Several years ago, I was tasked with bringing power to a new industrial rental space. Today I was called back; the tenant had moved - could I come clean things up a bit?

The first pic shows the panel, as installed. The second is what I found today.








Here is my feed to the panel, both new and as found:

That really is a heart breaker. Why in the world would they pull the EMT down from the wall? That makes no sense to me at all. Do I dare ask where that (what appears to be) SO cord coming out of the bottom goes? Hopefully not in the ground, not that it would make any difference. I would have cried on that siting myself.

Oh, you mean this cord?





You can see the cord exit the wall, where it powerd a trailer parked next to the building.
The cord passes through two sheet matal wals, without any bushings, or other protection.

You really can't see it in the pic, but every breaker (except the one I put in) is at least 40 amps; wire is mostly #12. One breaker is the wrong brand. Two breakers were double-tapped (legal for one, but not the other).

reno,

look at it this way, you have experience doing the exact same installation...

Ahh, I missed the tail light on the trailer. I hate that kind of stuff. People think that once it has a plug on the end of it, anybody can do anything they feel like to make it work. I feel your pain.

So, do I dare ask about what appears to be a piece of CPVC coming in from the left that terminates on a plumbing fixture shutoff?

Let me guess: That's the water feed for the trailer, correct? Wow, those illegals are living large having a trailer right behind their employer's shop. I hate to think where the trailer's waste is going!

[This message has been edited by EV607797 (edited 12-29-2006).]

One word.... OUCH!

Looks to be easiest to start with a new loadcenter again, you'd spend just as much on KO seals Along side the trailer, did the strut actually get yanked out of the wall?? Whatever that white thing is laying on your conduit looks suspect (and heavy!)...

PS. What's the 27 cans of spray foam on the wall about?

The strut ... which was held on only by sheet metal screws (this was my first time working with sheet metal, I even asked here for advice, and the re-mounting will be much better!) .... looks to have been pulled straight away from the wall. The only damage is to the screw holes. I will -maybe- learn more when I re-attach it.

That white panel is only a piece of styrofoam insulation.

As for the spray foam, the tenant had constructed a 'second floor' within the unit. It appears that he had a lead foundry below, and housing for illegal immigrants above. Likewise, the trailer was additional "housing."

I moan and groan about other people's work getting butchered, if it were my work, I'd have been in orbit.

Just out of curiosity, what would you do to attach to that corrugated metal instead of using sheet-metal screws? Machine screws through fender washers on both sides, or maybe put a piece of strut in back as well?

-John

John,
One thing that helps is to place the strut at the siding lap joints so that the screws are going through two pieces of siding.
Don

If you run pipe on the side of a building and only screw in to sheet metel exspect it to come loose. I try to find were they are screwing into, It looks like at 4'intervals.It looks like you did a nice job thou. to bad that happend. Have you thought aboat going in the ground looks open to me. just a thought good luck.

John

As I confessed, this was the first time I had to deal with this sort of structure. Where I come from, most everything is brick!

For the repair, I will be using toggle bolts. I would prefer the nut / fender washer arrangement, but the 'back side' of the metal is not accessible.

Around here, the ground is rather corrosive to steel. Moreover, this "open" lot is not anywhere near flat, and is now filled with dozens of cars. Part of me suspects that someone stood on the pipe to work on the cars- or worse.