An average day

[ICE]

So could they run individual THHN conductors?

THHN No. A conductor that is listed for a wet location is required.

 

[e hilton]

THHN No. A conductor that is listed for a wet location is required.

Learn sumtin eberyday aroun hear. But you made me look it up, you old goat. The wire needs “w” in the name to be in a wet location. THWN would work.

 

[Norcal]

Most THHN is dual rated as THHN /THWN just have to look at the info printed on the conductors.

 

[ICE]

Here’s a violation that is missed often. Underground conduit shall be sealed where it enters a building. I never find that done.


300.50 Underground Installations.
(F) Raceway Seal. Where a raceway enters from an underground system, the end within the building shall be sealed with an identified compound so as to prevent the entrance of moisture or gases, or it shall be so arranged to prevent moisture from contacting live parts.

This part may get in the way of asking the contractor to seal the conduit in this case: "or it shall be so arranged to prevent moisture from contacting live parts."

I have heard electricians claim that if a conduit is underground it will have water in it. I know of one building that was damaged when water made it in through a conduit.

 

[linnrg]

Duct tape is not a seal. Here in this country the unsealed conduit will be froze broken.

 

[ICE]

The manager of the district office that I report to has informed me that slab dowels are not required by code. He stated that dowels serve an aesthetic purpose in that they keep the floor tied together but they are not required unless they are specified on the plans.



With that fresh in my mind I encountered a bathroom remodel. This is what I found for an under slab plumbing inspection. I wrote a correction to expose the pipe.



This is what I found at the followup inspection.



It is a relief to know that I won't have to argue with them about doweling the concrete.

 

[SCBO1]

I've got a concrete guy that doesn't want to dowel the slab back together over a pipe trench! Gonna be sorry when the floor tile cracks, the home owner will most likely be upset. I would document "No trench doweling observed!" on my inspection report. It's a CYA moment.

We usually see the poly over the aggregate here, is this an engineers design? Is that slab over an existing slab? We also get insulation board on the inside edge of the footing if the wall is on the exterior. Depends on the energy code adopted I suspect.

 

[mtlogcabin]

New shoes or just a good polishing job on the old ones?

 

[SCBO1]

I thought his old pair were still okay, they have a good shine on em!

 

[tmurray]

We usually see the poly over the aggregate here, is this an engineers design?

It's a California thing. It dries the concrete out faster so that they can work it faster, however; it dries the concrete out faster making it more likely to crack, spall, etc.

 

[ADAguy]

East LA project?

 

[ICE]

East LA project?

No.

 

[ICE]

I can detect subtle color changes. That's important for a professional driver.





Did you think that I wouldn't look around the corner?


-------- I can multitask but my aim is off.

I guess that I'm not old enough to have seen much of this type NM



A licensed electrical contractor did this work. It comes as no surprise that the panel was open and energized with the dead front removed and the slug that met me was sitting in his Prius playing with a phone. I stopped chewing him out when he said, "I told the owner that I was here."

In defense of Sluggo, he's just not smart.....God made him that way.....so it's unhealthy for me to wish that I could break his fingers.

In defense of me, at least I know that.

It was the second time that it happened that day. The things I find and the people doing it are becoming a load to carry.

The industry has morphed into cruel joke. I just don't have a mindset for this anymore. Who deserves what I have for them?

Tigerloose,

 

[ICE]

At the first inspection I found two appliance connectors. We allow one and it is to be used as an appliance connector. I wrote a correction to replace the second flex connector with hard pipe. The contractor installed CSST instead of hard pipe. Now he gets to intall a solid #6 bonding jumper from the hard pipe to the grounding electrode system.

 

[e hilton]

Appliance connector is the yellow flex pipe? Or the black bendable pipe? Either way, could you have one each for the gas furnace and the gas water heater?

 

[ICE]

The yellow pipe is an appliance connector. More than one at a building is allowed but not as anything other than an appliance connector.

 

[ICE]

The T&P drain pipe prevents the door from closing. The owner is okay with that. When the plumber tells him the cost to extend the T&P drain pipe to the exterior the owner will learn to despise me.

 

[ICE]

The job is an electric service upgrade. The son-in-law of the 91 year old owner called to tell me that he was having trouble with the contractor. There was an inspection set for that day and he was concerned because the electric dryer wasn't working. The contractor didn't show up.



Well there's your problem.



Yet another service mounted over the old location with the conductors leaving through the back of the cabinet. It's a good thing that I'm a combination inspector 'cause I can write more than electrical code violations.

 

[jar546]

The job is an electric service upgrade. The son-in-law of the 91 year old owner called to tell me that he was having trouble with the contractor. There was an inspection set for that day and he was concerned because the electric dryer wasn't working. The contractor didn't show up.

Well there's your problem.

Yet another service mounted over the old location with the conductors leaving through the back of the cabinet. It's a good thing that I'm a combination inspector 'cause I can write more than electrical code violations.

I guess the temporary connection waiting for the utility company fell apart....... or was never made.

 

[ICE]

Wide open waiting to kill. This is the normal condition that I find with every solar installation. The worker is sitting in a vehicle and the deadly condition does not register with him or anyone else.



I tried to put a stop to this practice.....to no avail. I used to refuse to perform the inspection. The contractors would call my office and if they got through they would get an immediate replacement inspector. I tried to levy a re-inspection fee.....it was waived for the asking. I petitioned my department to institute a policy banning this practice......didn't happen.

So years later nobody has been shocked....at least not that I am aware of.....so what's the point in concerning myself with this?

 

[e hilton]

Thats an impressive number of coax cables on the left of the main panel.

 

[SCBO1]

At the first inspection I found two appliance connectors. We allow one and it is to be used as an appliance connector. I wrote a correction to replace the second flex connector with hard pipe. The contractor installed CSST instead of hard pipe. Now he gets to intall a solid #6 bonding jumper from the hard pipe to the grounding electrode system.

View attachment 5981

GAS shut off valves? (not in picture)
WH pan drain?
Combustion air for GAS appliances, high/low vent? (not in picture)
Black CSST may not need the bonding wire, check manufactures install instructions. Yellow has the appliance tag and would not be required.

 

[ICE]

Black CSST may not need the bonding wire, check manufactures install instructions.

There is a manufacturer that claims that their CSST does not require a bonding jumper. The code does require the jumper.....we do too.

 

[ADAguy]

The "joys" of being an inspector, Keep it up Ice.