Sunday, August 22, 2010

 

Philadelphia electrical violations transfer with sale

Licensed Philadelphia PA electrician learns undiscovered historic L&I electrical violations pass through sale to new owner.

I just received a call from a property owner in Philadelphia.
He owns a small rental property. His family members live in the building, but he also has non-family tenants. They decided to stop paying their rent, so they filed a complaint with the Department of Licenses and Inspections. [You see, regardless of how long tenants haven't paid rent, an owner can't get an eviction order if the property is in violation of ANY aspect of the building and occupancy codes, including having illegally rented an unlicensed apartment to the tenants!]

What a nightmare!

Anyway, L&I comes and does what they are required to do, by law. Lo and behold there are violations!

The biggest problem? A previous owner had the electrical panels changed and several circuits installed ... but they had the electrical work performed by an unlicensed individual, with no Philadelphia electrical permit and no third-party underwriter's inspection.

It is apparent the materials involved in the work were not available at the time the house was originally built! ... and there is no inspection sticker at the panel location!

It doesn't matter that the work was done before the new owner purchased the property. The obviously illegal wiring has just now been revealed and the building is in violation. The new owner is subject to substantial DAILY fines until a permit is obtained and any defects in the illegal installation are corrected by a Philadelphia licensed electrician.

 

Licensed Philadelphia Electrician frightened by homeowners!

ELECTRICAL RULE NUMBER ONE - ELECTRICITY IS DEATH IN A BOX! NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING! EVER!

People never cease to amaze me!

I have been a licensed Philadelphia electrician for thirty of the thirty-five years I have worked as an electrician.

I have been told I am not a patient man. I don't think that just because I do not suffer fools gladly it means I am impatient!

I keep thinking "Now I have seen everything." ... and yet, I receive unending gospels of blatant ignorance and poor judgement!

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Question:
I recently developed what I thought was a blown breaker in our family room. Upon further inspection I noticed that not only was the breaker for that room not triped but that there was no circuit wired to it at all! Further inspection revealed two wires conected to the above breaker (Arc fault) for a different room. The black wire I have determined is for the room associated with that breaker. The red wire however does not seem to associate with any other circuit in the house as it doesn't seem to matter if it is connected or not. I can only assume that that is the wire for the susspect circuit that is without power. All breakers are Square D homeline series and the house is wired with Romex (no pipe). I have checked the wiring from the pannel to the atic for physical damage and there is none. If my assumptions are wrong about the Red wire doubled up on the above breaker then I am just chasing my tail. I have connected this wire to the breaker for the faulty circuit and it has not made a difference. When the fault occured I was home and it acted just like a blown breaker. All the power for the family room was killed. This circuit also supplies power to the lights in two other rooms. I apparently have an open in the circuit and I can't seem to find it. I have metered the panel and I have 125VAC to all circuits in the panel. I have also metered most of the recepticals, light switches and fixtures and I have no power to any of them, not even residual. I have run out of ideas and I am quickly running out of patience. Our home is only 7 years old so it does not make sense that corrosian or a failed fixture is the problem. Any ieas you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer:
Let me apologize in advance, because you are about to be insulted.
JUST WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
You find a wire in your panel that is obviously intentionally NOT connected [you have not indicated that there was evidence that the conductor material failed and broke] and YOU GO AND ENERGIZE IT WITHOUT FINDING OUT WHERE IT GOES?
DID YOU THINK GREMLINS CAME IN DURING THE NIGHT AND DISCONNECTED IT TO TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF?
YOU ARE LUCKY YOU DIDN'T KILL SOMEONE!

ELECTRICAL RULE NUMBER ONE - ELECTRICITY IS DEATH IN A BOX! NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING! EVER!

Now, to your electrical problem.
You said: "When the fault occured I was home and it acted just like a blown breaker. All the power for the family room was killed."
How do you know it was a "fault?" A fault is a very specific electrical condition. It describes the intentional or unintentional electrical connection between two conductors of differing potential. Is that indeed what occurred? Or did the circuit just go "dead?" Or do you mean that electrical devices just do not work at outlets on the circuit anymore?

You say there was no wire connected to the breaker labeled for the circuit that went out. I DON'T CARE WHAT THE MORON WHO WIRED YOUR HOUSE WROTE IN YOUR PANEL! IF THERE WAS NO WIRE CONNECTED, THAT IS NOT THE POWER SOURCE FOR THAT CIRCUIT!

You say you "metered" everything. Did you take voltage readings between the "hot" conductor and neutral? ...between the "hot" and ground? ...how about the neutral and ground? ...how about between any of the three conductors and the conductors in a known energized circuit? [You will need to make sure that you test to a circuit that is NOT arc-fault protected.]

What kind of "residual" voltage did you expect? Are there capacitors in the circuit? Do you think electricity pools at the lowest point like water?

You said: "Our home is only 7 years old so it does not make sense that corrosian or a failed fixture is the problem." Why doesn't that make sense? The fact is that, if all the circuit breakers are allowing power to their terminal screws and no other intentionally installed safety device intervenes, then the only remaining option is that the circuit is interrupted somewhere else DUE TO EQUIPMENT FAILURE!

1] the circuit feed conductor is removed from the breaker,
2] the circuit feed conductor is open somewhere in the circuit because
a] the conductor is cut [accidentally or intentionally],
b] the conductor is broken [overtight termination, staple, connector, clamp etc.],
c] a connection at a terminal screw or splice point burned up due to resistance at a loose joint,
3] the circuit neutral conductor is open because it is suffering from any of the same causes.

An unhappy fact: the device where the power interruption exists may be functioning properly. The feed-in connection may be intact. The feed-out connection may be damaged, burned, etc. - especially common in the case of receptacles connected with push-in "speed-wire" terminals.

Clues:
Turn breakers on and off. The circuit with only one or two functioning devices is probably your culprit.

Draw out your house floor-plan and mark device locations. Map out the circuit. Look at what works and doesn't work.

Look at where the panel is. Think of the house without sheetrock. Consider John Glenn's story about being in a spaceship built by the lowest bidder. New houses are all lowest dollar installations. Wire and labor cost a contractor money. How would it have made sense to run the circuit conductors?

Your problem is at the beginning of the circuit, not the end!
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ELECTRICAL RULE NUMBER ONE - ELECTRICITY IS DEATH IN A BOX! NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING! EVER!
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You are more likely to be killed by 120 volts than any other voltage [120 volts creates the PERFECT fatal current through the human body's electrical resistance!]
TURN THE POWER OFF WHEN WORKING!
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LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
This information is provided for the use of parties as they see fit!
I am not responsible for the application of this information by any party, including those lacking sufficient skill or knowledge to perform these steps safely and any hazard created is the SOLE responsibility of the user.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

 

You are not an electrician! Why are your hands in there?

Why do people think that home ownership qualifies them to repair and install electrical wiring?

Question:
My outside house light stopped working. I replaced bulb, but NG. The indicator light on timer was not lit so replaced it. When new timer put to the "on" position the indicator light still does not light, nor does the outside light. When a power checker tool is touched to the outside receptacle it lights up. Does this mean there is a short and could someone get a shock? Is electrician my next move, or is there something else I can do? Thank you.

ANSWER:
sounds like a bad lamp....
other than that, I can't see your tester results, call a professional electrician

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:
Thanks for your prompt reply. You really offer a great service to those of us who can not afford to hire professionals (as much as we would rather)...By lamp, do you mean that I replace the outside light too? But, shouldn't the light on the timer at least be on if it was working properly? Or not?

Answer:
LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
Electricity is dangerous!
You can be injured or killed!
Improper installations can cause fire, injury and death!
Are you qualified to do this work?
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National Electrical Code definition, NFPA 70 2008 Article 100 I: Qualified Person. "One who has skills and knowledge related to the construction and operation of the electrical equipment and installations and has received safety training to recognize and avoid the hazards involved."
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A lamp is what non-electricians call a bulb, which screws into a "lamp fixture."
If the filament is broken in the lamp, there is no current path for the timer to work [we ARE talking about an in-wall timer which replaced a switch, right?], as it relies on this for a neutral path. These timers split power internally to grab electricity to run the timer.
It could also be an open neutral.

This "power checker" tool you refer to ... is it a "magic wand" inductance sensor type? They are patently useless for troubleshooting. You are looking for an open in the circuit. It could be as simple and inobvious as a bad rivet in the fixture socket.

I had also assumed the "outside light" was at a door. This may be erroneous. Where is the light?

What does the outside receptacle have to do with the light?

I still think you are going to end up with an electrician visiting...
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You are more likely to be killed by 120 volts than any other voltage [120 volts creates the PERFECT fatal current through the human body's electrical resistance!]
TURN THE POWER OFF WHEN WORKING!
*
LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
This information is provided for the use of parties as they see fit!
I am not responsible for the application of this information by any party, including those lacking sufficient skill or knowledge to perform these steps safely and any hazard created is the SOLE responsibility of the user.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

 

Handy Jack asks for absolution!

It never ends!
This time I got a request for approval from Handy Jack!

Question:
I am refinishing my basement. I installed 8 recessed lights on 2 circuits (Two 3-way switches each controlling 4 lights)

I did not have any 14/3 cable when I roughed it in, so I ran an additional 14/2 cabel between the switch boxes and used one of the covered wires for the traveler for each switch (white for one and black for the other. I put red tape around the ends for easy identification in the switch box) I did not use the unshielded ground wire from this cable and clipped it of and taped it so it does not contact anything.

My question is is this set up dangerous in any way or can it pose a problem?

Answer:
What you have done is both dangerous and illegal.

It is apparent that you KNEW what you were supposed to do but have "discovered" a more convenient, simple solution to an electrical installation situation that is so much more reasonable than the process followed by the literally millions of obvious idiots working in the electrical trades, including construction, engineering, design and manufacturing and possessing the combined knowledge derived from tens, if not hundreds, of BILLIONS [I am an electrician, not a mathematician. There are roughly 600,000 electricians who clock 2,000 to 3,000 working hours each year and have, in increasing numbers, for the past 100 years!] of hours of exposure to, and contemplation of, the safe and useful application of electrical energy as we understand it.

You, of course, can see clearly where we have all overlooked the apparent, simple solution and can't imagine why we would bother to delay our schedules for the mere lack of the correct material.

My guess is that someone has told you you shouldn't have done that and you are looking for a blessing to make it OK to leave as is.

Do you think it reasonable to saddle some poor unsuspecting future owner with this sub-standard installation or to endanger the technician that will be called to repair it when it stops working?

Rip it out. Do it over. Wire it right!

...or hire a professional electrician.

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LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
Electricity is dangerous!
You can be injured or killed!
Improper installations can cause fire, injury and death!
Are you qualified to do this work?

National Electrical Code definition, NFPA 70 2008 Article 100 I: Qualified Person. "One who has skills and knowledge related to the construction and operation of the electrical equipment and installations and has received safety training to recognize and avoid the hazards involved."
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Licensed Philadelphia PA electrician

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