And where were you? 
I was sitting that one out!
Doofy the painter fails to mask off the panel when spraying paint means they get to buy a new panel, there is no code sanctioned way to clean the paint off. Laziness and stupidity can get costly.
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when it comes to the final electrical inspection that would be an automatic panel replacement here…
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It is sad. The builder knows better but will try to shove it down a buyer’s throat.
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it would never get that far in my town the electrical inspector don’t play…
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Probably the AHJ inspector never walked in that garage & signed off on it.
There’s a reason you cannot sue AHJ’s in this state!
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Definitely would call it out. I did an inspection of a million plus dollar home that had been totally renovated. The panel was covered in paint. So bad that many of the grounds were totally covered. I called it out citing the same section. The realtor was fairly new to me. Had done a couple for him before. He was not happy, said the contractor said no big deal. After that one haven’t heard from him again. Oh well. His loss!
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Congrats. You’re in the “he finds too much” category.
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Just saw this on an 11 month inspection last week. It wasn’t much overspray in the panel but there was a heavy buildup on the bus bars. Then some melted insulation on a wire it was not the whole wire, just near the connection point. It’s speculation but it seems probable that the paint contamination caused a bad connection and subsequent melted insulation
I would just report what I see and refer it out for correction and NOT speculate.
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what Larry said…
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If there is overspray on the bus stabs it isn’t visible in the photo
As already mentioned do not speculate just report, but my money is on loose connection, not paint overspray, causing the wire to melt.
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As Chris already stated, it’s also my opinion that the overspray probably didn’t cause the wire insulation to melt.
Both the overspray and melted wire insulation would make it into my report as defects.
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I agree as well, the little bit of overspray has nothing to do with the conductor insulation melting.
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Are those breakers? Trying to figure out your picture…
Leviton Smart Panel.
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Thanks, havent seen one of those panels around these parts
Hey Larry how have you been?
For sure, no speculation goes in my reports.
I wrote up the melted wire and the overspray on separate defects and did not mention that they may be related.
For discussion and learning purposes hear: If overspray contaminates a connection in a panel the resistance/arching would cause localized heat at the point of connection that quickly dispersed the further you get away from the connection point. The result would be exactly what is seen in the picture. I understand that’s not a guarantee that that was the cause here.
11-month warranty inspection, house built 2022 The melted wire was on 240v circuit for a water heater. Connections at the heating elements in the water heater all looked good.
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