I have mentioned this before, a while back, but it is so scary I want to repeat it. In my parent's house I once blew a breaker. It sounded WAY above the 15A the receptacle (old, old, 15A triplex w/o ground) was rated for... and the amount of blackening around the receptacle was seemingly too much. I look down in the basement at the panel and... it's on a 50A double-pole breaker that is also feeding the 25A gas furnace. Turns out the chumps my grandpa hired to "carpenteer" the house sucked as electricians... and no permits were filed for ANY of the work-- carpentry, electric, none. It still makes me angry.
