electrical systems in Mexico and Central America

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Kent Shepard

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As a Home Inspector I'd like to inspect high-end homes in Mexico. Are the systems there 120/240 volts? Can I expect to see the same equipment (GE, Square D, FP Stab-lok, etc.). Is there a code similar to the NEC?

I'm wondering if the training I've had for inspecting in the US will apply.

-Kent
 
I don't know about Mexico and Central America. But I was in Colombia SA last fall. They have 120/240 and the same style equipment. I saw a lot of square d stuff. I got permission to look around a very high end apartment complex that was being built. And it would never pass code here!
 
I have been down there a dozen times or so, helping my friend who is a Missionary. He works a lot in border towns and in rural areas up to an hour or so from the border. Most of the churches we have wired are in poverty areas.

I guess I never paid attention to the voltage being 127/220 being different. I just thought that it was the same. There is one difference, they install a separate meter per leg. So, at the service, there will be a meter a top of another meter.

By the way, the locals were I have been all build a concrete / stucco pedestal for the service called a mufa (though I can't find the word in my Spanish to English dictionary).
 
All the devices that I have seen are just like ours. In some construction, they install a red plastic tubing (like plumbing pec) for a conduit to fish romex. Sometimes they build the building and then chisel out a trench and stucco over the red tubing. They install the tubing into a metal gangable device box.
 
electrician

electrician

I am from el salvador in central merica I am from rudal area th ehouse where I grew up is made of adobe (blucks of dirt ) and there is not a ground rod not a GEC let say they are wired so poor I dont anderstand why peaple dont get electricuted there please forgive my writing I would do better in espa?ol
 
My understanding is that most homes, including high-end, are block or concrete. Do they cast EMT into the walls for branch wiring to the devices? I don't think they'd use surface mounts on a $2 million home. How do they deal with that problem with block walls, furring?
 
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For the wiring I've done in Mexico we generally followed standard practice for the USA. I've been told that Mexico uses the NEC.

I think the installations vary from area to area just like they do in the USA. In rural areas near Mexicali many houses had a lash-up on the lighting so they could either run on the utility or on a car battery (they changed lamps, but used the same lamp holders and branch circuit wiring). On one house the power company ran out of triplex about 200' from the house. They set the meter there and left. The homeowner had been waiting 5 years for utility power. Don't know if what we ran to the house is still standing or not.

The larger houses in Rocky Point that I've seen tend to be cast-in-place concrete. The electrical is concealed. Not sure on materials and methods -- not a nice thing to dismantle your host's house....

Martin
 
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