On this mothers day, we celebrate arguably the strongest bond in nature, the mother child bond. No atomic attraction, no chemical bond, not even gravitational pull can be said to be as powerful. A mother's dedication is so inherent, she will sacrifice her own well being to protect her children.
Since I am a home inspector, I may not possess strong motherly bonds, but I do seek out bonding. No, not hanging out the guys, I look for it in electrical panels.
Electrical bonding and grounding is a subject that will put the most enthusiastic student into a stupor. Believe me, it's not an entertaining subject, however it is an important aspect of the safety of a house's electrical system.
And one in my experience that seems to get overlooked fairly often.
In the past few weeks I have found several electrical panels that have not been bonded. Bonding is simply another way of saying grounding, just to keep it simple. Every electric panel should have a bond to the grounding system. In most electrical panels this is accomplished by a screw colored green. Nice and easy to see and identify. A metal strap or wire is also another method.
Checking the electric panel on my latest inspection, I discovered the panel lacked the required bonding screw. I found the same the previous day. I would like to say this is an unusual oversight, but I can't having found this same defect in about four to five house's this month.
In the house from the other morning, as is my custom, I checked the wiring instructions/diagram for the panel. The instructions were, at least in my mind pretty clear. They state; Box bonding when req'd, with an arrow pointing to the hole where the green screw is to be put.
No wonder men get berated for not following instructions.
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