Why does the guy _refuse_ to repair a molten wirenut??

Congratulations for working with an idiot

Sympathy is probably a better word.
might be a good idea to e-mail one of the top dogs at Taco and ask them to take a look at the webb site and alert them to the syco your working with.

This adds a whole new definition of "fry hood"!

This is downright scary. I second the suggestion of contacting the higher-ups at Taco Bell; obviously the person doing this never considered the possibility of endangering the lives of other people (just my opinion, of course).

[This message has been edited by Sir Arcsalot (edited 06-25-2004).]

Josh, it should never be either way. The green's meant for equipment grounding purposes only.

I know it should never be either way. By "it was meant to be..." I meant the repair guy wanted it that way.
I wrote him a nice note explaining to him the violations. I didnt use exact articles because I usually dont have a code book with me, but he is a certified electrician (I'd say he'scertified insane). Anyways, he read the note and replied "Thanks for the input, but you need to concentrate on food safety." Now I know you can get sick if you eat tacos with old cheese, but I'm sure electric shock can do much worse. I was afraid he was gonna "ghetto ground" this (connect the grounds to the neutrals) and since he accidentally switched the hot and neutral, the whole hood could have been a big hot wire, waiting for someone to touch it when the floor is wet (the sink is on a parallel wall 2 feet in front of it).
The repairman told me he could get me fired on charges of insubordination. He really doesnt have that power unless he lies to one of my higher up bosses (district manager). But he won't because he thinks that I will not report this, so he wont report my fight against evil wiring.

I make it a habit (an unbreakable one) of looking at the electrical work in every place I go. Taco Bells are not "haywired" in this area, nor are any of the major fast food chain stores.
I'm sure that there must be a corporate policy in place with regards to employee safety, which this repairman has obviously broken. Is he a TB employee, or an outside contractor?

A letter sent to someone up the chain of command should at least get some attention. No large company like TB can afford to ignore safety complaints. I'd try that route, and if you don't get results, then OSHA would be a logical next step.

Yes, there are laws against retaliatory firing of an employee for "whistle blowing", but you might find yourself suddenly terminated for putting too much sour cream in a burrito or something stupid like that.

(BTW, the #10 connected to a #14 is not necessarily a violation, it would depend on the overcurrent protection and the load).

More power to you...S

My sentiments exactly, Scott. Blow that whistle! I would start tactfully with your store manager then work your way up.

I have come accross Hot on the outside appliances before, not too friedly to work around! Ironically, in a taco shop, where the dishwashers finally refused to work, because the Manager didn't believe them until I told him. Even then reluctantly paid for me to fix it.

From the "Tacobell.com/ourcompany" website.

Maybe someone should suggest they investigate another "Code"...

If you wanted to go "head to head" with the maintenance electrician (if he threatens your employment again) you might want to consider submitting pictures of his work (approved or performed) to his licensing Authority as a complaint.

[disclaimer] WARNING: THIS IS REALLY A "LAST STRAW" MEASURE, AS MESSING WITH SOMEONE'S LIVLIHOOD CAN GET YOUR BUTT KICKED.[/disclaimer]

However, notice the phrase I used above - his work (approved or performed). Here in northern IL (as in most AHJ's IIRC), an EC is responsible for work he performs or "signs off" on, that others have performed in his stead, or under his supervision. If he is saying the work at "worksite x" is up to Code (the National Electrical one ), then he has to answer for any discoveries by an AHJ that it isn't.

BTW - check your store's local EC - here in my northern suburb, the minimum conductor size for any commercial or industrial occupancy 110 circuit is 12AWG...

It could be a control wire, and not a conductor used for power. I often use #14-#18 in commercial lighting control cabinets.
Something else about this situation Josh, is that you need to be absolutely sure that you're right before you make waves.

Good Grief!!
& I thought the way Mickey D's hooked up the air curtain fans above the drive thru windows was bad!!!
One thing I know around here is that public places are subject to inspection by the fire marshall/fire department... I wonder if you could get away with an anonymous "tip" for things to look for on their next inspection.. (PS Just wondering )

-Randy

Yo quiero Taco B... ZZZZzzaaaappppp!

Seriously though, I would certainly contact somebody higher up the chain to try to get this sorted out. If the local manager doesn't want to know, then I'm sure the guy in charge of the franchises would be interested to learn that one of his stores has a guy like this.

And as much as I find a lot of the modern liability-culture disturbing, in this case it might go a long way to mention to the chief executive or franchise manager that if somebody got hurt they could be facing a big lawsuit.

Josh, this sort of situation (a manager who believes that there is nothing really worth worrying about that would require money being spent to make it "look pretty") can come up in the corporate world fairly often. Many college students don't get exposed to this corporate culture (AKA "office politics") until after graduation, when you get your first "real" job. Some students already know what to do; others (usually the "nerds") can be bewildered until they learn.

As a summer job at a Taco Bell could be considered a "throw away" thing (you'll be quitting it by Labor Day anyway) you could use it as a learning experience of office politics. Part of that is picking your battles, what to let slide, what to worry about, how to tactfully address problems without causing embarrasment to a boss, and such. Something like a green wire misused as a voltage carrying conductor is not likely to be an immediate hazard to anyone other than another electrician, and an experienced electrician should be able to spot the violation easily enough. So I wouldn't argue it with the boss beyond one mention. But if thre's a 14 gauge wire only protected by a 150 amp breaker (that is a serious hazard) I'd mention it to the company district office. Tell them that you're an EE student, not a licensed electrician, but that you believe that there is a serious life and property threatening violation present, and could someone check it out before a fire happens?. Someone at the company district office who knows and is responsible for electric safety and liability should then come out and have a look. Maybe you misread the breaker ("That's only a 15 amp breaker") or such. That way you didn't cause the company a problem with city hall getting involved if it turns out to be nothing. You'd still lose a few "brownie points" with your boss, but not as many if city hall was involved. It's then their butt on the line if they miss a problem, not yours. And if a fire did happen, there would be smoke alarms and exit doors there so people should be able to escape it (The various safety building and electrical codes have redundancies built in so one mistake would be "caught" by other things being correct).

Companies, like people (and companies are in reality nothing more than groupings of people) don't want to have to spend money on something they believe isn't "broken". Especially in some operation that has a very low profit margin, like a fast food joint.