Kyle Kubs

I'd like to know who is using framing spikes to hang siding... and what else inside other areas of exterior walls has large nails sticking in it. [water/drain pipes, electrical cables]

Just for extra clarity, since there seams to be a lot of mincing of words here, this applies regardless of the plastic circulating piping that is a component of the tub. i.e. if the tub has copper pipe feeding the faucet AND a pump that is not double insulated, it must be bonded to the metallic water pipe. The circulation piping being plastic (I've never seen it otherwise), just means that pipe doesn't require bonding, it doesn't make bonding the Copper feed pipe unnecessary. And just for the record, water, normal household/city/well water, absolutely is conductive, unless you are somehow getting distilled water piped to your house. People do also have a tendency to use Epsom salts in their tubs as well, which raises the conductivity even more.

Even new motor oil, but especially used motor oil, contains serious toxic additives & combustion by-products. Wouldn't recommend that practice at all where people/pets might be walking barefoot. Never had Terra Cotta floor tile but I would think mineral oil, maybe Tung oil or any number of natural waxes would be much better options.

From what I can tell, Williamson is an off shoot or subsidiary (purchased by) of Weil-Mclain, who never made furnaces, just boilers and now has furnaces as well as green boilers with the Williamson name and all the trimmings of a Weil-McLain, including the CP# on a sticker someplace near the dataplate. Looks like this. Click to Enlarge 26.19 KB In this case, the QC sticker above is a giveaway but they aren't always there/visible. With the WM's they have a page on their website under the "Resources/professional tools" where you type in the CP # and get the date of manufacture. Can't find a similar page on the Williamson site but you should be able to call their tech support and give them the CP #. Nothing in the serial #'s correlates to the date of manufacture.

Curious what he was trying to achieve by running the grounding conductor back through the cable clamp on a plastic box.

From his first post "I flung it out of there with a piece of quarter round trim." Sorry, didn't see that. HE DID WHAT?!!!!!! In hindsight there was something I should have done but failed to. I should have asked the client to leave the area before clearing the object. I didn't waste much time with it. I looked at it for about 10 seconds and figured an upward and slightly outward flip would work. Fortunately, it did. What you really should have done is to have gone outside and pulled the meter before messing with it. Also the only remedy if it had made contact, something to have mentally imprinted so when it happens, you don't stand there trying to figure out which way to go. The glasses are great for protection from the hot flying metal but unless they are welders glasses they aren't going to protect you from the brighter than the Sun flash. My dad having built half of the generators in the assorted power plants of this and several other countries in his 40 years at General Electric, came home many times from the hospital instead of the job site. Besides the scrub down event when he was working at the Nuclear plant, the one that imprinted on me the most when I was a kid was when he pulled up as a passenger in his own car, bandages over both eyes and flash burns on his face. Took five days to get his sight back. I heard the idiot that didn't quite understand the "wait till I tell you to... and throw this switch" was still sore a month after that.

Hey Brandon, If the pipe was heated to a significant extent and then hit with water in the process of putting out the fire, it has likely had it's temper significantly changed/hardened, which would make it more brittle, especially at the threaded joints. I would imagine that somewhere deep in ASHRAE standards there is some range of hardness that the pipe is supposed to conform to. I would try contacting a pipe manufacturers association.

I seriously doubt the UL listing of the meter socket enclosure included circuit wire. If it is just a meter enclosure. Likely the only thing prohibiting it in service entrance raceway would be conduit fill limitations.

I've only seen them behind houses, most often just outside the back door from the kitchen. Where would you want it to be? In places where I've seen them in the past & knew that's what they were for, they were in front of the house close to the sidewalk or curb. Sometimes at the corner of the driveway & sidewalk. Still, it makes sense they could have been in the back. Just got back from a trip to Puerto Rico & the one neighborhood we drove through had them up & down the street at the curb. Nice, ornate, cast iron covers. Guess they don't like the cans flying around in the hurricanes. I remember that same thing in my hometown when I was a kid. Only last a couple years then the taxes went up, services disappeared and a trend was born.

I thought it could be something like that except it was all the way in the back of the house.. and not very big at all. Maybe a 14" opening.

Anyone know what this is for/from? It's an old house, 1920's and there wasn't anything under the cover but dirt. I have a vague recollection of seeing them once in a while when I was a kid but can't remember anything about them. This is the second house in this neighborhood this week that has turned on up. The other one has a lever to step on to raise the lid Which has me thinking it was a cover for a compost hole or something. Click to Enlarge 84.84 KB

Not on "that" computer at the moment but probably best to download the manufacturers install manual and use that for reference.

Dedicated transfer switch panels like this are different than a sub panel rigged for a generator. If it is a sub panel, then as Marc said, electrical code requires all circuit wire routed together. I also agree with the Twit assessment. Likely the sparky saying there is nothing wrong with it is the same one that installed it that way.

Hey. Sorry to question & drop out of sight, again... The extended weekend from HELL on top of being WAY too busy lately. Yah, Kurt, their all Stablok panels. Six of them actually. They won't be there much longer. Things weren't making sense to me about the relays cause none of the lights switches were low voltage switches, until I remembered the listing agent saying something about the house initially being set up for electric baseboard heat that was never finished, but changed to F/A which is the current heating system. There were electric/line voltage, thermostats in several rooms and that now makes a bit more sense. I'm not used to relays in residential construction. Use them plenty in electronics and high amperage industrial equipment, automotive electrical but they look a lot different than these. Marc, the Bul. # is 700. Click to Enlarge 64.87 KB

Your right, there are switch contacts on the top, but what could this be for? And what is the point if the signal wire and load wire are the same gauge? Nothing else anywhere in the house gave any impression of being other than a normal electrical system.

Hey Gents. Have a new mystery today. Have three main panels over this hot gutter and under is a bank of 24v transformers. And another one next to a sub panel in the attic. Now I've heard some old houses once had DC lighting systems, never seen one but heard of them. But this is a 1962, very modest split level. Seems to be an anomaly, the original owner was apparently an electrician. I'd say he was an industrial electrician by the looks of things. There are three more panels in other places. But the only thing I can figure is that these must be for DC lighting. Didn't take the time to break out the multi-meter, it was just "one of those" inspections and way too much left to do. All the wiring is still 14 ga. so it shouldn't be too hard to convert everything, since most of this will be ripped out anyway. Any thoughts? Click to Enlarge 53.61 KB Click to Enlarge 38.99 KB

Apparently the subject of an I-team investigation now. They did the usual short & totally incomplete blurb, seemed to focus more on public housing but at least putting it out there. On my way out the door, so set it to record & see if there is anything more.

My experience is the same as Chad's. Half of the houses I inspect are in the woods & I commonly see a clear path down to the eave under a galvanized or copper flashing. Mike's climate is a lot more temperate than ours. Our winters and dry seasons make the moss a lot more docile here. The last firewood shed I built with a cedar shingle roof, I put a Copper ridge on it and there has never been any moss on it, fully shaded 95% of the time. As far as killing the existing, I go with a little more gentle approach, having a preference for Borate solutions rather than Chlorine. I have no issue if it takes a few or more days to finally die. The copper sulfate probably just as good.

I guess I could have explained myself a little better. I don't have an issue with the tape in and of itself. I've used it many times to wrap split bolts on service mains at the weather head. It does it's job as it was intended. Chad I like the shrink tube idea though. Jim, I think your the only one that can get away with calling you a hack on any terms. I just have a hard time believing that the next several inches of the insulation isn't as brittle as Ritz crackers from the heat. The pieces that had fallen off were completely charred. One had fallen off and broke into several pieces when hitting the floor. I could hardly pick it up without it breaking into dust. I guess I'm less comfortable with it because I'm stuck in the inspector role and not the one who pulled the breaker, got to see what was going on inside & behind it and didn't have my hands on that cable to judge the pliability of the insulation. But, that's why I came here, you guys make a good sounding board to temper my anal retentiveness. (Almost sounds dirty or something...) I seriously doubt the damage was the result of overloading the service level. Even if the main breaker didn't trip (not unheard of with the Murrays), it probably would have had to overload by another 40 0r 50 amps to create that much heat & damage. The house has a gas water heater, stove/oven. The clothes dryer was electric and though it had central A/C it was only drawing 12 amps on cruise. I tend to doubt it's pushing the limit at 100 amps. My first thought was a loose connection also and yah, the breaker looks like it had been arcing. I did call it out to do a load calc. to make sure and told the client the best case scenario was to replace the panel but an electrician would need to find justification for that if he was going to get it on the sellers dime. Fat chance of that happening with the insurance company electrician though. Neal, nice catch! It didn't even hit me, the breaker is on in the down position. There was plenty of other imbecile work going on there so another electrician will be following.

I still see those pretty regularly. Of course I inspect a lot of older houses that still need a bit of updating.

Opened up an old Murray panel the other day. Found the SEC as you see it missing the insulation because it baked so bad it just fell off. Looking at the side of the breaker it was obvious there was an issue. I went up to get the home owner to show him what his family would be going to sleep with that night and he was on the phone to an electrician a minute later. His agent stopped him and reminded him he now had one of those "home warranty" insurance deals and called them to have them send out an electrician. When I mumbled something about a warranty service electrician not being of the highest caliber, especially for repair like this, she just said, "but if he's a licensed electrician then what's the difference?" I had to go back yesterday to pick up the Radon monitor and the client having been notified that it was repaired, asked me to take a look at it while I was there. I had told him the SEC up to the meter would have to be replaced with the breaker of course and expected to find it that way. I was a little surprised to see they replaced the breaker and just trimmed a little off the end of the SEC, wrapped it with high voltage tape and left it in place. You can see in a couple of the pictures the discoloration on the conductors above the main breaker and even the top of the enclosure, I can't imagine the insulation a foot out from the main breaker isn't damaged. I wouldn't in a million years do work like that but I have to remind myself that my way of doing things isn't a standard I can hold others too... So, is there any "standard" or requirement for repair from this kind of damage? I can't tell my client I feel it's been repaired properly. Opine away. Click to Enlarge 57.8 KB Click to Enlarge 46.8 KB Click to Enlarge 62.79 KB Click to Enlarge 48.5 KB

See, I told ya, didn't take long... Three questions; 1) What is the panel feeding now? 2) What is that red #4 wire doing (looks like it's just capped)? 3) What is the overcurrent protection on that #4 cable? By the code book, the main lugs don't look like they are listed for two wires (jumper), & if somebody that doesn't know better comes in later and modifies this to try & install a multi-wire circuit, the grounded conductor would be overloaded. Main concern.. the #4 wire is Aluminum, the tap wire is Copper. I have to wonder if the split bolt is listed for different metals at the same time? The one Richard posted is Bronze Alloy, but the specs are kinda sparse. Not making a habit of doing things in such convoluted ways, I'm really not sure either, but it looks justifiable to say, have an electrician take a closer look. Just tell 'em it has a little too much "Redneck chic" for your comfort level. Doesn't look like a clear and present hazard, but I doubt it's up to the full letter of the law either. Electrically, if the overcurrent protection is acceptable for the smaller wire, everything should work as intended. Don't know why they didn't just feed the panel from the #4 cable, the lugs are listed for it, it's a 3 wire w/ground cable. Lazy bastards.

From the fireplace on the first floor, you looked up the flue, and saw the metal flue connector from the boiler in the basement? I think John may be right, there may have been another flue at one time that was terminated. That flue connector from the boiler hits the chimney structure right at the corner of the block wall, very odd.

That's why the ducting is supposed to meet UL 181 for fire resistance. Ceiling fans have the same issue. Had on once that only had two speeds, after a while of not moving on what should've been the low speed, the casing was hot enough to cook on.

Come on Mike, we all know how much you love rats. [:-slaphap Thought of you in a crawlspace a couple weeks ago, after spotting the third tunnel entrance and the ground started caving in underneath me when I moved.