I was doing an inspection today and checked out the meter room of a 6 unit bldg.
The concern is that this panel is from 1970. And all 6 units are wired the same way. At least 8 bldgs. on this street.
I get the liability callout is to declare the double tap and recommend licensed electrician to evaluate. Is there anyone else to alert to this? Seems to be a fairly substantial concern.
I understand your concern. I’ve felt the same way many, many times. I just inspected a condo that was part of a large complex with multiple buildings and the individual condo unit’s service panel was manufactured by Zinsco. There were probably several dozen units in this condo complex and they probably all had Zinsco panels.
Unfortunately, we are not here to save the world although we would like to. Just report your observations and move on. Its up to our clients to take action on our observations.
The other concern here is… This box is from 1970… This had to have been called out before…?
The lugs are only for one conductor. Aluminum and copper conductors should not be touching each other.
Precisely, and I found an entire community wired this way.
Each building has 6 units, and there are about 24 bldgs. (Found out later doing the windmit, that there are rows and rows of these buildings.)
Why does an electrician need to evaluate it?
Because officially its wrong, So be stating have an electrician evaluate it, 1) Releases me of liability as I called it out and advised who to contact to correct it. 2) In Florida… Every one of these units is uninsurable until the condition is corrected.
Instead of letting this potential home buyer know that your electrical is messed up. Its nice to guide them on how to get it fixed.
You did the correct thing by calling it out. Did you actually recommend a fix for the problem or just deferred to a sparky?
My client was not present at the inspection, so I did not have the luxury of communicating that. And being that the main is DT’d That would involve pulling the meter to disable the circuit…
I deferred to a sparky. The problem with recommending a fix, is how can you trust the homeowner to not say “That doesn’t sound so hard?” and turn themselves into a lifetime supply of bacon.
The other issue I had was the fact there approximately 256 units on the 4 streets worth of these buildings…
That is funny 
Just curious, why is that an issue?
Not an issue for the homebuyer, but shudder up my spine. How did all these units pass inspection with copper and aluminum DT’d mains… Someone banked a big paycheck to do it wrong, and got away with it.
