Would you remove this cover?

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

How about this one?

[Bruce M. Graham, III]

yes, looks like the paint seal has already been broken, if not I just ask the seller if they have a problem with the paint line, it's best to use a razor knife to get a clean break.

[jcundiff]

Yes, yes , yes... My policy is to remove all readily accessible covers. Including fpe, zinsco, and mystery panels.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

I would remove it also

[Richie Dimmerling]

yeah, i would have to see what was actually behind it

[William E. Siegel]

I would have removed both covers, just out of curiosity. However, after seening the service panel, there probably would be no reason to remove them. Just list all the deficiences with the service panel with the comment to bring the entire system up to current standards (or code if you like that word).

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Yeah, I opened this one too. . .

[relliott]

Saw this late but will join the party.

Since it is a sub-panel or Remote Distribution panel for you Purists,I would cut off the power at the main if I was going to remove that cover.

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by wwilson3

However the tiny plumber had to be let go he showed crack.

You coulda just let the foundation guy evaluate it for repair

[Blaine Wiley]

Yep. No different from any other panel cover.

Yes to FPE, yes to zinsco, yes to painted (oh no, Blaine uses a razor blade to score the paint at the panel cover) yes to home made, I even pulled a plywood cover once.

Like Jeff said, I'd hate to refer it to an electrician only to find out it was an open hole in the wall where someone was supposed to put a "sub panel".

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Originally Posted by wdecker

You coulda just let the foundation guy evaluate it for repair

He was busy in the make up room lol

[gkay]

No I would not open this panel as there was enough evidence in the main service panel to justify referring it to an electrical contractor for his opinion to replace or repair.
Had the main service panel been ok within reason I would have opened the panel marked sub panel.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Originally Posted by jpope

The panel was over-sized James, so replacing it was easy, The drywall screws were in the drywall, not the enclosure.



That was actually (almost) my reasoning for removing this cover. I would have hated to refer an electrician to this, only to find that it was simply covering a hole in the wall.

I'm not necessarily saying it was the "right" call, but it was "my" call.

What if you had an Infrared Camera? Think you still would have opened it? Just curious!

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

I do, and I did. What's your thinking here Dom?

[Dominic J. Maricic]

My thought was that some guys would only open it to know whether it existed and an electrician needed to come out. I don't know how thick that sheet metal was or how well IR cameras work (I've only handled them a few times) but if it was thin enough an IR camera should be able to see heat from the panel behind it and wouldn't need to remove it to know if it was a hole. I realize you opened it to give more details on whether it existed or not though. I guess I'm curious as to the camera's capability to help in a situation like this.