Poor wiring practice?

[charlie b]

Re: Poor wiring practice?

Here?s my ten cents worth (I?m a consultant, so the price goes up): I believe that (1) Fix it all, and (2) Walk away, are your only two reasonable choices. Pick one or the other. But I wouldn?t JUST walk away. I would give the landlady a price quotation, in writing, that EXPLICITLY describes the problem. I would then ask her to sign the ?Go ahead with the work? line or the ?No thank you, I decline your quotation? line. If she refuses to sign the ?No thank you line,? then I would, immediately and in her presence, write on your copy a statement to the effect that she declined to sign.

The problem that I foresee is that (1) Someone gets hurt, and then (2) She claims that you looked at the wiring and did not tell her it was a problem.

 

[Guest]

Re: Poor wiring practice?

Bennie,
Can you please elaborate on your description? I'm not quite with you on the nomenclature.

Personally, I use a neon test light and then my finger as a ground sink. If a leg is hot it will glow the light dimly. This is only to find the hot leg. I do not rely on this to tell me if a circuit is dead. If you use a VOM from bare-to-black or from white-to-black you really can't be sure if it isn't the white or the bare that is hot. The neon light works for me. Is this the basis of your test? I apologize for being dense on this one.

../Wayne

 

[Guest]

Re: Poor wiring practice?

Originally posted by charlie b:
<snip>If she refuses to sign the ?No thank you line,? then I would, immediately and in her presence, write on your copy a statement to the effect that she declined to sign. <snip>

If refused to sign I would also file a copy of the contract proposal with the County Recorder (yes, they will do this). And, send a CC to the AHJ. Mail a copy to the landlady Certified (Return Receipt Requested). This is really serious.

If she does sign the refusal then just send a CC to the AHJ Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested.

../Wayne C.

PS: I had a client doing some bogus electrical work on the side at his house on top of the work I was doing for him. He pulled the electrical permit before I got there and they only allow one permit per job, so it was his permit for my work too. He called for the inspections. I told him his work was dangerous and at one point I told him I wouldn't proceed unless he signed a release holding me harmless from his work, and stating that I had informed him that his work was dangerous. He signed the release, I tidied up my work, and I walked off the job. About a year later he had the nerve to call me and scream at me that his friend had been injured electrically. I knew a lawsuit was coming my way, but it's been over 10-years and nothing yet. I did my best to do good work; the work was permitted and inspected; I never saw the inspector; I never contacted him about the shoddy work-- I figured he saw it, and thought it was OK; I had the owner sign a release; somebody got hurt; I still could have been sued and right or wrong my pockets would have been drained. The only practical way for me to have avoided this was to not work for him. He put looks ahead of safety. He put money ahead of safety. If it had been my permit, it would have been worse in my estimation-- he would have felt more entitled to blame me for his risky work. He also undermined and sabotaged some of my work in his effort to make things pretty.

RUN, don't walk away from this job if the landlord doesn't want to play ball. You are in control. Use the AHJ to your benefit. Enforce the NEC!

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[jim mccloy]

Re: Poor wiring practice?

I'm glad at the number of responses to this thread.

As I was led through this house, and mentally performed the takeoff, it soon became clear to me the great scope of work that's required. There are other concerns with these branch circuits such as improper splicing. Everything is taped...no wire nuts. The wiring itself looks relatively new (the conductors contained in the different runs of wiremold) maybe within the last few months.

I would also like it to be known that I have not performed any work in this house...I only did a visual inspection of the 2 service panels and removed covers from 2 different JB's and looked at the wiring inside. I also looked at some switches and receps and discovered the improper wiring methods. Also, I looked at the waterline bonding and found it to be non-existent.

[ September 11, 2003, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: jim mccloy ]