I'm having a bit of a dilemna. At lot #6 at the Greenbrier Resort, (I thought final punch-out was two weeks ago!) Musser and myself have been "coming through" due to the absence of the EC who first got the job. A few fixtures had come in when we were there taking care of an aux pump for the dryer vent, and we were asked to hang them. While looking at the parts of the lumunaires (which were from Italy), I noticed that the only thing UL labelled was the strap and socket. No "listed UL assembly" sticker at all. I mentioned something about it. Then I removed the plastic lampholders from the ceiling and lo and behold (metal boxes were spec'ed for the job) the boxes were NOT bonded, and the EGC's were merely twisted together, no wirenut, Greenie, or crimp. Not only that, but one box had twisted and taped hot and neutral splices! I mentioned these as well. Then, to repair a botched job the other EC did at installing a GFCI in a wet bar, we had to replace the 3x2x1.5" metal box (with 45ยบ corners) with a 3x2x2, and the conductors were about 2.5" long... The botched part was that the mounting screws had come through the front of the bar! Otherwise, the other thing would have never been seen. Rumors of hidden junction boxes when the interior designer was unhappy with locations were also heard... Plus a 240V 20A receptacle for a Washing Machine was wired for 120V, AND was damaged in the wall. (Continuity between the white wire and ground even when both the neutral and ground were disconnected from the bus, 2 volts max reading between white and black, connected to a 1-20 breaker and the recept was a 250V 20A).

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Anyway, I was about fit to be tied about the lack of quality in a $M house, just to get an hour long "discussion" on bad attitudes and pessimism.

So, for double my normal rate of pay, and atleast 10 years worth of work, should I suck-up and be a "yes" man and make decent pay for this area, or should I hold to the letter of the code and go lobby for mandatory electrical inspections for all new construction in WV?

I'm only half kidding about the lobbying part... If I could get a gov't grant to do a study to show that it is an important thing...

*dreaming*


-Virgil
Residential/Commercial Inspector
5 Star Inspections
Member IAEI