Older houses were built at a time when 60 amps was considered plenty of electricity for a single residence. Most new homes are built with 200-amp service, but 100 amps was the standard for many yearsand most experts agree that anything less than 100 amps is unlikely to meet the electrical needs of a contemporary household.
I chose to read and write about the old knob and tube wiring. One of the biggest mistakes many home owners make is to try to replace every piece of old wiring in the system. Many parts of an older wiring system, if they have been undisturbed, are still quite usable and reasonably safe. There are many houses with electrical systems from the 1920’s still delivering power in a safe and efficient manner.
This is a picture of the main service panel. Able to shut off in 6 moves or less. Open splices in the box which are ok. Has a sub panel wiring w/ 2-2-2-4 aluminum that is not connected yet. No double taps. No arcing. No rust. No signs of water intrusion
One thing you’ll notice in this service panel is two different manufactured breakers. There is GE breakers and Square D breakers. The panel is a GE panel and there is a warning on the front cover which states, no other manufactured breaker is allowed the panel. In the report, I wrote up the potential for issues due to the questionable compatibility of the Square D breaker in a GE panel.
10 easy to save money and energy in your home
Its the small things
-dont do medium size loads of laundry! wait until you have a full load
AFCI protection is currently required for all 15 and 20 amp brand circuits in residential family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, and similar rooms. Basically, anywhere a GFCI doesn’t have to be, a AFCI needs to be. Looking at a way to test the AFCI is the AFCI tester. AFCI testers digitally mimic an arc fault, causing the breaker to trip. Remember to always find the breaker panel before you begin testing the receptacles.
It is important not to rely on just a main breaker to determinate the service size of a homes electrical system. There are many factors that determinate the service size. The meter, the wire size, the buss bar capacity and the meter. Your system can only handle the lowest rated component in the system.
When inspecting an electrical panel it may be easy to spot work that was not performed by a qualified electrical. Sloppy work, wires not properly routed in a panel is a good sign. Conductors with out bushings entering a panel is also a tell tale sign.
The control at the left is in my home. It is some type of breaker, the best I can figure it that it is an arc fault unit. When it is tripped, it turns off all of the outlets in my office. I have found a similar one made by Leviton online, but it points out that such is mostly for lighting circuits. I really wish I knew more about what type of protection this device is providing.
GFCI. GFCI protection is designed to interrupt the flow of power when it appears that something besides the device being powered is drawing current. This can happen when a human touches the live line in some many and also is in contact with a form of grounding. Water contact is particularly dangerous as current can flow right through a person and stop their heart. GFCI devices will immediately sense that flow of current in the wrong place and stop the current downstream from the device instantly. We commonly use GFCI protection in and near all " wet" areas such as near sinks and for outdoor outlets.
I did my research assignment on ,why hire and internachi certified professional inspector. If you hire a internachi inspector are trained and certified by the international association of certified home inspectors. A internachi inspector is required to stay up to date with industry practices.
Service panels:This service panel has some issues,there is no antioxidant on the aluminum s.e.c. There are abandoned wires in the panel that should be removed or terminated correctly.On the top left a 2 pull 240 volt breaker has a white wire connected to a ungrounded conductor, that should be wrapped with black electrical tape.
Aluminum wiring- (single strand) became popular between 1965 and 1973 due to the increased cost of copper wire. Aluminum wire compared to copper wire aluminum has a higher resistance,it is less ductile.it oxidizes, and it has a higher thermal expansion rate.
This is a bathroom outlet located next to the sink. The outlet is not a GFCI and is not GFCI protected by another outlet or at the service panel by a GFCI breaker. Further inspection shows an open ground. A visual inspection after removing the cover plate showed a two wire NM wire with no ground available.
What is found in this picture are a number of extension cords being strung up as a luminaire system. This is inside of a crawl space and there are light bulb sockets that illuminate the crawl space. Thankfully, this is a temporary lighting arrangement, since the entrant merely plugs in the system and unplugs when finished.
In the “Breaker/IR camera” gallery image, the IR camera captured a potentially defective breaker. The recommendation would be passed to a licensed electrician to replace the defective breaker. Also, the inspector would make the further recommendation to have the electrician to give an overall evaluation on the panel.
The electric outlet on the firs floor bathroom does have a regular AFCI receptacle close to the sink, is missing the GFCI receptacle (by county codes)to prevent any dangerous situation to the people living at the house, or any damage to the electric system, it must be corrected by a certified electrician as soon as possible.
When we are doing a panel inspection we should be wearing all the time rubber gloves, protective eyewear and fire retardant clothing or made out of cotton, never remove the front panel cover on the panel without verifying that the box is not electrified or in short circuit
I just read the article titled “Elements of an Energy Efficient House” which encompasses many ways in which a home owner may enhance an existing house or build one from the ground up around the techniques of energy efficiency. While building from the ground up will be the optimal way to achieve the most energy efficient home, a home owner can go a long way to improve their efficiency by upgrading their windows which lose as much as 25% of a home’s heat (or cold air in southern climates) and ensuring their doors and attic insulation are upgraded to separate the climate outside and inside as much as possible.
