Inspection done yesterday - a townhouse built in 1977, but the panel was changed in 2013. They even had a permit! Many of the circuits have brown wire for the hot wire… I thought Brown was used in commercial uses, not residential. Would you report this?
I don’t believe I would. No.
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What Larry said. 
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what Ryan said…
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What Jim said…
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As everyone has noted not a problem.
NEC specifies that conductor colored white be used only as grounded conductors and that conductors colored green or green/yellow be used only as grounding conductors and that neither white nor green be used in any manner on ungrounded conductors
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Ungrounded conductors can be any color but white, gray, green, or green with yellow stripe. Where are all of the neutrals associated with those circuits?
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No. There’s nothing to report.
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But I’m not crazy , am I? Brown is not typically used in residential? If it’s not specifically prohibited, it’s OK?
No it’s not typical at all but it is absolutely permitted so there is nothing to report. Almost all wiring in dwellings is in NM cable where the usual colors are Black, White, Red.
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I remember seeing something like this years ago. An outdated panel in the bedroom closet was replace by a new modern panel on the outside wall. New hot conductors were run in conduit to new panel and the neutrals and grounds were left in the original panel.
The panel had been replaced - but pretty sure it was set in place of the previous one. This is in the garage, shutoff is outside at the meter. I wondered if these were spliced in, but didn’t look like it. Oh well… the house had major other issues to worry about.
There is a neighborhood of track homes in my area built in the mid 70’s where almost all of the homes have brown ungrounded conductors. That and the old Wadsworth panels with the two-piece dead fronts.
It makes for a pretty good learning lesson when you are first starting out as an inspector.
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