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Posted By: electure Temporary Fusible link - 11/30/05 01:59 AM
More on the subject of temporary wiring by Pierre Belarge

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I knew no one would believe me, so I took the pictures of this installation. Installed by an EC, who actually called for an inspection. The inspector before me almost had a physical fight with the contractor, so he called me. I am known as the "quiet inspector with the sharp pen". The inspection was for a partial rough for a retail store, but I saw a suspect BELL WIRE and asked the contractor what it was for...he shook his shoulders and said "I don't know". Wow he must of thought this was a joke. He was actually stealing power and I guess he knew that he got caught.

The BELL WIRE was spliced (see the small red conductor) into the endline box to the 500 kcmil ahead of the meter or any overcurrent protection. Then the green and white conductors were terminated to the hasp of the endline box for the grounding and neutral connection. It actually worked!!! These pics are not 'touched up', these are actual.

Well the contractor gave me such a hard time (now you know why the other inspector left this to me) that I wrote the violation, walked outside and called the Utility company's Theft of Services Department. They were there faster than you can imagine. His fine and penalty were good enough for him to at least pretend to respect us for the duration of his work on this store.


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[This message has been edited by electure (edited 11-29-2005).]
Posted By: mamills Re: Temporary Fusible link - 11/30/05 05:07 PM
Electure: [Linked Image] (the icon just about says it all).

Do you know where the larger black and white wires attached to the plug went to?

Actually, since I joined this forum several years back, I don't think ANYTHING would surprise me any more. It really raises my awareness of some of the horrible things that exist nearby.

I must say that I am shocked that the guy that did this was allowed to return to the job [Linked Image].

BTW: I know the bright spot in the picture is probably an open light bulb (about as bad as everything else here), but it looks kinda like the photographer caught an arc flash at just the right moment.

Mike (mamills)


[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 11-30-2005).]

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 11-30-2005).]
Posted By: PCBelarge Re: Temporary Fusible link - 11/30/05 06:27 PM
The larger conductors off of the receptacle screws go to the light bulb and other lighting in the store - temp lights.

Notice how the phase color conductor (the red 18 AWG bell wire) and the white conductor are on the same termination. It never ceases to amaze me how some people work.

He complained to me that his fine was large enough, that he lost money on the job...OH WELL [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by PCBelarge (edited 11-30-2005).]
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Temporary Fusible link - 11/30/05 11:38 PM
Pierre,
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The inspection was for a partial rough for a retail store
That's aptly named, it's only partially there and it's rough as well. [Linked Image]
Posted By: Lostazhell Re: Temporary Fusible link - 12/01/05 07:47 AM
Not that I'm doubting anything in the post is real, but this makes no sense!

Were the meters booted? With the small (4/8ckt?) panels that are present, it's hard to believe an EC wouldn't have a twin breaker to stick in one of the panel spaces.. (double lugging beats this..) [Linked Image] Nor have I ever had any complaints about a business allowing power use during their remodel.

Second, Bell Wire??? He didn't have a piece of 12/2 NM-B lying around? Or just use some of the slack thats just hanging there!

This guy sounds wayyyy too dangerous for his or anyone elses good! [Linked Image]
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