Interesting codes ----

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brantmacga

brantmacga

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Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
I got a call from a lady who put an offer on a 6k sq. ft. home that was foreclosed on. the elec. has been off for six months, and required reinspection to have services connected. i got a copy of the rejection notice. it said "rewire home to code & move meter outside." rewiring house to code including adding receptacles so that every 6' of floorspace was covered. i searched the AHJ's codes online (i've done one job in this particular town and had no problems) and here is a sampling of their electrical codes.

(a) Residential. Type NM and type NMC cables shall be permitted to be used in one and two family dwellings, or multifamily dwellings, and residential structures not exceeding three (3) floors above grade. For the purpose of this article, the first floor of a building shall be that floor which is designed for human habitation and which has fifty (50) per cent or more of its perimeter level with or above finished grade of the exterior wall line.
(b) Commercial/industrial. All commercial, industrial, nursing homes, health care facilities, and/or residential wiring not permitted in the above paragraph, shall be installed in E.M.T. or rigid conduit installed to comply with the National Electrical Code.

(what about MC cable?????)

(c) Conductors:
(1) Aluminum conductors shall be permitted for service entrance conductors only in residential wiring and shall not extend beyond the line side of the service entrance equipment. All other conductors shall be copper.
(2) In industrial applications aluminum conductors may be used for feeder requirements, if the occupant has a qualified person to maintain and supervise repairs.
(3) Fuses for overload protection shall be prohibited in any new residential or commercial installations, and any repair or addition to existing structures if the lighting panel is replaced. All protection for overload hazards shall be by approved circuit breakers.
(d) Mobile homes.
(1) Mobile home services and feeders must match the mobile home equipment; and mobile home services and feeders must be installed by a licensed electrician using a six-inch round, eighteen-foot minimum, treated pole, or a 4' by 6'.
(e) Heating and air units.
(1) Wiring of heating and air units shall be done by licensed electricians.

(direct violation of state law which allows hvac contractors to permit and perform their own electrical connections)

(f) Plastic and nonmetallic boxes.
(1) The use of all plastic and nonmetallic boxes not to be permitted and to use only metal boxes.

(i told you guys it was common around here!)

(g) [Metallic and nonmetallic tubing. ] The use of electrical nonmetallic tubing (ENT) is not to be permitted for use in commercial or industrial buildings or factories. Use only rigid conduit or electrical metallic tubing (EMT) installed to comply with the applicable and adopted edition of the National Electrical Code.
(Ord. No. 83-48, ? 1, 11-15-83; Ord. No. 87-05, ? 1, 3-10-87)
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edit---- i then found this:

Sec. 11-55. Conflicts.
In the event of any conflict between (1) the provisions of the National Electrical Code, 1990 edition and (2) the provisions of the Code of the City of Waycross, Georgia, ordinances of the City of Waycross, laws of the State of Georgia, rules and regulations of the State of Georgia, then (2) shall prevail and be controlling.
(Ord. No. 92-05, ? 3, 1-7-92)
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it says (2) shall prevail, but the two parties named in (2) have conflicting laws. which prevails? the answer is State of GA but I'm curious what the city would have to say.
 
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The "rewire home to code" notice seems too vague to be enforceable. I would get a ruling on this from somebody up the food chain, preferably someone with an IQ with numbers above room temperature. I also would track down the actual governmental body that is still using a 1990 electrical code and wheel an EEG machine in for some free testing. :grin:
As far as the POCO requiring a service upgrade after power has been off for a period of time, that's actually quite common. :smile:
 
They are out of their minds.

(3) Fuses for overload protection shall be prohibited in any new residential or commercial installations, and any repair or addition to existing structures if the lighting panel is replaced. All protection for overload hazards shall be by approved circuit breakers.
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I think that lesser governmental bodies can make laws that are more strict than the state laws, but they can't make laws that are more lax than state laws. At least that's the way I understand it.

The way I see it, you don't have a dog in this fight anyhow. The lady is the one who got the notice. If she wants to hire you to do that work, great. I'm not sure why you'd go to bat for her at city hall. It's not your correction notice, it's hers.
 
iwire said:
As long as you forget it goes against the States rules. :grin:
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Ooooppps....how did I miss that?

Add it to the list of insanity. :roll:

It's a good rule in principle..the execution leaves a lot to be desired in this case.
 
I don't have a problem with townships etc. having more restrictive codes. But making someone rewire their entire house that's intact seems unconstitutional (unless I misread something) (did this house get condemned or something like that ?)
 
It's common in my area for the PoCo to refuse power to a dwelling that's had it turned off for a year or more. The inspection is to the International Existing Building Code's electrical portion, and not the present day NEC.
 
mdshunk said:
I think that lesser governmental bodies can make laws that are more strict than the state laws, but they can't make laws that are more lax than state laws. At least that's the way I understand it.
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I know that is the case with OSHA but as far as the NEC that would depend on that areas rules.
 
mdshunk said:
It's common in my area for the PoCo to refuse power to a dwelling that's had it turned off for a year or more.
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Same here. The poco requires an inspection before they will reenergize a service that's been disconnected.

The inspectors can only require that violations be fixed. They can't require the whole building to be brought up to code.
 
The way I see it, you don't have a dog in this fight anyhow.
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who said i'm trying to fight it? :D :D i just found their code to be unusual.

The lady is the one who got the notice. If she wants to hire you to do that work, great. I'm not sure why you'd go to bat for her at city hall. It's not your correction notice, it's hers.
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never said i was. i just went to look up their codes to see what all i needed to have in my estimate.

I think that lesser governmental bodies can make laws that are more strict than the state laws, but they can't make laws that are more lax than state laws. At least that's the way I understand it.
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they can only do so here after completing a lengthy cost impact study, recomendation from the state board, public notice, and finally a council vote. it takes about 12/mo to get a legal code change enacted locally. plus the money you have to spend for the studies required that must be presented to the state, who by the way rejects 99.9% of local code change requests.

They are out of their minds.

Quote:
(3) Fuses for overload protection shall be prohibited in any new residential or commercial installations, and any repair or addition to existing structures if the lighting panel is replaced. All protection for overload hazards shall be by approved circuit breakers.
__________________
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yes i forgot to highlight that one!!


anyway, here's what the potential job looks like:


you can see the meters over in the corner

meters.jpg


sideview.jpg



lastly, i was told the previous HO took all the light fixtures with them after being forced out.

missinglight.jpg
 
Looks like the meter sockets are in the outkitchen. Sheesh.

Seeing those pictures, the inspector saying "rewire to code" was probably way easier than listing off all the stuff that really ought to be done.
 
iwire said:
They obviously have no code rules about bad taste, the pink painted room must be a violation of something. :grin:
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LOL :D oh it gets worse!

all these pics came from the real estate agent.


blueroom.jpg


goldroom.jpg


redroom.jpg
 
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