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Now for the really fun part, the big UPS has plugs on the back for the computers. When someone installed it they plugged in a male/male cord and plugged the other one into an outlet. Can you say BACKFEED. The homerun for that outlet was taken off the breaker and wirenuted to the homerun of another outlet across the room, in the panel no less.

It took me 4 hours of head scratching with a circuit tracer to figure this out. Never thought anyone could be so stupid.

Sounds like something an "Electrical Engineer" would do. The ones with a BSEE, like myself. [Linked Image] Some manager didn't want to spend money for a second UPS, or an engineer knew that the boss wouldn't approve it so came up with this kludge with materials on hand (male power plugs are pretty common, so are power cords, and the outlets exist and I can get the UPS power to the other site by doing some bad wiring in the panel..."

As mentioned in a previous thread, BSEE people don't have any training in the NEC or any other building codes. The general attitude is that "house wiring" is hundred year old technology, and thus too simple to bother with. Or that that's something that is farmed out to 'lectricians. Well, the above kludge should have been farmed out. [Linked Image]

It would probably be cheaper for the customer to buy a second UPS than to have special wiring done to properly feed the distant site.