How bad is this workmanship?

S

solarken

NABCEP PVIP
Location
Hudson, OH, USA
Occupation
Solar Design and Installation Professional
I am installing a solar PV system at a new construction home and have been working with the homeowner through his home planning and building process. I was onsite recently to begin the install, and as I was working on the AC interconnection I saw some things that the electrician who wired the house did that I thought was pretty shabby, and would like other opinions.

This site has 320A service with a meter main with dual 200A breakers on the outside, feeding two MLO loadcenters as shown in the photo. The loadcenter on the right is where I will interconnect, and the loadcenter on the left will have a transfer switch installed between the feeder from the main to the lugs, so that a propane generator can backup the loads on that panel when the grid is down.

The electrician wired L1 on the left panel as black and L1 on the right as red. He also was not consistent with 240V loads as to the color of wire he used for L1 and L2, as far as matching the phase and color. And in the left panel you can see where there is a missing breaker, there is a red hot going to the terminals for the missing breaker, and no neutral for the missing breaker, like maybe it was to be a multiwire branch circuit but he did not have a 2-pole breaker, so one branch is dead.

He also installed the supplemental ground bar in the right panel with a single screw, on a diagonal, when these Leviton loadcenters come with 2 screws with intended locations for the ground bar either above the bus or below the bus using the 2 holes provided.

There are other issues, like several spliced wires in each loadcenter that extend to the other loadcenter, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe there were changes in which circuits were needed to be backed up as he was working.

What do you think? Should I say something to the homeowner? It looks to me like the electrician didn't know what he was doing or just doesn't care, and makes me question if there are other issues in the house.

I mean this is new construction, where it is easy to make things neat and orderly from the getgo. I would never do these things, and for me or the generator guy that will be coming soon, at the very least it is confusing. I need to match L1 and L2 in these panels because I am installing CTs for monitoring grid current in both loadcenters, so having to deal with confusing wiring is a bit frustrating.
 

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Splices in a panel to extend the wire are OK.
As Infinity said, phase colors don't matter for a single phase system.
I looked at the photo before reading the text and did notice the ground bar.
Poor workmanship, but not the end of the world.
 
lol it’s not that bad could be neater but how can that be bad workmanship????—— my j-man spends hours making panel look good as the owner I did not bid that it depends on the job—- nice custom house yes! Cheap remodel were owner was cheap no- down and dirty code compliant. If he spends that much time on a cheap bid I get mad- you get what you pay for.

That be my down and dirty looking panel. I always use wago for ground with 6ports and only land 5-7 grounds my look little messy were the wagos are but less clutter at the ground bar it’s all subjective.

You could say any branch circuit that does not have wire labels on the. Designating were in the home they are with corresponding numbers at each devise is bad workmanship——- won’t see that on resi—- on Commerical industries it’s mandatory for me
 
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Poor job planning, should have painted the plywood before mounting the panels, but that not electrician's task, if OP says anythng to HO it should be about the GC coordinating jobs.
ground bar already mentioned, is it loose?
 
It looks to me like the generator was an afterthought and that's why the wires are spliced - to get them all into one panel after the fact.

As far as the way it looks, on a scale of 1 to 10.....
If 5 is average, not really neat but don't really have anything bad to say about it, I will put that at about a 6

what I see in the Kansas City area is usually between a 2 and a 4

So that actually is far above a typical KC hack job
 
AC\DC said:
lol it’s not that bad could be neater but how can that be bad workmanship????—— my j-man spends hours making panel look good as the owner I did not bid that it depends on the job—- nice custom house yes! Cheap remodel were owner was cheap no- down and dirty code compliant. If he spends that much time on a cheap bid I get mad- you get what you pay for.

That be my down and dirty looking panel. I always use wago for ground with 6ports and only land 5-7 grounds my look little messy were the wagos are but less clutter at the ground bar it’s all subjective.

You could say any branch circuit that does not have wire labels on the. Designating were in the home they are with corresponding numbers at each devise is bad workmanship——- won’t see that on resi—- on Commerical industries it’s mandatory for me
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I do the same with the grounds on changes if they're short but I use those ideal yellow reds that bite good and have a big cable range.
 
To be honest I agree with the others it looks pretty typical. Not more than two cables per k/o, copper wire for the range and dryer, strip gauge on terminations looks fine.

I'd level the ground bar and jumper it to the other ground bar with #6, or as @AC\DC suggested skip the bar and use a wago. I am not familiar with Leviton panels at first glance it looked like the neutral bar and ground bar were the same but I guess they are separated.
solarken said:
the loadcenter on the left will have a transfer switch installed between the feeder from the main to the lugs, so that a propane generator can backup the loads on that panel when the grid is down.
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Having now serviced a few blown generators I am always curious how people that install an ATS on a 200A panel meet the NEC 702.4(B) requirement's. I am starting to think the 200A ATS is a oversold over used item.

I do like that there is a 'critical loads' panel thats what I do now, but I'd limit that to 100 Amps or the size of the generator as I am on the 2023 NEC and load shed has to be a listed article 750 EMS, which I don't bother with.

solarken said:
The electrician wired L1 on the left panel as black and L1 on the right as red. He also was not consistent with 240V loads as to the color of wire he used for L1 and L2, as far as matching the phase and color. ../.. I need to match L1 and L2 in these panels because I am installing CTs for monitoring grid current in both loadcenters, so having to deal with confusing wiring is a bit frustrating.
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Thats a good point I have not always been consistent with that for residential and never thought it mattered, as @infinity said its not a code requirement but may be poor workmanship, its not that hard to keep them sorted.
 
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