any electricians here for a quick question?

[Gravesj1s]

I just had our hottub inspected. Cheektowaga out sources their electrical inspection to the electrical fire underwriters company in town. They come out to your home and inspect every little detail and tell you to fix what ever is wrong and its required from them to come out and check everything they told you to fix. It cost $65 for every 3 visits and they are thorough!!>>>>>

<<<<< ~Aww420,Hi.
Im sure your well rounded in your knowledge and replys in this thread as is acraindrops not questioning either one of you here.
There is a bit more to it though and the forum rules dont allow politics to be discussed unforutunately they do play a role.

Heres something to think about:
Ever wonder who actualy sits as board members when aplying for permits?Oddly enough,I bet you'll find those who own the biggest plumbing and elec. companys in the area.A conflict of interest to the average homeowner IMO.

Do they actually let you do the work?Or do have to have a licensed electrician they have selected on their list?

 

[aww_419]

You right, politics is huge with this stuff. I know that the building inspector, housing and neighborhood inspector are brothers and thier uncle was dog warden at some point. Im sure there is something going on with them and fire underwriters. They let you do the work then after the final inspections and payment they sent a letter in the mail with a certificate of approval permit. Thats why they are thorough. The more mistakes they catch you with the more $$$ in their pockets. They do three inspections for $65. the first is before you do any work and its just a generalization of how they want you to run everything and to what codes you need to be aware of. Next visit they didnt even actually check the work, they just told me about a few other codes that they didnt mention in the first inspection. So that insures they will be out for a third visit. This is when they checked everything!! Luckily I had no mistakes or else it would have cost another $65. He did try a little trick where I "needed" an extra brace in a few spots. so i whipped out the brackets and did it right then and there. Not a bad scam though, pretty smart.

I also had to pay $35 to the housing inspector to make sure there were no power lines over the hot tub.

 

[Willistein]

my elec. inspector was $95 for two visits. one for rough inspection, and one for the finished inspection.

 

[aww_419]

ridiculous, i bet he was there about just as long as my guy was too. the first visit maybe 10 min same with the second visit. the last visit was about 45 min. about $65/hr he got from me without doing any actual work.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I suspect your "electrical inspector" was still working independent; did you write the check to "the Town of....?" I know most towns in no way want the liability of an electrical inspection; its not like making sure a construction has x inches of insulation or a res check, or making sure the crap isn't flowing uphill.

GFCI's are required near any water source, in every house, just as CO detectors are. I'm sure you know this. These are laws to save lives not to prevent fires and save houses. You put a ground fault in your baths so if a renter drops her curling iron in the sink, she doesn't kill herself when she grabs the drain handle. Last I checked no one is knocking on the doors of private home owners looking for these things... at least not until they try to sell.

 

[aww_419]

last time i checked, In the city of buffalo if you have tenants that receive help from a certain government assistance program and they are living in the your rental, there are inspections to make sure the rental is in proper condition even when the private owner lives there as well. including gfi in the bathroom, cleared space around the furnace, water heater and breaker boxes and any other fire hazards. These inspections are to catch slum lords and unsafe living conditions for those tenants that may not understand what unsafe living conditions are. The inspectors come annually. I have the certificate of compliance in the front hallways of each of our rentals.

Im not sure what your saying maroonsalty. yes GFIs stop you from being shocked we all agree. its like beating a dead horse at this point. Are you saying that in no way does a gfi help prevent a fire? if not i am confused about what your even suggesting.

ohh and the payment was made out to the fire underwriters of wny not to "joe" the electrician.

 

[spinoleo]

guys you are both kind of right.cris is right that a gfi only works between a hot and neutral and trips at 4ma.under nec if the circuit you are using is near 6' of water a gfi must be used. aaw 420 the article you used is 1 of many that changed the breakers that are now used they are called arc fault breakers that trip if an arc occurs and also test between line and ground a $3 breaker went to $15 under this change in the code book

 

[aww_419]

Thanks spinoleo I forgot this was up your alley. Maybe you could help with this, I think the main concern was whether or not its possible for an arc to occur on a circuit that just has a breaker and no gfi? also just for my curiousity is it possible to have an arc on a circuit that does have a gfi?

 

[spinoleo]

yes there arcs that have a high voltage but low current this is why arc fault breakers are now required in bedrooms and other parts of new or remodeled homes.Other breakers do not trip immediately when an over current happens there is a delay because of motors and other high inrush devices.remember that a 20a breaker should only have a max of 16a and 15a breakers about 11a.

 

[aww_419]

I thought so, it was difficult getting through some of the lingo in the articles but I did get that much out of it. Thanks for info just wanted to make sure I had all my facts in order. Do you think it would be wise to place Acfis on lines that run in older houses particularly say in a computer/tv room or on a reef system line? Those ballast from a while ago worked great by the way. I only used two but I figure ill use the other one to test bulbs from now on. Thanks again

 

[spinoleo]

if you have drapes that are long and hang over plugs you might replace them other then that not no keep the old ones

 

[pascal32]

Thanks for all the great info! You guys have been wonderful, even if things got a little off topic I'm comfortable wiring, I was more interested in the specifics of mounting an outlet to a movable fixture VS the wall. I will be replacing the metal flex with water tight conduit and putting in a water resistant outlet if the cables fit.

thanks again!