John Kogel

Aggressive moss removal?

Thanks, Stephen. I called that added black cable a neutral because it has to act like one for the the 100 amp panel. There is no other neutral conductor visible there. I have no beef with fused disconnects, so I would tell my clients that the 200 amp side might not need repair at all, but the added disconnect needs immediate repair for safety. Folks, use your voltage sniffer before touching the panel cover. I should make that a habit, too. []

That appears to be a neutral conductor that he has spliced onto. The splice, even if it was allowed, needs to be in a service panel. It's a shock hazard as is. It is wrong for the hots to come from one location, probably the meter, and the neutral to come from somewhere else. The black conductor needs to be marked with white paint or tape. My guess would be that the house was originally one unit and the second panel was added without a proper permit. Not satisfied with that faulty arrangement, somebody decided to splice in a 240 v tap and then left live conductors dangling??? Stephen, is there a lot of inbreeding in your town? You seem to get more that your share of crap like that. Any grow-op evidence?

130 give or take

Too much water in the mix, maybe? A crappy pour, but it isn't going anywhere. Unless y'all get hit by the Big One.

Copper-plated steel. The copper is 'rusting' to a green color. Where the copper has washed away, the steel core is rusting. If ever in doubt, bring your magnet up on the roof. The magnet finds steel in roofing materials and also those fancy "stainless steel" appliances and cabinet handles that are actually brushed steel. High quality SS won't attract a magnet as strongly.

Modern world, go digital or die.Pics sent by wireless to a computer thence to the cloud. I prefer the reliable pen and paper, and I've got shelves and boxes full of old tech items, including vacuum tube test equipment. But I can't expect my clients to be happy with old school reporting. Ditto with the slide rule. Let the bits and bytes sort themselves at a billion clicks per second. I never liked the slide rule because it was the hard way to get the same answer. Why? I used to be angry at school, the teachers I had weren't cool. []

I grudgingly concede... http://grammarist.com/usage/forego-forgo/ Mycroft is selldom rong. [] Garbage disposers just send your waste to another part of town where you pay to clean up the sludge. They are stupid devices, actually.

We are not familiar with the green pipe you say is PVC. Best practice would be to replumb the entire pipe run with copper. Why tempt disaster twice in a row? In condo units here, plastic drain pipe, ABS or PVC, is not allowed, because fire can spread between floors by way of a burning drain stack. So there's a second reason to upgrade the plumbing.

I would call that out as an amateur installation. But I can be wrong because some AHJ somewhere might have his own rule book. You are in Illinois where the rules for conduit prevail. One more thing, it might be covered by a permit for the subpanel, and if performed by an electrician, around here, that makes it good.

Brings back memories of Mr. Hubachek in 7th grade industrial arts. He insisted that we use "rule" and also admonished us when we said "drill bit" when we meant "twist drill." At least he didn't make you use an "auger bit". Or would that be an "auger"? We had to perform complex calcs with that goofy contraption, the "slide rule". Nobody liked the slide rule very much, IIRC. Outside of Math class, a battery operated calculator worked just fine. []

The longer the butt-crack, the longer the job will take. It's an old joke now but worth repeating. [] The horizontal section needs to be raised so it is above the trap arm. I see there is a dishwasher drain that could go onto the horizontal section. The T needs to have a downward sweep to it. I call out galvanized water supply pipe because the insurance providers don't like it. So the premiums will cost more than replacing the pipe with copper or PEX. But again, the cost depends on who's doing the job.

Yes, somewhere here I have an antique folding Rule as well, but the numbers are worn off. I assume it was not a Lufkin. In school, we were taught to use a "ruler", and if we were bad boys, never the girls, could get the teacher's "ruler" across the butt, or just a sharp crack to the back of the head. [:-graduat

"Inspired by Mike".

Panel #1, looks correct. If you measured for continuity with a DMM, there would be some resistance in the feeder from the main panel. A fraction of an ohm, maybe. That would be correct. Panel #2 is simply wrong. There are bare ground conductors touching the panel box. So they are providing grounding that way, but bonding the neutrals to the sub as well, totally wrong.

A folding ruler? That's cool, Scott.

The drip loop is closer than 3 feet, I think. "230.9 Clearance From Building Openings (A) Clearance From Windows. Overhead service conductors must maintain a clearance of 3 ft from windows that are designed to be opened, doors, porches, balconies, ladders, stairs, fire escapes, or similar locations. Figure 230-7 230-09A.cdr Exception: Overhead conductors run above a window are not required to maintain the 3 ft distance. (B) Vertical Clearance. Overhead service conductors must maintain a vertical clearance of not less than 10 ft above platforms, projections or surfaces from which they might be reached [230.24(B)]. This vertical clearance must be maintained for 3 ft measured horizontally from the platform, projections or surfaces from which they might be reached. "

This is a century old building in a town near here. If I was to inspect it, I would tell the owner to get the roof drainage issues repaired pronto. I have a question for Bill or other experts - Is or was it acceptable practice to lay these blocks on their sides as was done here? Click to Enlarge 86.98 KB Click to Enlarge 71.35 KB Click to Enlarge 101.33 KB Click to Enlarge 56.85 KB

They say that about one third of the population has a psychosis of some kind. Given an even distribution across the planet, every sane person on Earth has one crazy neighbor. [] Having said that, I think if you measure with a tape, some of your foliage is over the line. Are you keeping them trimmed so they don't grow over onto her property? Why not dig them up and move them your way a foot? OK, maybe I'm crazy too.

Where the heck do Amish farmers get motor oil from? Maybe they buy it to oil the axles on their buggies? [] I remember a buddy spraying diesel oil on cedar siding to preserve it, and then having an inspirational moment - "Why am I spraying a flammable liquid all over my house?" []

Good one, Marc. I had a similar experience a couple of years back. A previous inspector had called out the cracked and broken blocks as a structural issue, so his clients walked. The floor joists above were actually supported by posts and a beam behind the block wall. I explained that the terra cotta blocks may have been installed later to separate the garage from the rest of the basement, not a structural wall. Learned about them here.

What Scott said, replace all that is accessible in one swoop. Remember the rule of slope is 1/4" per foot for horizontal runs. Use the correct fittings. There are Tee's and elbows that are not correct to use in drain work. If you don't know, find somebody that knows which fittings are correct and learn from them. If you can't figure out how to nail something, screw it. []

He was just testing for voltage in the panel. [] Shoulda left testing to the professionals in the white fur coats. []

My preference is the pocket-sized stiletto. I take an occasional electrical cover off with it. I avoid pasting arrows on pics with my handy dagger. Click to Enlarge 126.13 KB Click to Enlarge 64.67 KB If we had Daniel Boone coons here, I'd probably need an Erby cutlass too. She's ready to jump if I get any closer to the young'uns. I'm reachin around for my Bowie knife and backing away slowww. [:>]

The only thing he could find that was the right price was the plastic file box. A subpanel substitute? He knew they'd be needed when the small fuses started burning out.That's the 3rd instance I've heard in the past couple of weeks of circuits tapped off of the stove circuit. The fuse makes it a bit safer than the junk I saw, #12 wiring on 40 amp breakers. That's the Erby civil war cutlass, if I'm not mistaken. For knocking down cobwebs, I just use a stick myself. []