On a resi service change (my own house) back in '89:

Upgraded from 100 amp Zinsco (!) to a nice 200 amp surface mount Crouse-Hinds OH Meter combo.

Surface mount on exterior stucco wall with (2) Strut lagged into studs. 2" Galv. riser also strut times 2, lagged into studs and wall header. 3/0 copper THWN feeder, about 7 feet long overall. #4 ground to new rod and cold water pipe with no splices or doubled clamps.

Old circuits (6) tied in via 1" Sealtite, no shared neutrals, all hots/neuts number coded.
That run was about 2' from new panel to old. Old deadfront sealed with heavy gavl. steel, riveted and painted to match, old meter socket covered and sealed with POCO provided cover and ring.

New circuits (including 6/3 feeder to electric range) fed into bottom of panel through 30" of PVC conduit to crawlspace under house. Conduit ends under house with pvc fittings and bushings all cables secured within 4" of conduit entry.

Neat feature of that panel was split neutral buss, so each neutral landed directly in line with the breaker of it's hot feed. Everthing a work of art, anyone could go into that panel and find anything.

Inspector was quite pleased with my work, had many nice compliments about quality of workmanship. But he wouldn't sign off. Why?

He said the NM for the new circuits couldn't be run through conduit! I agreed, but also pointed out the exception which allows lengths up to (I think it was 3 feet back then) to be in conduit for physical protection. I also showed him the article I'd referenced in my '84 Code book.

He pointed out that my book was out of date, So I said fine, what does the new code say about it? Same article, same wording, he still said no way. Hmmm....bear in mind, this was a quite amicable debate, I was sure he was mistaken, but open to his input. I asked what he would like me to do to correct the situation.

His answer was to install a pull can or gutter under the house (access was thru a hatch in Master bed closet, on far side of house BTW) and splice in THHN to land in the breaker box. I disagreed, on the position that splices are traditionally a weak link and I didn't want to splice the 6/3 in particular. He stood firm, and I suggested that I'd like another opinion from another inspector as well. (Again, all done politely.) He said fine, you can call my boss and ask him. He left and I called his boss and explained the dilemma. Mentioned the weak link idea. His boss saw no problems and said he would question the inspector when he came back to the office.

The next morning at 9am I got the call from the inspector who said "I talked to my friends at the office and they agree that if I think it's safe anyway we can sign off." And he did! I thanked him for his time.

As a side note to the festivities, when the POCO came out to do the hook-up they were very impressed. Why? First, they said it was the cleanest resi they'd ever seen (aw, shucks) they were impressed with the use of the galv. riser (Why? I asked. Seems that for a while, PVC (!) risers were allowed.) And finally, I'd left the cover off of the meter socket area. When asked, I explained since they would hook up hot and stuff the meter, I wanted them to see for themselves that everything was clear and tight.

Then they unrolled the #6(?)AL triplex. I laughed and said, no-no. I have electric range, garage workshop and central air coming in later, and would really hate to have to call them out to replace the burned-down drop. They laughed and gave me what I'm guessing was #2AL triplex, really monster stuff. Believe me, even with the range going full tilt, A/C cranked and me working in the garage shop, never had flicker or voltage drop issues!

Of course, that was before the utility deregs, and thier customer service was top notch! The last few service changes I was involved with about 7+ years after I was surprised when POCO crew grumbled because we didn't transfer the drop ourselves. Huh? I always thought it was a huge no-no to touch the drop! (I didn't mind doing it hot. I was always careful and used proper PPE.) But they said to do it if the existing drop was adequate for the load and would reach. Used rated "split-clamp" type connectors and taped well. Go figure. I think the same POCO has a different stand on the issue now.

Sorry this was so long guys. But overall, virtually all my encounters with inspectors have been positive, even when we disagree. [Linked Image]

Stupid should be painful.