head honcho senior electrical inspector. I asked him why the GFCI needed to be grounded. He said so it will work. I said a GFCI doesnt need a ground to work and the NEC even tells us we can change a non grounded recep. with a GFCI. He then changed gears on me and said well it needs a ground so that the tester we use will test it properly. He is talking about those $5 testers with all the pretty lights that inspectors are issued their first day on the job. I told him those testers will not test a GFCI that does not have a ground and that a GFCI already has a built in tester. You push the test button, it trips the GFCI, you know its working. He said well I can show you 100's of cases where the GFCI trips and it still has power. So why is this guy being such an *** ? Is he just messing with me to try and prove some unknown point. I dont see how someone in his position can be so ignorant about something as simple as a GFCI receptacle not to mention his obvious lack of knowledge of the NEC. It boggles the mind. Im starting to wonder how this guy actually finds his way to work each morning.
[ February 07, 2006, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: GG ]
[ February 07, 2006, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: GG ]