My inspection almost passed

[Rusty Bumper]

Last year I put up a garage addition. This caused me to update my 100 amp main house panel to a 200 amp, and the detached garage from 60 to 100 amp.

I called for an inspection and the inspector asked me a couple of questions over the phone to make share things were pretty much correct before he came out. One item I needed to fix was the second required grounding rod for the main panel. I had two rods for the sub panel in the garage but not the house. I also had in 1-1-1-2 AU SER run underground in conduit to the garage. Oops, can't do that. So I replaced it with 1-1-1-2 USE. Now I was ready for him to come out.

The inspection went well except for two items I messed up on. The shop lights I used were plug in type. I did not have the outlets they plugs into on a GFI. So I need to fix that. The second item was the receptacles I used in the addition. They were not tamper resistant. New code as of June 2014 I believe.

He signed off and applied the stickers! And he is going to stop out next week to see that the two items have been corrected. It was a long time coming and a pretty big job for one average homeowner.

 

[sberry]

Good, its good to see helpful inspectors too. I ran in to a good one a couple months ago, was no nonsense.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Was the wire that u ran only USE rated?

If so, then it cant enter the structure.

Not sure if it enters the structure in your case but many people make that mistake so i thought i would bring it up.

 

[Rusty Bumper]

Was the wire that u ran only USE rated?

If so, then it cant enter the structure.

Not sure if it enters the structure in your case but many people make that mistake so i thought i would bring it up.

Thanks, I ran it up the outside of the garage and into the back of the box.

I would like to give kudos to all of those who contribute to the conversations here on GJ. This site and the posts I found with in it were a huge help.

 

[ddawg16]

Good job.....not as bad as you thought it would be, right?

And...inspectors are a lot more reasonable than people think.

 

[FJ 432]

I had the same final issue with the tamper resistant receptacles. God I hate those. Congratulations.

 

[hoffman912]

I am about to upgrade the house from 100 to 200 and the detached garage from 30 to 100 (house and garage are over 100 years old).

what is 1-1-1-2 AU SER and 1-1-1-2 USE? what is the difference?

 

[Rusty Bumper]

I had the same final issue with the tamper resistant receptacles. God I hate those. Congratulations.

If someone knows a brand name that is better than the other, I would like to stay away from problematic ones. I believe my Menards carries Pass & Seymour brand but I can also order some from my local electrical supplier.

I am about to upgrade the house from 100 to 200 and the detached garage from 30 to 100 (house and garage are over 100 years old).

what is 1-1-1-2 AU SER and 1-1-1-2 USE? what is the difference?

You will have to use the search here on the forum. I'm not going to go into what you may need for your application. I suggest starting a new thread. Good luck with your project!

 

[hoffman912]

I wasnt asking which i should use. Just saying i have a similar project, never heard those terms before. I just want to know what are they and what is the difference. are you talking wire? conduit?

I try searching for 1-1-1-2 AU SER and it comes back "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.

The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : AU"

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Thanks, I ran it up the outside of the garage and into the back of the box.

I would like to give kudos to all of those who contribute to the conversations here on GJ. This site and the posts I found with in it were a huge help.

Is the box on the inside of the structure?

If so, then thats not to code.

I am about to upgrade the house from 100 to 200 and the detached garage from 30 to 100 (house and garage are over 100 years old).

what is 1-1-1-2 AU SER and 1-1-1-2 USE? what is the difference?

I wasnt asking which i should use. Just saying i have a similar project, never heard those terms before. I just want to know what are they and what is the difference. are you talking wire? conduit?

I try searching for 1-1-1-2 AU SER and it comes back "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.

The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : AU"

Yes, those are different cable types.

AU isnt the correct lettering. It should be AL which stands for aluminum.

SER cannot be used underground.

USE can be used underground but cannot be used inside the structure because the insulation isnt fire resistant.

I would start a new thread so u dont high jack this one. We can answer your questions there.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Last year I put up a garage addition. This caused me to update my 100 amp main house panel to a 200 amp, and the detached garage from 60 to 100 amp.

I called for an inspection and the inspector asked me a couple of questions over the phone to make share things were pretty much correct before he came out. One item I needed to fix was the second required grounding rod for the main panel. I had two rods for the sub panel in the garage but not the house. I also had in 1-1-1-2 AU SER run underground in conduit to the garage. Oops, can't do that. So I replaced it with 1-1-1-2 USE. Now I was ready for him to come out.

The inspection went well except for two items I messed up on. The shop lights I used were plug in type. I did not have the outlets they plugs into on a GFI. So I need to fix that. The second item was the receptacles I used in the addition. They were not tamper resistant. New code as of June 2014 I believe.

He signed off and applied the stickers! And he is going to stop out next week to see that the two items have been corrected. It was a long time coming and a pretty big job for one average homeowner.

The tamper proof outlets have been around for quite a while.

 

[TractorJeff]

As far as the comment of the wire being up to code. It passed his local code inspection. No sense in starting an argument about how/where the wire is or is not in compliance. Code is Guidelines, either followed or interpreted by local inspectors.

 

[Rusty Bumper]

AU isnt the correct lettering. It should be AL which stands for aluminum.

Oops, yep sorry. AU is actually gold.... Could you imagined???

 

[woodzy]

On the house I just finished - I did the electrical and I asked the inspector on what was needed. My questions were where do I need AFCI, GFCI, Tamper proof outlets, and in use covers on outside outlets.

His response was:

AFCI - in bedrooms only
GFCI - Kitchen, Laundry, Bath, Garage, Basement, Outside
Tamper proof outlets - said he would not look real hard from those (wink, wink). Ended using (tamper proof) them from Menards - no issues and were not much more money.
In use covers - he would not look hard at those either (wink, wink).

My son is an electrical in the next state over and their inspectors require all of these. I guess my inspector is a real world guy and doesn't always agree with the new codes of things that are not that important. He did make me ground the gas line main to the panel due to using some of the flexible gas lines to all the devices.

 

[Rusty Bumper]

Thanks for the input woodzy. All winking aside, upon the sale of a home, a home inspection may reveal a new addition that does not contain the correct outlets per the code at the time of the build and said outlets may have to be changed prior to a sale. The inspectors that let hard code violations slide do not do us any favors.

Regarding the new code of tamper resistance/proof outlets, my inspector told me 7 children go the the ER every day (hour?) after putting something in an outlet. Who knows how many are not reported and don't go the the ER. That being said, I hear some codes are created because of the insurance industry. They do not want to be paying out claims, or having people get hurt.
Thanks for the info regarding the placement of the different types of outlets.

 

[woodzy]

A few years ago, I had a GFCI tamper proof outlet that for the life of me, we could not get a plug into it. My wife complained and I replaced it with a non-tamper proof outlet.

I did use tamper proof even though the inspector said he would not look for them. I think in a sale of a new home it would be grandfather in. I will say that the these new ones I have no issue getting a plug in unless one of the prongs are longer than it won't work. Some older plugs seem to be longer so the Neutral side would engage first.

 

[hh76]

Last year I put up a garage addition. This caused me to update my 100 amp main house panel to a 200 amp, and the detached garage from 60 to 100 amp.

I called for an inspection and the inspector asked me a couple of questions over the phone to make share things were pretty much correct before he came out. One item I needed to fix was the second required grounding rod for the main panel. I had two rods for the sub panel in the garage but not the house. I also had in 1-1-1-2 AU SER run underground in conduit to the garage. Oops, can't do that. So I replaced it with 1-1-1-2 USE. Now I was ready for him to come out.

The inspection went well except for two items I messed up on. The shop lights I used were plug in type. I did not have the outlets they plugs into on a GFI. So I need to fix that. The second item was the receptacles I used in the addition. They were not tamper resistant. New code as of June 2014 I believe.

He signed off and applied the stickers! And he is going to stop out next week to see that the two items have been corrected. It was a long time coming and a pretty big job for one average homeowner.

I hope your shop lights respond to gfci outlets better than mine. They would trip the gfci as soon as they were turned on.

 

[Rusty Bumper]

I hope your shop lights respond to gfci outlets better than mine. They would trip the gfci as soon as they were turned on.

Great, and only a few days left before my permit runs out.
What did you do to remedy the tripping?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[pattenp]

Great, and only a few days left before my permit runs out.
What did you do to remedy the tripping?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

There should not be an issue with plug-in lights tripping gfci outlets. If there is a tripping issue then there is a problem with the lights or the gfci outlet.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Oops, yep sorry. AU is actually gold.... Could you imagined???

The AU conductors in the wiring goes nicely with the platinum drain grates in the garage floor, the sterling silver drill press chuck and shop sink, and the sheet titanium covers on the workbenches.

my inspector told me 7 children go the the ER every day (hour?) after putting something in an outlet. Who knows how many are not reported and don't go the the ER.

Yow, at 7 an hour, now we know where all the children have gone... that's something like 65,000 kids a year. Even 7 a day are over 2500 a year (which I guess is believable, but it still sounds high).

There should not be an issue with plug-in lights tripping gfci outlets. If there is a tripping issue then there is a problem with the lights or the gfci outlet.

Check inside the lamp - some are put together kinda sloppy, and a strand of one of the wires may be touching the case, the tube socket may be shorted or cracked, or the ballast could be internally shorted. My bench lighting was like that - ended up returning it, the ballast was where the short was. (^#&*%$ Chinese Junk - and no, not the boat.)

 

[wyliesdiesels]

As far as the comment of the wire being up to code. It passed his local code inspection. No sense in starting an argument about how/where the wire is or is not in compliance. Code is Guidelines, either followed or interpreted by local inspectors.

Just because it passed doesnt mean its right. Do we want to do things right or do things wrong and not care because the inspector passed it anyways?

Ive seen inspectors skip over and pass many things that shouldnt have passed.

Not all inspectors know all the codes. And some inspectors are in a hurry and skip over things rushing to get to the next inspection.

Heres an example for u. My house, that was built in '96 passed all inspections despite my gas water heater and furnace not being plumbed properly. There is no drip leg on the gas line feeding them.... Oppps.

It passed so its fine right? Wrong. My friend and who is a plumber said he replaces thermostats on water heaters and furnaces all the time because some crud floating in the gas got into the controls and jammed the magnetic mecanisms. If the drip leg was installed(and properly; Ive seen tons of incorrectly installed drip legs), then the crud wouldve fallen into the drip leg.

In the case of the wire not being rated for inside structures its because the insulation isnt fire resistant.

rant over