Electrical what not to do...

[Alchymist]

The picture of the blue box really got my attention - it was glued to the 2X4 with construction adhesive!

 

[gatchel]

Awesome!

 

[Garage5.9]

I dont see a problem hahaha

 

[gatchel]

I had some of those blue box thingies surface mounted to the house garage wall when we bought it. Needless to say I looked at every wire and junction in the house. The inspector took some pictures for his archives. I wish I took some also, to add to the fun...

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Somewhere I ran across a site with pictures taken by home inspectors. Some of them were just too terrible for words and there were page after page of them!

 

[domain]

Wow! It should say on the Liquid Nail tube "Not recommended for electrical!"

 

[Alchymist]

All those pictures were taken in the house we bought in 2008. I think I went through about 1000 feet of 12-2 so far, with a new 200 amp panel. Here's a picture of the original panel.It was full of 30 and 40 amp breakers with #12 and 14 wire. Some 110v circuits on one side of a dual breaker, etc. Also found 110 volts on the water heater and all heat ducts.

 

[Norcal]

Typical DIY (Destroy It Yourself) "work", a sideways mounted panel is always hack work, unless in Canada, it's OK there.(There are valid reasons in Canada for sideways mounted panels).

 

[Greatbear]

What a hot mess. Hack work at its finest.

 

[dave67fd]

Would be a nice submittal to Osha/NFPA for their training pics.

 

[green.bubbly]

What does "Winterized" mean?

 

[Alchymist]

What does "Winterized" mean?

I think it means FHA paid someone to come i and turn the main breaker off and put that sign up.

 

[acer66]

Typical DIY (Destroy It Yourself) "work", a sideways mounted panel is always hack work, unless in Canada, it's OK there.(There are valid reasons in Canada for sideways mounted panels).

What would those reasons be?

 

[peth]

a sideways mounted panel is always hack work, unless in Canada, it's OK there.(There are valid reasons in Canada for sideways mounted panels).

I see nothing hack about this sideways panel. But then I'm a Canuck and have several of them mounted this way.

 

[Bowtie Billy]

why do they mount them sideways in Canada???

 

[Norcal]

why do they mount them sideways in Canada???

Canuckistan main breaker panels have a separate compartment for the main breaker & SE cables, branch circuit conductors are not allowed in that space so the option exists for horz. mounting. The reason that a horz. panel is hack work in the US is, that the NEC requires that if a circuit breaker is vert, "ON" must be up. NEC art 240.81

 

[ishiboo]

I think it means FHA paid someone to come i and turn the main breaker off and put that sign up.

Probably a foreclosure that was vacant, the water pipes/water heaters had to be drained and traps/etc. filled with anti-freeze so if the heat was off or failed, there wouldn't be damage. Just like you'd winterize a boat

I guess having owned several 80+ year old properties, none of that really surprises me, and only the connections without junction boxes really would scare me Probably 1 in 2 old homes has a plethora of issues like that.

Of interest would be the gas work if those are soft copper gas lines... bet there's some creative liberty there as well.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Of interest would be the gas work if those are soft copper gas lines... bet there's some creative liberty there as well.

Different parts of the country have different regulations on that...in Minneapolis, soft copper is the norm for gas pipes these days. It's what they used when my new furnace was installed a couple years ago.

 

[ishiboo]

Different parts of the country have different regulations on that...in Minneapolis, soft copper is the norm for gas pipes these days. It's what they used when my new furnace was installed a couple years ago.

Yes, but it's run alongside the water piping/electrical, and from the short distance I can see indicates, it's as unsecured as everything else is. Soft copper itself is fine for some natural gas and LP... I have it at home on my LP.

 

[Alchymist]

The soft copper in the pics was for an oil furnace, 20+ years old. It was replaced with a 93% eff. propane furnace, and it was piped with copper, OK'ed by the propane supplier. It's a yellow plastic coated 1/2 inch copper line with flare fittings - standard in these parts.

 

[ishiboo]

The soft copper in the pics was for an oil furnace, 20+ years old. It was replaced with a 93% eff. propane furnace, and it was piped with copper, OK'ed by the propane supplier. It's a yellow plastic coated 1/2 inch copper line with flare fittings - standard in these parts.

Good to hear. Again, there was nothing wrong with it just being copper, there's something wrong with it hanging unsecured amongst everything else

 

[Alchymist]

Good to hear. Again, there was nothing wrong with it just being copper, there's something wrong with it hanging unsecured amongst everything else

It's gone.... and th new copper is routed neatly and securely out of harm's way!

 

[Motofixxer]

And I thought some of the wiring was bad in my house. I can't top those.

 

[Falcon67]

What does "Winterized" mean?

On our repo house, it meant to turn off the water inlet to the electric water heater but leave the breaker on.