Our electrical inspectors for the most part are pretty sharp, altho some of them like to enforce the way "they would do it" instead of what is written in the code.
However, when we have say a new home inspected, we will get a general inspector who doesn't know a lot about everything. Here's an example:
A friend of mine has been building his own house for over a year now, while they live outside in a 5th wheel. He and the carpenter wired the whole thing, but I won't go into that. Anyway, the carpenter abandoned him and he asked me to come take a look. They had the POCO pull in a 400 amp service, but they only installed a 200 amp meter combo. And the subpanel was a nightmare, grounding wires and neutrals mixed, bus holes crammed with 3 and 4 wires, no bond, modified twin breakers installed to exceed 42 circuits, no identification on the neutral feeder. The panel was jammed so full partly because they used 6/3 for ALL the 240 loads, air cond, water heaters etc. Everything got a neutral whether it needed one or not!
Not to mention 60 amp wire, even for the dryer and water heaters!!
Well I reluctantly agreed to install the 400 amp panel, and I instructed him what to do about the subpanel. So I get a power kill in the AM, and the inspector comes out just after lunch to clear it so we can get hooked back up by evening as they are using the service for the 5th wheel. Well the inspector looks at the new 400 and doesn't say anything except, lets go take a look at the sub. I shuddered and started explaining to him that I hadn't worked on the sub yet, and it would be ready at final. He says thats ok he just wants to take a look.
Well we open it up and he gazes in there for a minute, then puts his finger in a pile of sheetrock dust in the bottom and says, "make sure this is cleaned out before final"!!! Thats all he said!!
Now I see how new homes get by with glaring violations. One of our electrical inspectors would have had a field day!
