how’s this CHECKLIST for inspecting an electrical panel?
Any input?
Thanks, dudes.
Inspection procedural checklist for electrical panel (BOARD).doc (84.5 KB)
Here it is so you don’t have to open a WORD file:
INSPECTION PROCEDURAL CHECKLIST
for inspecting an electrical panel
- Follow InterNACHI Standards of Practice
- Wear personal safety protection, including glasses and gloves
- Check adequate workspace
- Panel must be readily accessible
- Use proper inspection tools, including magnet handle, insulated screwdriver, and flashlight
- Check adequate illumination at workspace
- Measure height of main disconnect
- Inspect cabinet front cover
- Check for incorrect type of screws or missing screws at the cabinet front cover
- Inspect panelboard
- All disconnects must have specific identification
- Check for inspection stickers and dates
- Check for identified filler plates
- Identify main overcurrent device
- Determine size of service
- Safe removal of cabinet front cover
- No foreign objects or contamination inside cabinet
- Check entrance conductors and lugs
- Identification of grounded conductor
- Check clamps, connectors, and bushings
- No open knockouts permitted
- Check for disconnected or loose conductors
- Inspect main bonding jumper
- Inspect main grounding electrode conductor (GEC)
- Check for doubled neutrals
- Check for doubled hot conductors
- Identify any breakers that are not permitted by manufacturer
- No white wires on breakers
- Test GFCIs and AFCIs
- No doorbell transformers inside cabinet
- Check for loose equipment grounding conductor (EGC)
- Check for ampacity or overfusing defects
- No melted conductor insulation
- No rust, corrosion, or water inside cabinet
- No gaps between cabinet and wallboard greater than 1/8 inch
- Check multiple cables in connectors
- Check for damage to wires
- Check for damage to insulation sheathing
- Inspect for exposed live wires
- Check identified handle ties
- Read the label on the cabinet front cover
- Identify product name and type of cabinet from label
- Confirm amps and volts are identified on label
- Inspect the panelboard diagram
- Count maximum number of poles from the diagram
- Confirm location of main bonding jumper
- Identify twin or ½ breakers
- In subpanel, confirm the grounds and neutrals are isolated or floating
- Never leave exposed panelboard unattended
*]Replace cabinet cover correctly
Are the two of you brothers?
Sometimes you will find a white wire attached to a breaker such as for water heaters and air conditioners.
The requirement to reidentify was in the exceptions until the 1999 code cycle and even then wasn’t enforced by all code officials.
I’m curious why that list has “measure height of main disconnect”? I know what this is getting at, but it is not what it says.
Thanks for the list .
I have saved it as a reminder.
Mark I was curious about that too.
What off hand is the height requirment on the main dis-connect?
The highest disconnect (not main disconnect, could be any breaker) is not allowed to be over 6 feet, 7 inches off the deck or grade. Some panels are oriented with their main at the bottom, in which case the highest currently installed breaker can’t exceed that 6 foot, 7 inch mark (2 meters for the people who measure with Communist rulers). I was just curious why the checklist is only concerned about the main, since any breaker installed too high can present a hazard to the person attempting to service it. Additionally, small buildings may not have a ‘main’, per se. They might have up to six individual breakers, so you’d want to measure to the highest one of the group.
Ah yes the six throw rule.
This may just be common sense, but I didn’t see any thing about checking the floor for moisture or water below the panel. Todays inspection had 2 inches of water in the basement. Old house changed over to apartments, I didn’t check the 4 electrical panels.
Gary
**From the 1993 NEC:
"310-12(c) Ungrounded Conductors. **Conductors that are intended for use as ungrounded conductors, whether used as single conductors or in multiconductor cables, shall be finished to be clearly distinguishable from grounded and grounding conductors.
Ungrounded conductors shall be distinguished by colors other than white, natural gray, or green; or by a combination of color plus distinguishing marking. Distinguishing markings shall also be in a color other than white, natural gray, or green, and shall consist of a stripe or stripes or a regularly
spaced series of identical marks. Distinguishing markings shall not conflict in any manner with the surface markings required by Section 310-11(b)(1).
*Exception: As permitted by Section 200-7."
*
Good checklist!
Here’s a few more to add in…
Report location of panel (required by some states and just a good idea.)
Report any breakers found turned off.
Report lack of proper readable labeling.
Look closely at main lug bolts/threads to see if one was never torqued.
Double check no breakers were knocked to off while installing front cover.
Hahaha …Gary you can file that under plumbing or foundation.
Did you read 200-7 found on page 32?
i believe that you will find that the requirement to identify the white or gray conductor when being used as an ungorunded conductor in the exceptions
I was working in a panel this morning, and the breaker labeled “fire alarm system” was turned off. My guess is that the battery for the fire alarm is also long since dead. This was an apartment building. There was some monkey business going on in this place anyhow, since the “owner panel” was empty of its former breakers, and there were some suspicious breakers distributed among the tenant panels. (all the panels were next to each other in a line). Not too hard to put two and two together on that one.
Page 13, 1993 NEC:
**
*"Exception No. 1: An insulated conductor with a white or
natural gray finish shall be permitted as an ungrounded conductor
where permanently reidentified to indicate its use, by
painting or other effective means at its termination, and at
each location where the conductor is visible and accessible.
Exception No. 2: A cable containing an insulated conductor
with a white or natural gray outer finish shall be permitted
for single-pole,3 -way,or 4-way switch loops where the white
or natural gray conductor is used for the supply to the switch,
but not as a return conductor from the switch to the switched
outlet. In these applications,re identification of the white or
natural gray conductor shall not be required.
Exception No. 3: A flexible cord for connecting an appliance,
hav ing one conductor identified by a white or natural
gray outer finish or by any other means permitted by Section
400-22,sha ll be permitted whether or not the outlet to which it
is connected is supplied by a circuit having a grounded conductor.
Exception No. 4: A white or natural gray conductor of circuits
of less than 50 volts shall be required to be grounded only
as required by Section 250-5(a)."
Bottom line white cannot be used at the termination for an ungrounded “hot’” CONDUCTOR.
*
Joe
I never said that it could be legally used as a ungrounded conductor without being reidentified.
What I did say is that the use of something to identify the white wire when used as a hot conductor is sometimes overlooked by both the electtrical contractor and code official.
The home inspector is not looking for code violations but instead he is looking for safety issues. Granted the NEC is a minimum safety standard and to do anything less would be below the minimum safety standards but I don’t see it as a safety issue.
If the conductor is sized to carry the load, how would the Home Inspector write it up?
In some areas the Home Inspector is not allowed to quote code sections unless they are licensed in the trade that they are quoting the violation.
Here is a good example of why some things are better not mentioned.
In a disconnect where the white conductor was colored with a black marker and faded it looked gray. As a matter of fact it looked like a dirty white. Now how would you write this up? At the time of installation the conductor was in compliance.
This is inaccurate.
Check that EGC’s are bonded to the enclosure and that neutrals are not grounded (or that the neutrals are isolated).
I’d add: “Make sure you aren’t leaning against or holding onto a water line or grounded in any manner”
To rephrase that, “Make sure you’re floating in mid-air”.