gfi receptacles and stickers

[a.wayne3@verizon.net]

Got into a dispute with an inspector today,situation: garage receptacles did not have gfci protected stickers on them.The painters had gone through the house,removed cover plates to do final coat and reinstalled the plates but some of the garage receptacle plates were originally from one of the interior rooms.The corrective notice said garage gfi receptacles need to be gfi protected.This is a gfi protected circuit and i argued that there is nothing in the NEC that states that they have to be stickered,just gfi protected.Since this was for a final inspection there was no meter set and no way to prove it was on a gfi circuit.So $30 later and 3 stickers it has been recalled for inspection

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

I feel it is up to the inspector to test the receptacles to verify that they are gfci protected as required. Not doing so is doing the customer diservice. Why have inspectors if they don't inspect? As for the stickers, no NEC on that but what about manufacturers instructions? Do they say you have to put the stickers on load side receptacles? (Listing violation bullcrap again) I have not used one sticker in 15 years. I think using this as a violation is petty on the side of the inspector. We all know that most homeowners have no clue as to what the stickers mean and only care that they are ugly!

 

[justoys]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Just a quick question. How are you getting a final inspection without power to the circuits?

 

[roger]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Justoys. I'm not sure where you are, but most areas I'm familiar with require a "final" which is a prerequisite for the meter being installed.

Roger

 

[jbell59]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Roger:

Here in Va. we can get an electrical service inspection and get power into the home before finals and cover ups. Once the service is approved, then the poco sets their meter. The rest of the panel is checked out during the final.

 

[luke warmwater]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

A 'final' before the 'Final'?? That's nuts. There shouldn't be anyone touching the electrical before or after the meter is set except the electricians, so why does there need to be a pre-final to Look at receptacles and lighting fixtures??
In the four states that we work in, we get a meter soon after we install the service on a house. Set the service with the required GFCI receptacle for temp power and get service inspected. No more generators.
Allen, I agree with you. Especially since there is No meter set. The inspector needs to actually test the receptacles, not just look at them.
On another note, the painters (or builder) would be paying any charge incrued if I had the stickers installed and they removed them and didn't re-install them in their original locations.

 

[davedottcom]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

It's true...Florida has the most idiotic system for getting the power turned on for a new service. Trust me I recently started my own business here and it's Extremely frustrating dealing with this "backwards" system. F.P.L Abosuletly Refuses to turn on the power until AFTER it passes a "Final" inspection. Koo-Koo Koo-Koo!!!
Oh, and this is a good one.....they actually require the smoke alarms to function BEFORE they will pass it on the final! The smoke alarms MUST have the batteries installed. Once it passes they allow FPL to "Fire it up" and they call this "Early Power"!!!! EARLY????? The house is DONE! I rarely take my generator off my truck!
As far as the GFCI stickers go....I'll know today if they fail due to missing stickers...I'll let you know!
Dave

 

[bphgravity]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

FPL and the Local Co-ops do have their "funny" little rules, but once you establish a relationship with your local dispatch unit and service crews, you can get things done a lot easier. The key is to get a local phone number and local contact person!

If you working with a builder or general contractor that doesnt work well with FPL, then your pretty much screwed.

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Guess I ahould have read the part about no power yet. Any way, no power before final inspection sounds like an *** backwards deal. How the hell do you check everything so that you know you're all set for an inspection?

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Guess I can't use that word!

 

[iwire]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

How do you get a meter without inspection?

 

[a.wayne3@verizon.net]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Ok heres my reply : Here we get a final with no meter that means we make sure we have all aspects of the nec covered installations, breaker ratings
match a/c,a/h/u units ,cook tops and so on..... then we get a final.after this the builder gets a meter set.We were hotchecking by backfeeding the system either thru the meter base,or the panel.But now we can`t do that the inspectors site osha rules and the poco says after the final we cant go into the meter since it has been released to them..................So whats left is this,get a meter set and then hot check the house..... This is after all the builders punchout is done dry wall,paint etc....Usually the house is all clean carpeted and so on.This is such a pain since as we all know nobody cuts in a bad joint in a switch box or misses a jumper or home run .The sticker thing has come to light from this new inspector and yes he read the manufacturers instructions and saw the load side receptacles are to be marked gfci protected ,he used the ul listing as his argument.....In the old forum i was hammered about how hard our inspectors are,I was being to cautious and scared .believe me this is just the tip of the iceberg,welcome to Tampa Florida LOL

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

I read through the directions that come with P&S gfis today and I didn't see anything about stickers. As I said before I think the listing violation thing is used as a cop out when there is nothing else to ***** about. Does the ul listing even require that the stickers are installed? I have a hard time believing that. Bob, when I do a new house (very rare occassion) I will get the service installed and inspected as soon as possible so we can have power in the house. Once the inspector calls it in we're good to go.

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Oops can't say that either!

 

[roger]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Scott, you are a virtual potty mouth.

Roger

 

[luke warmwater]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Originally posted by davedottcom:
Koo-Koo Koo-Koo!!!
Dave

Ha! I can picture Jack Black explaining the idiocities of this set up.

Scott, we use P&S also, and I couldn't find anything about the stickers being part of the listing either.

Bob, we do as Scott explained, re-read my above post.

 

[iwire]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

I should have put the "wink" with my question.

It all seems to be what town you are in here in MA.

I have had inspectors give me a hard time about energizing circuits for testing before they inspected, other towns it is hard to get them to show up.

 

[electricmanscott]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

Maybe we should start another topic. Inspectors...The women that love them...The electricians that hate them! Some can be a real pain in the rear.

 

[pierre]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

I know this sounds silly, but the contractors association in Westchester County,NY invites the inspectors to our meetings, and they invite us to their meetings. We try to 'hash' out our problems. It goes both ways. I would say that we have our fair share of problems (not the same inspection in all territories), but after awhile we are closer in our disputes than we were before these meetings. There are 14 Inspectors in our area and we get a pretty good turnout. At some meetings (all at night) we will have 100 men there!

Pierre

 

[pierre]

Re: gfi receptacles and stickers

P.S.

When we come across a situation like the sticker issue, we argue until a conclusion. The conclusion does not always make all happy, but we know what to expect.

Pierre