Can I have a picture of....

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Can I have a picture of a door bell transformer located inside an electrical cabinet, please?

Does anyone have a hot pic?

They're not supposed to be inside a cabinet, right?

(I'll give ya credit in my next video on nachi.tv.)

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

Ben,

Here is a door bell transformer on the outside of the panel. I have never seen one located in the inside of a panel.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Thank you. I know that I've got a couple pictures of a transformer inside a cabinet, but I don't have my inspection pictures categorized, to make searching easy. Thanks though.

By the way, where are the grounding wires in that panel? I see maybe one.

[Doug Edwards]

Here you go.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Yahooooo! Thank you. Thank you.

That's great. It's going to be in my next video. And your name shall appear in the credits. Thanks.

You guys are great.

It reminds me what Nick said to me yesterday - that these nach.tv videos are not ours (Nick, Valerie, Paige, and me) but they're yours (InterNACHI Members).

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

Originally Posted by bgromicko

Thank you. I know that I've got a couple pictures of a transformer inside a cabinet, but I don't have my inspection pictures categorized, to make searching easy. Thanks though.

By the way, where are the grounding wires in that panel? I see maybe one.

I see two!!

[rbrady]

I see this a lot.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Thanks, Ralph. Your pic is great!

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Alright..... Who has a picture of an unapproved, unidentified handle tie on two breaker handles? Like a screw, a wire, or a nail connection between two breakers. I got nothin'.

[Doug Edwards]

I got some, will have to run a search through photo archives.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Here's one in a Zinsco panel. . .

[Doug Edwards]

Haven't located any of mine yet. May be on my old B/U computer and I would have to drag it out and fire it up. Did find these two you might be able to use as well. One is where someone used two single pole 20 amp brkrs to make a two pole device, using a plastic cheater cap to tie the two toggles. You can see one of the two brkrs is not fully seated in the panel. It was stretched onto and barely on the tips of the toggles and doubtful if one tripped that it would stay on as it popped off in my hand when I examined it. The other pic is of the toggles snapped completely off on a two pole brkr in the Service disconnect. Use what you want. Jeff's photo is a good example of what I have seen; copper wire used to tie toggles together. I will keep looking as time permits. Gotta go out for some research work. I remember one pic I have of a safety pin being used to tie the toggles together. And yes I did write up the loose ground wire. Thought I better put that in before all the nitpickers point it out.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Jeff,
That's perfect! Thanks.
I'm looking for one more of those.
I just inserted your pic in the video, and your name in the credits.

Ralph and Doug, your pics and names are will be the video as well. Thanks guys.

[jtedesco1]

Architecturally Appealing, But Electrically Deficient

Franco Loughnan Morneault, owner, Construction and Remodeling, Brooklyn and Staten Island, N.Y., snapped these photos at a luxury house that sold for $2.2 million about 18 months ago. “The house is located in a vacation community on Fire Island,” says Morneault. “When it was built back in 1985, it graced six pages of Architectural Digest magazine. We're gutting it out in the fall.”
Here are the Code violations he noted at this location.

“The sticker on the main panelboard rates it for 40 circuit breaker poles. I counted 61! A second panelboard (the house has 400A service) is half empty. It only had 21 circuit breakers in it. The half-empty panelboard is located in the basement, and this overflowing panelboard is located in the laundry room.
“The two photos taken under the deck show a nice spiderweb pattern. I especially like the hanging junction boxes, and the way somebody left one open, not even bothering to tuck the wires into the box.

“Garden lighting is located under a walk leading up to the deck. Aren't these conductors supposed to be buried or placed in conduit? This is pretty typical of what I saw throughout the property. Where I did find buried wires, they were typically placed only 3 or 4 inches below the surface, and otherwise unshielded.
“Although there were more, these were the most obvious violations I documented.”
Here are some specific Code references we can relate to this particular installation.

As per 408.35, “Not more than 42 overcurrent devices (other than those provided for in the mains) of a lighting and appliance branch-circuit panelboard shall be installed in any one cabinet or cutout box. A lighting and appliance branch-circuit panelboard shall be provided with physical means to prevent the installation of more overcurrent devices than that number for which the panelboard was designed, rated, and approved. For the purposes of this article, a 2-pole circuit breaker shall be considered two overcurrent devices; a 3-pole circuit breaker shall be considered three overcurrent devices.”

As per 300.11(A), “Raceways, cable assemblies, boxes, cabinets, and fittings shall be securely fastened in place.”
As per 340.10, “Type UF cable shall be permitted as follows:
“(1) For use underground, including direct burial in the earth. For underground requirements, see 300.5.
“(3) For wiring in wet, dry, or corrosive locations under the recognized wiring methods of this Code.”
Found a Code violation? E-mail your text and photos (no cell phone images, please) to Joe Tedesco at joetedesco@comcast.net.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Here's another from today. . .