Violation Photos - ECN Electrical Forums

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I recently was asked to do some wiring for a remodel and was subsequently asked to see why an outlet in the garage was burning up equipment. The homeowner said that his a friend, "an electrician installed a grounded outlet in the garage" and a few months later they lost a saw and a radio. Notice the ground wire attached to the metallic box which is not grounded and the white wire terminated opposite the ground terminal. The picture of the pie tin reflector is from the same garage. It was removed after advising the homeowner of potential hazards. Hope you can use the photos for your violations forum.

Thanks for the Forum,
Bill Robertson

Man, those black and white wires sure are hard to tell apart! [Linked Image]

I'm wondering something though, how was the equipment burning up? I'm curious as to how reverse polarity could do that.

What kind of cable is that?

It looks like the black jacket is reinforced with something.

Is this current manufacture or was this what preceeded modern-day NM?

it's older nm Sven......

gotta love that pie tin though...... [Linked Image]

The cable entering the one-gang box is likely <1960s NM with an asphaltic (tar) woven-braid jacket; id est, Disgusting Miserable Crap!

[Linked Image from 67.115.161.42]

[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 12-04-2002).]

Just a caution: it takes more than a tester to identify when a two-prong receptacle is replaced by a three-prong type. For those who have clever "tricks" for beating the tester, there is a word: fraud.
Any house built pre-1960 is suspect, even if the service has been upgraded. Just because the tester says "ok," it doesn't guarantee that there isn't a safety or power quality issue.

It looks like the top side of that box is a little scorched! Please tell us that the black wire was removed for photo celerity.

How ever did they get the pie tin past the bulb in the first place with that small of a hole in the tin?

[Linked Image]

Maybe installed the tin prior to the bulb? Would be my logic way of doing that. Slide tin on bulb and screw in bulb with tin (don't forget to remove the pie before!)

You know what's kinda neat? The way the pie tin is positioned will create a lot of heat buildup on the screwshell of the bulb, causing the cement inside to deteriorate. Eventually Harry Homeowner will be left with a bulb dangling by the wires fastened to the inside of the shell. [Linked Image]

BTW, does it look like the white wire on the receptacle is connected to the wrong terminal(among other problems)?

Mike (mamills)