Question from a Home Inspector:

I know inspecting the electric panel requires removing the cover.

Shut down the main power first!

My question is...What if people are still living in the house at the time of the inspection. What about Computers, security alarms etc. Won't shutting down the power cause problems?

A quick word to the tenants will let them know that the power will be off for a few minutes. If now one is home, it would be no different that a power company outage. Just turn it back on when complete.

Power outages can cause problems with electronics, but they can just shut them down beforehand.

Rick Miell

Good call Rick.
After all, it's not as though it's going to be off all day.
It's when people don't get told, that the feathers start to fly.

Joe, Rick and others,
Who is to say what is behind that cover?.
Who knows how well the wires have been tightened in the Disconnect?, Line or Load side.
Or, as I have come across before today, the cover was holding the Pan unit in place.
There are just so many variables and with Short-Circuit Fault Currents getting higher and higher, the need to isolate Live Panels, while not actually working on them, just opening them up, is fraught with danger these days.
If it will melt metal, just think about what it will do to your exposed skin.
It's like an un-controllable Arc Welder.

What happens if a Home Inspector shuts off the Main Breaker, does his thing, and then can't reset it?

Does he call an electrician and foot the bill himself?

Just curious.

Why is some Home Inspector in a Panel? Most have no idea what they are looking for. A simple 8 hour class and a new notebook does not qualify them. They base their opinion on who hired them. If the seller hired them everythings OK, if the buyer hires them they will find a problem.

If you switch off equipment in the correct manner and it fails to restart that is the financial responsability or the said owner of that equipment as it is not fit for purpose or is faulty. Obviously it should be handled with some diplomacy and the equipment should not be left in a dangerous condition. Not shutting down the power may cause more problems to the inspector, but if he isnt qualified to open panels he shouldnt.

Joe,
Just shutting down the main is not enough for complince with the rules in 70E. The line side would also have to be shut down before you remove the cover, unless you are in Canada. The panels in Canada have an additional metal cover over the line side terminations that is not part of the main cover.
Don

electure you have a good point. i was adding a circuit to a office bldg last year. i turned off the main, when i went back to reset it it would not reset. that is not a good feeling at 8pm. and of course it was an old style breaker that had to be ordered.

I just got a call the other day from a woman who was troubleshooting her own electrical system in her house. She told me that when she went to remove the panel cover (to replace the breaker she thought was defective-it wasn't of course)that everything went dead in the house. I asked her if she was ok, but it turns out that she was just careless (in more ways than one) and bumped the main breaker while she was removing the cover. Oh my gosh!

OSHA's rules are not applicable to a one man shop. If the HI is working for himself, does he need to turn the power off?

When working for a larger company, does he have to comply with OSHA requirements?

Pierre,
You are correct that the OSHA rules only apply to employees. If the HI is self employed, the rules do not apply, but the danger remains the same.
Don

Hey trumpy why are short-circuit faults getting higher?

[This message has been edited by Surfinsparky (edited 03-07-2006).]

I'm confused, if the panel needs inspecting, why is it already energized? Her we LOTO every thing.

Gidday feather,
Welcome to the group.
The reasoning behind that is on-going inspection, it's looking at things like potentially loose connections, wires that are overheating, just things like that.

Surfin,
Fault currents are getting higher, because the lines feeding installations and transformers are getting bigger.
Bigger wire size equals less impedance equals higher available fault current.

Ipscc = Vsource/System Impedance.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 03-09-2006).]

Thanks trumpy I had a 1600 amp ge drawn-in breaker go to ground as I was racking it on to the bus.That thing went off like a bomb.I was damn lucky I bolted the door shut.Walked away without a burn though I was definetly carbonized.So I can relate to high available fault currents.It takes a lot to wipe out the utility's fuses.

Surfin,
I had a UK Telecoms tech close a 6.6kV trailer CB one day and I caught the worst of it.
Straight onto a fault.
He was told to stay out of the way.
Not that I'm against UK Telecoms staff (Paul).
Took a few hours to see again though.