arc fault knob & tube

[George P. Wells, CMI]

Originally Posted by sstanczyk

George,

Ron was referring to a section of the Washington State SOP that states:

(h) Report on any circuit breaker panel or subpanel known within the home inspection profession to have safety concerns.

As home inspectors, there is nothing we can REQUIRE.

Thanks Stephen. I knew "Report" was in the SOP but I was looking for anything that said that the inspector had the authority to require anything. Ron had used the word "Require" in his original message. My concern for Ron is that he could get himself into a bit of trouble if he implies that he has the authority to require an update. I don't mean to split hairs about the meanings of words but we provide mediation services and we frequently see big disputes grow out of the meaning of a single word or phrase.

[Ron E. Perkerewicz]

thanks all for your comments, as I mentioned early on I did not post the full content and extent of my report and I guess I needed to, I wanted to try to get to a short answer to a question. I appreciate Joe's comments but I still feel they were too strong and can scare away newbies from asking questions. I thought that was how we learned. I know we cannot and I do not REQUIRE any thing only recommend. And in this case I had recommended a professional evaluate etc and he did not perform so I was a bit frustrated. for both yours and Joe's benefit I did take a 7 hour electrical course today from one of the writers of the code check books, but I am still a bit confused on shared neutrals.

next time I will PICK my words more carefuly as I see they are read as a technical statement rather than a general questions which is fine and I should clarify that in the intial post.

[George P. Wells, CMI]

Originally Posted by rperkerewicz

I am still a bit confused on shared neutrals.

Ron, you are welcome to attend my online electrical class December 2nd. It is free and will count toward your InterNACHI continuing education. The online portion of the class is two-hours. You should read the offline portion in advance of the class to get the most of the class and to qualify for four continuing education hours. The way it works is that attendees come to the class with questions about the offline material. We usually go into depth on two or three topics. I try to leave time at the end to cover things that are not in the course materials but that inspectors need help with.

The topic of shared neutrals is one that comes up often. I have a few diagrams that you can look at and I can do sketches during the class to illustrate points.

My approach to teaching electrical is a little different from other courses you may have taken. I don't like to go into building codes until I am confident that the underlying concepts are understood. Only then, will I explain how the codes address these things. I would also rather have you leave the class with a clear understanding of something that you have been struggling with than to throw a whole bunch of stuff at you and have you leave not really understanding any more than before the class.

If you are interested in attending the December 2nd class, please let me know in advance. Space is limited. If I have more than I can accommodate, I'll schedule a second session.

Details are posted here: http://www.bestinspectors.net/education/home.htm

I also post a message on this board a week or so before each class. The class is free to all InterNACHI members.