Do it yourselfers

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calepore123 said:
when I'm sitting in it I just small.ps I re did the panel to an ask if she wood like a lighting buster installed she said no thanks hear hubby did not want to pay 100 buck for it .guess whet happened the next week .about that hot tub.
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I always enjoy the Home Inspectors who tell me that an instalation of mine is incorrect. I just pull out my codebook and show him where he is wrong, and in front of the HO too! It is one thing when an electrical inspector gigs me, he's got the experience (and the job!) , but when someone with a little checklist.... However, they do serve a valuable need, because I certainly have seen some dangerous diy work.
 
celtic said:
calepore123 said:
when I'm sitting in it I just small.ps I re did the panel to an ask if she wood like a lighting buster installed she said no thanks hear hubby did not want to pay 100 buck for it .guess whet happened the next week .about that hot tub.
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Is there a translator available?
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Hwat teh probelm is? It all ok make sence knot my probelm you cant. reed Inglish so grate so stop maybe you think. your so much beter then everyone why did up to the hot tub, oh yah?
 
Here's some DIY work I ran excavated from behind some drywall today:
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Launch Pad for the "DIY'ers

Launch Pad for the "DIY'ers

Almost everytime I visit my local Lowe's, I get some real "horror" stories from one of my good contacts there in the Electrical Section.
This person is so angry because there isn't a system set up to protect the public from walking in and building "time bombs" at their own home, and not to mention their neighbors projects, just to save money.
There has got to be a way to prevent this from happening. I know some may say this would cut down on service calls and or good money to correct their ingnorance, but, some of these tactics are what's pushing our prices up, hourly rates, material compensations,etc.
Not sure what it would take to tame this, but it's definitely an unlicensed approach off the street to create major problems.
 
mdshunk said:
That is the type of work you get from a guy who read a book from Home Depot.
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Heh. You should find one of those books on Amazon.com, enter a review, and point at that photo :)
 
I fully support a man's "right" to screw up his own home. In the case of my picture, this home just changed ownership last week. The so-called "log cabin rules" only work if you're the only one who will ever live in that log cabin, and your log cabin doesn't have neighbors homes in harm's (fire's) way. Because of this, codes and licensing exist. Hack work will still continue to exist for all time.
 
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Steve- PEC said:
Almost everytime I visit my local Lowe's, I get some real "horror" stories from one of my good contacts there in the Electrical Section.
This person is so angry because there isn't a system set up to protect the public from walking in and building "time bombs" at their own home, and not to mention their neighbors projects, just to save money.
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You can't stop them because what they need to be told to make them stop -- that they can get themselves killed and/or burn down their house in the process -- doesn't happen often enough. So, people are told not to do whatever it is that they are doing, they do it anyway, nothing bad happens (this time ...), and after that they just ignore the warnings. That or they have a "friend" who did it, nothing bad happened to them, so they figure they can do it, too.
 
Steve- PEC said:
Almost everytime I visit my local Lowe's, I get some real "horror" stories from one of my good contacts there in the Electrical Section.
This person is so angry because there isn't a system set up to protect the public from walking in and building "time bombs" at their own home, and not to mention their neighbors projects, just to save money.
There has got to be a way to prevent this from happening.
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There is. Some jurisdictions where I work require a "truth in housing" inspection when a house is put on the market. They compare the permit/inspection records for the property against what they find in the house and tag anything that was done without a permit. Then a licensed pro has to come in and take responsibility for the work by pulling a permit and getting it inspected. It's up to the pro to decide if he wants the walls opened up, since he's the one who has to sign off on it.

I've also heard that some places require sellers to sign an affidavit detailing any work that was done while they owned the house. If they neglect to mention that they did hack work and it's found later, they could be sued.
Steve- PEC said:
I know some may say this would cut down on service calls and or good money to correct their ingnorance, but, some of these tactics are what's pushing our prices up, hourly rates, material compensations,etc.
Not sure what it would take to tame this, but it's definitely an unlicensed approach off the street to create major problems.
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I don't think it's a good idea to have lots of hack work out there so that we can get more service calls when the hack work fails. Usually when we get called to deal with those situations, the hack work is such a mess that it can only be fixed with major surgery, and 99% of the time the HO just wants a quick fix. Meanwhile, we get stuck trying to do the best we can with the mess but without being given enough latitude to do it right.
 
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I went on a service call yesterday to a large hotel which is being framed. We are the electrical contractor. What I saw looked like DIY work. There was a single temporary power pole on site. Out of the panel, a 1/2" EMT was run to the top of the pole with a T conduit body attached. Two halogen light fixtures were attached. The conduit body fell off.

Obviously, hanging the fixtures off the conduit body is a violation of 358.12 (5). There was 14/2 Romex in the EMT. I thought this was illegal. At the very least, I would call this a wet location. I couldn't find anything in article 334 forbidding NMB in conduit and 358.22 seems to permit NMB in EMT. Was I wrong to think NMB can't be run through conduit assemblies?

On the same power pole I found a 240V 50A receptacle for TemPower. It was installed in a bell box fed by two 3/4" Carflex conduits. One Carflex contained the two hot conductors and the other contained the nuetral & ground conductors. This work was installed by the "foreman" of a large hotel project. He has a valid C-10 license. I think it's time to look for a new job. The owners couldn't understand why I was upset by what I saw.
 
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