Discolored service conductor, bonded subpanel

[David B. Alvares]

I did an inspection today on an older home that had a small guest house added to the back of the house that was detached from the main residence.

1. The wire that feeds to the subpanel is appears to be originally blue and looks to be discolored and brittle. I was unable to determine the case and I am assuming that it may have been from overheating? The hot lines are not colored black or red and the neutral is not colored white.

2. The subpanel is a Zylvania panel which I will write up on its own but the neutral and the grounding bus area shared and it is bonded to the panel and that also needs to be writing up correct?

[Gerry Beaumont]

Originally Posted by dalvares

1. The wire that feeds to the subpanel is appears to be originally blue and looks to be discolored and brittle. I was unable to determine the case and I am assuming that it may have been from overheating? The hot lines are not colored black or red and the neutral is not colored white.

I agree with you, the lack of identifying colors appears to be the least of the problems, the insullation does look ropey

2. The subpanel is a Zylvania panel which I will write up on its own but the neutral and the grounding bus area shared and it is bonded to the panel and that also needs to be writing up correct?

Good call on the Zinsco, and yes the neutrals should be isolated from the grounds and panel.

Regards

Gerry

[David B. Alvares]

Thanks for the heads up Gerry

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

The panel bond may be OK in this detached building, but it's certainly prudent to have this verified.

In previous code cycles, when done properly, a detached building was allowed to have the same basic set-up as the service equipment - i.e. bonded neutrals and grounds, however, verifying this set-up as proper, would be well beyond the scope of a home inspection.

You should also have had a grounding electrode at the detached building, and I don't see a GEC in that panel.