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Nashville Home Inspection - Electrical Panel Issues - 10-17-10

By
Home Inspector with HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC

Nashville Home Inspection - Electrical Panel Issues

Bugs in the electrical panel, what harm can that be?  Well, look at the picture below.  Any harm there?  How did this happen?

HINT:  Bugs, like water, need a hole to get inside the panel.

Rusted HVAC Panel with Open Knockout

ANSWER:  Electrical panels have concentric circles called knockouts.  They are used for entry/exit of conductors (wires).  An electrician can literally knock them out to allow conductors to pass through, a great little feature of all electrical panels.  But, if they are knocked out and then not used, a hole will remain.  Holes in the electrical panels can allow all kinds of bad things to get into the panel.  Things like water, insects, little fingers, or little fingers holding metal things like Daddy's screwdriver.  All bad things to pass through an open knockout and into the panel where live electricity is located.  In the pic above we see the effect of water and insects entering the panel through open knockouts on the top and bottom of the panel.  A lot of damage has been done and this panel needs to be replaced.

Thank You,

Richard Acree

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Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain , WordPress and Blogger and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.  You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook or Linked.  Thank you!

Comments (4)

Jack Clausen
JLC Inspections Inc. - Trabuco Canyon, CA

Nice, also looks as if they are using water PVC for the conduit, is that allowed in Nashville?

Oct 17, 2010 02:43 PM
Robert Dirienzo
HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC - Franklin, TN
Home Inspections - Nashville TN

Good point Jack.  I did not take the photo so I am not sure, but it does look suspicious.  It also may be the light that made the pipe in the pic look so white.  But to answer your question, NO, PVC is not allowed for conduit in Nashville. 

Thanks,

Richard Acree

HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC 

http://habitecinspections.com  

Oct 17, 2010 03:55 PM
David Swartz
Advantage Inspection Service - Phoenix, AZ

Wow. That panel is in BAD shape. Some of the photos we share from home inspections are just amazing. Do you have a blog outside of Activerain? We'd be interested in linking with you. http://homeinspectorsaz.com/

Oct 25, 2010 11:12 AM
Robert Dirienzo
HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC - Franklin, TN
Home Inspections - Nashville TN

Thanks David.  Yes, this is one of my favorites.  Awesome the power of nature!?  I do have outside blogs on Blogger and WordPress, but they are mostly repeats of these on ActiveRain.  I do that for other audiences. 

Thank you,

Richard Acree

HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC

http://habitecinspections.com

Oct 25, 2010 02:32 PM