Originally Posted By: randerson1
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This was not really a complaint directed towards my inspection but one that came up because of my findings.
As I was inspecting the exterior of the house I located what I thought was a subpanel on the side of a porch. (outside). I carefully opened the cover to examine the box and realized that what I was looking at was a junction box. There were three leads coming in and three leads exiting the box. The box wasn’t grounded or even locked. I advised my client that there this situation needed immediate attention. I advised her to get a certified electrician to check the box to see if it needed to be grounded and to make sure the box was locked. I noted in my report that the box was not grounded and that it needed immediate attention because the box was not locked and was a safety hazard.
The sellers were advised of my findings and hired an electrician to take care of the problem, which he supposedly did?
Now I get a call from the realtor who sold the house telling me that the people had bought the house but now have an issue about the electrical system. So I called the buyer and asked what the problem was. He said. The sellers had hired an electrician to take care of the problem but when he called the electrical inspector to come and inspect the system it failed. The inspector said that the box didn’t need to be grounded as the wires were feeding another subpanel that was already grounded. He said it didn’t hurt anything but it was redundant. The reason he failed it was because he said that junction box needed to be protected by a circuit breaker? Now the new owners are faced with the expense if putting a subpanel in place of the junction box. The new owner didn’t seem to be blaming me but I think he is looking for someone to pay for an expense he didn’t expect. I told him that when the electrician was there that if he knew his stuff should have realized what needed to be done. Not just throw a ground wire on it and call it good. By the way, the electrician didn’t even do anything about locking the box, he just left it the way it was. Securing the box was my main concern in the first place as it was only one foot off the ground and I feared a child may open it and be electrocuted.
I am sure I haven’t heard the end of this. Any advise if I get a call demanding me to pay?