Jurisdictions requiring archaic ringing out of a house/ continuity tests before power ?

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garrcass

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There’s a gal from Riverside, California, that I am trying to help out over the phone and text. She and her husband purchased a triple-wide modular from skyline homes in 2020. It was delivered with tons of mold in it and horrible shape. The contractor that was hired to put it together apparently was using unlicensed personnel as subs, and eventually, what happened was they were fired or something, and the homeowner started doing repairs to the place, and the county is telling them that they have to ring out the house before they can get power, and I keep telling this woman I’m telling her you could have so many more problems once you get power ringing out the outlet circuits isn’t going to tell you everything is perfect, Has anyone heard of this being a requirement of a jurisdiction this is in riverside county CA


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mtnelect said:
California law governing manufactured housing is entitled the "Manufactured Housing Act of 1980" and may be found in Division 13, Part 2, of the California Health and Safety Code, commencing with Section 18000
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That's what I was wondering if there is something particular for manufactured homes, I was trying to find a online resource for the California electrical code the riverside county jurisdiction shows this is what they go by on the website.


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garrcass said:
That's what I was wondering if there is something particular for manufactured homes, I was trying to find a online resource for the California electrical code the riverside county jurisdiction shows this is what they go by on the website.


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See attachment.
 

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  • Mobilehome Parks - Regarding Inspections, Violations, and Code Requirements..pdf
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mtnelect said:
If the manufactured home is not in a moblehome park, the contact your local building official.
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See attachment for contact information.
 

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  • Contact _ California Department of Housing and Community Development.pdf
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repairs are under the local jurisdiction's control, just as any other remodel or repair would be.
 
garrcass said:
There’s a gal from Riverside, California, that I am trying to help out over the phone and text. She and her husband purchased a triple-wide modular from skyline homes in 2020. It was delivered with tons of mold in it and horrible shape. The contractor that was hired to put it together apparently was using unlicensed personnel as subs, and eventually, what happened was they were fired or something, and the homeowner started doing repairs to the place, and the county is telling them that they have to ring out the house before they can get power, and I keep telling this woman I’m telling her you could have so many more problems once you get power ringing out the outlet circuits isn’t going to tell you everything is perfect, Has anyone heard of this being a requirement of a jurisdiction this is in riverside county CA


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I assume this "ringing out" means insulation testing? That seems a little fair of a test presuming the installation was new in 2020 and was inspected at/about that time and nothing electrical was otherwise changed in the clean up operations. I don't think the mold would cause much trouble to concealed wiring but any physical abuse during clean up operations possibly could cause issues.
 
I worked for a contractor in the early 80's doing residential. They required us to ring out the house as a final step to the rough-in. This was done to determine that feeds were not left out. We had to strip the hot/neutrals at the receptacles and twist white to white, black to black. Then if you put a bell and battery set in your panel and landed one wire on the neutral bar and tied the other to all of your hots, you can touch the black and white together anywhere throughout the house and ring the bell. If it didn't ring, there's a feed missing.
 
mtnelect said:
California law governing manufactured housing is entitled the "Manufactured Housing Act of 1980" and may be found in Division 13, Part 2, of the California Health and Safety Code, commencing with Section 18000
Click to expand...

Thanks for excellent reference source.

It appears 18028(c) adopted state code cycles CA Title 24, Parts 2, 3 (Electrical), 4, 5, 6 (Energy efficient lighting), & 11, since 2008.

Which means NEC 90.4 applies, allowing the county AHJ to require compliance with their requirements and inspections.

However, "ring out" wont mean destroy A/GFCI devices with a Megger test exceeding 120 Volts, unless bypassed.

Further, A/GFCI devices won't reset (latch in "ON' position) without power applied, so only "Grounding" wires have continuity, albeit without return path, since Neutral is also broken by A/GFCI's when latched off.
 
Around here the inspectors do that themselves
they walk up to a mobile home, open the panel at the Meterbase, remove the ground where it’s tied to neutral at the first disconnect, and check continuity between the ground and neutral through the entire mobile home. If it rings, it fails.
 
Hv&Lv said:
Around here the inspectors do that themselves
they walk up to a mobile home, open the panel at the Meterbase, remove the ground where it’s tied to neutral at the first disconnect, and check continuity between the ground and neutral through the entire mobile home. If it rings, it fails.
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What inspectors carry tools, remove dead fronts, stick their hands in the fuse box, remove main bonding, and hook up test equipment they just happen to carry on their belt?
 
ramsy said:
What inspectors carry tools, remove dead fronts, stick their hands in the fuse box, remove main bonding, and hook up test equipment they just happen to carry on their belt?
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The good ones that take their job seriously.

We have one that ALWAYS walks up on a job with a meter, screwdriver, and pliers for an inspection.

How else would have he caught me when the green screw in the panel was stripped out.. failed me for that one..
 
Hv&Lv said:
The good ones that take their job seriously.

We have one that ALWAYS walks up on a job with a meter, screwdriver, and pliers for an inspection.

How else would have he caught me when the green screw in the panel was stripped out.. failed me for that one..
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Where is this wealthy AHJ that can afford real electrical inspectors?
 
Rick 0920 said:
I worked for a contractor in the early 80's doing residential. They required us to ring out the house as a final step to the rough-in. This was done to determine that feeds were not left out. We had to strip the hot/neutrals at the receptacles and twist white to white, black to black. Then if you put a bell and battery set in your panel and landed one wire on the neutral bar and tied the other to all of your hots, you can touch the black and white together anywhere throughout the house and ring the bell. If it didn't ring, there's a feed missing.
Click to expand...
So with a bell that truly was "ringing out" the circuits.

Was that an AHJ thing or an employer's QC measure?
 
ramsy said:
What inspectors carry tools, remove dead fronts, stick their hands in the fuse box, remove main bonding, and hook up test equipment they just happen to carry on their belt?
Click to expand...
They do that here also.

Even had one that for a time was using a clamp on ground rod tester. Probably was his own, I'm pretty sure his employer wasn't going to purchase those.

I do remember thinking at the time though - if he doesn't like the reading it gives what can he do about it if there is two rods, or if clamping on an otherwise compliant CEE or water pipe electrode, code was complied with. I think maybe was just a way to confirm that GEC actually went to an electrode and if reading was questionable, he maybe could demand you at least uncover to expose both rods in the rod situation anyway.
 
True. But the few times that it saved you from going into the attic to pull a missed feed did not make up for the time spent when all the homes that were wired correctly didn't need all that wasted work.
 
using a toner wand before connecting the bonding screw between neutral and equipment grounds at service disconnect is fast and easy. Put one side of the tone generator on the hot feeds of the panel and the other side of the tone generator on the ground bus. Walk around the building with the wand and check all the boxes. If you missed a wire the volume of the warble from the wand will drop down considerably at locations that are not continuous back to the source (tone generator) at the panel. I've had much success doing this.
 
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