electrical safety: Dogs! DON'T mark your territory today!
- 06/22/13 11:15 PM
This post is about a lot of things.
It is about luck.
It is about ladder safety.
It is about electrical safety.
It is about how sometimes if one can’t be "smart" enough---it is nice to know that sometimes one can be "lucky" enough. It is also important to get to a point where one is smart enough to have put enough things in place to increase the odds of one being lucky.
I inspected a house that we shall euphemistically call a “little rough around the edges." It had an interlocking shingle type metal roof. This type of roof is … (26 comments)
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electrical safety: Chandelier or showerdelier?
- 02/10/13 05:42 AM
I am pretty sure you won’t find a showerdelier on Ebay or at Amazon---or even at Archie McFees. I am very sure you don’t want one even if you could find one.
This indoor chandelier is not meant for outdoor installation and the fact that it was raining at the time of inspection only adds to the “sparkling & sparky” quality of the fixture. There is absolutely nothing positive to say about this installation and I certainly did not bother turning it on to see if it worked. I wish now that I had turned it on because that would … (34 comments)
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electrical safety: Tap dancing around double lugs
- 01/12/13 11:54 PM
I am sure that most real estate agents have heard the term “double tap” so many times that I am likely to lose most of you due to not being able to bear having to hear about them even one more time.
But!
Hang in there--because this will be a slightly different conversation about “double taps.”
First of all I need to clear up a “technical issue.” Technically an electrical installation that is generally referred to as a “double tap,” by many home inspectors and the general public, is really a “double lug.” In electrical installations a double tap … (21 comments)
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electrical safety: Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go!
- 10/06/12 01:29 AM
Sometimes stories can be better told with pictures than with words. Since it is difficult to “see” electricity, it seems only appropriate that this circuitous story be told with pictures.
As you follow the dotted blue lines, you will get a sense of just what can be accomplished with several extension cords in an effort to light up a storage shed. None of these cords are rated for permanent installation. None of these cords are rated for outdoor use---let alone being buried underground. Because extension cords used in such a fashion do not fail immediately, a false sense of security can … (23 comments)
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electrical safety: Red nuts, yellow nuts and all nuts!
- 10/02/12 12:30 AM
I love discovering the many ways people figure out how to get things to work---especially electrical things. Electrical things are especially interesting to me because the damn stuff flows and makes things glow even when installed in an unsafe manner.
We take wires and connect them with pretty colored wire nuts and like “magic” the light turns on.
Electricity is quite oblivious as to whether we make any attempt in protecting ourselves from it or not. All the while it does work for us.
It is simply obeying its own rules.
It would be nice if we … (12 comments)
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electrical safety: I could stand photo enhancement to look better too!
- 09/12/12 11:06 PM
The house is 67 years old. It has me beat by two years, which is not all that much when you get to be that old. The thing about houses is that they generally don’t improve with age---especially the electrical components.
Most houses from 1945 would typically have three separate wires running to the house. An inspector---walking around the exterior of the home---would note this and expect to see either an old fused electrical service or possibly an upgraded service panel without the entire electrical service being upgraded. Upgrading just the service panel is not typically a problem as most … (44 comments)
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electrical safety: Sometimes all we have is luck to protect us from ourselves.
- 04/17/12 12:03 AM
Electric forced air wall heaters are very common. Other than needing cleaning periodically they typically work pretty well.
I did a post recently about one that caught on fire due to being plugged with lint. They often have a foul smell when they are turned on for the first time in the fall. All that lint that has been collecting on the heating elements during the warm months gets burned off the first time the thermostat gets turned up.
It is a good idea to have them properly cleaned prior to turning them on in the fall. Many manufacturers recommend … (27 comments)
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electrical safety: Wacky people define the rest of us!
- 03/25/12 12:44 AM
I cannot begin to fathom the motives that led to someone doing what they did.
In the end, it most certainly would come down to something like, “Because they could.”
Not knowing the “story,” in no way diminishes the effect of discovering what was done. The amazement, the laughter---that deep tingle inside that we feel when we come to realize that there are some truly whacked people out there in the world.
We need these crazies to define our own presence in the world. After all, where would we be if we had no one to show us where the … (23 comments)
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electrical safety: Combination wind chime/light fixture?
- 11/16/11 01:32 AM
Probably not, but when the wind blows the downspout will likely rattle a bit.
I can just imagine the light patterns flashing around the yard when it is windy and the light is turned on.Of course it needs to be fixed. Sooner or later, the wires will fray and possibly short out. The frayed wires could also result in the gutter and downspout becoming energized. Energized gutters are never a good idea and will do nothing to keep the squirrels or rats off of them. The aluminum ladder leaned against it from the ground could be a problem though for the … (34 comments)
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electrical safety: Spaghetti Westerns and Spaghetti Electricians.
- 07/24/11 01:47 AM
As a Seattle Home Inspector it is very common to find homes prior to the mid sixties that have ungrounded electrical circuits. Whenever I find three prong type receptacles in homes prior to 1965 I want to verify, if I can, that the circuits are actually grounded. This is done "visually," because to actually know that something is grounded is a technically complicated procedure---well beyond what can be expected of a home inspector. Taking off cover plates and seeing a ground wire connected to the receptacle or switch and seeing ground wires connected in the electrical panels in the home is … (23 comments)
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electrical safety: Cindy Crawford and Heidi Klum have nice panels!
- 06/07/09 03:10 AM
When I find an electrical panel that has been professionally wired, and looks very neat and orderly----and the fact that the installer really cared about his/her work is obvious----it tends to stick out like a sore thumb or should I say like Heidi Klum or Cindy Crawford on a busy street.
Well this panel, at a recent inspection would qualify as the Cindy or Heidi of electrical panels. Contrary to even the most committed fantasies, all super models have their “defects.” This one had one defect as well. Take a look at this panel and see what a "super-model" … (32 comments)
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electrical safety: More Pyrolysis
- 01/26/08 01:21 AM
I don't mean to hijack Steve's blog on Pyrolysis, but it is an issue that I wanted to address anyway. I know Steve is desperate to stay ahead of me in points so he can have these:) The following pictures are of perhaps the best example of Pyrolysis that I have seen. These pictures were from a four unit Apartment building built in the 30's. All of the units had these ancient electric wall heaters and the woodwork behind the metal frames of the heaters was all charcoal. One of the unit's residents was so aware of the potential safety … (7 comments)
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electrical safety: Inspecting Condos----special issues for home inspectors
- 01/20/08 01:01 AM
Inspecting Condos and other multi-family dwellings represents different challenges for the inspector than single family homes. Because defects that are found in the unit I am inspecting may also exist in other units in the complex a different approach must be taken in communicating these findings. My buyer may decide to purchase the unit and have the repairs made (or the seller may be willing to make the repairs), but what about the fact that the same conditions most likely exist in the rest of the structure. This might be a significant issue if the deficiencies are serious enough. Let's … (3 comments)
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electrical safety: I KNEW I could get it running!
- 01/16/08 12:11 AM
One of my favorite "homeowner" wiring jobs was this disposal that was wired with phone wire. This demonstrates one of the problems with electrical installations in general----there are many ways to make things function and yet the wiring can be wrong and dangerous.
Many are not as obvious as this use of way-undersized wire to supply power to the disposal. With the availability of information on the internet pertaining to the proper installation of almost anything, it is getting to the point where there is very little excuse for seeing installations like this----yet they still happen. I love the internet … (4 comments)
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electrical safety: Painted receptacles
- 01/14/08 04:47 AM
On yesterday's inspection I was reminded of a common electrical issue---painted receptacles. Receptacles should NOT be painted. When they are painted the surface of the receptacle from prong-to-prong can become "conductive" and internal components can be adversely affected by the paint. And, depending on the components in the paint, the paint can become very conductive (high metal content---old lead based paint etc). Sometimes receptacles get painted because of the desire to have the receptacles "disappear" into the overall color of the wall. Other times they end of painted because people are just too lazy to properly protect the outlets during painting … (3 comments)
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electrical safety: Closet fire hazards
- 01/12/08 03:28 AM
A lot of older homes still have porcelain bulb holders in them. Too often they are located such that stored items can come in contact with the bulb----creating a fire hazard. These old bulb holders should be replaced with fixtures approved for closet installation. Fixtures with florescent bulbs are common. Locating them above the doorway keeps them out of the way of stored items and allows for better lighting of the closet as well. In the picture below we see the bulb in contact with a cardboard box. Another issue with these older style porcelain bulb holders is that they … (9 comments)
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electrical safety: When do I have to be careful?
- 01/11/08 12:41 AM
This is a continuation of the theme started in the previous blog: "Electrocution hazard." It is very important that proper clearances be maintained for the electrical service wire coming to the home from the street. Trees need to be kept cut back and the service wires should not contact the roof or other components of the home. In the picture below, the service wire has come in contact with the metal edge of the flat roof. There is a wear mark on the metal where the wire has worn off the paint. Over time this metal edge will wear off … (7 comments)
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electrical safety: Electrocution hazard.
- 01/11/08 12:34 AM
Inspectors find all kinds of electrical issues during an inspection. Some can cause fires while others lead to electrical shocks. Few of these issues rival the shock hazard of uncovered utility company splices. In the picture below the splices are the silver colored connectors with all the little indentations. Normally these have shrink wrap, tape, or snap-on enclosures installed by the utility when they make the connections. It is common for the neutral/ground connection to not be covered (the bare wire that also acts as the support wire from the street). In the picture the lowest connection is the neutral/ground/support-wire … (2 comments)
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electrical safety: Continuity of Electrial Bonding---shock hazards!
- 01/10/08 12:56 AM
As previously discussed in the blog: Plumbers aren't Electricians, I mentioned that the continuity of the metal piping systems in the home is important and that replacement of sections of the pipe with plastic can result in loss of continuity. Examples of ways that continuity can be broken are: installation of di-electric unions, replacement of sections of the metal pipe with plastic, in-line water filters etc. Di-electric unions are used to connect pipes of dissimilar metals to prevent corrosion due to electrolysis.
In this first picture we see where there has been a jumper installed across the section of non-conductive … (0 comments)
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electrical safety: Plumbers are NOT electricians
- 01/10/08 12:38 AM
One of the consequences of over specialization is that in areas where disciplines overlap things may be omitted. One example of this is the bonding of metal systems to the electrical grounding system in the home. Without getting overly technical regarding "grounding" and "bonding," every home has a grounding system and all metallic systems in the home (metal water supply pipes, metal drain pipes, metal heating pipes, gas pipes etc.) must be "bonded" to the house grounding system. This prevents life threatening shocks to persons touching these systems if the pipes were to become energized for some reason.
In older … (9 comments)
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This post is about a lot of things.
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