Home Inspectors Report of finding on Residential Electric

[Stephen Gallagher]

Greetings all,

Just getting started in making Real Estate my living, but not new to owning property, being a landlord, or dealing with problems. I will share some of my own stories later, but for this post I wanted to focus on some issues reported in home inspection reports. I'd like to discuss three topics found routinely as issues in reports from home inspector’s, I have been asked to review and or repair. These topics come from my 25 years as an electrician, and the call to complete reviews, repairs and if needed, letters of refute and or dispute for sellers/buyers.

There are many areas that could be focused on, but for now I am going to focus on the non-grounded (2 prong) receptacle, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), and panel grounding. Before I start my discussion I preface this information: Coming from a Master Electrician Licensed in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont, acknowledging the fact that other states may or may not follow the same promulgated regulations; may or may not be under the same requirements; ultimately the answers you may need or want should come from the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) in your region. The four states I practice as an Electrician currently enforce the 2017 National Electric Code (NEC) published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) As NFPA 70 the National Electric Code. Having said that, each state also has their own state building codes and their own amendments to follow, making it difficult to give blanket statements or hardened opinion without giving due regard to state amendments. The information explained below is based on the 2017 NEC and may or may not be consistent with your State; county; local area.

Two prong receptacles come up often with any house built earlier than the 1990’s. The normal receptacle prior to the 1970’s was two prong ungrounded receptacles. Often through the 1980’s and 1990’s people would replace these two prong receptacles with three prong (added Ground), without updating the wiring that protects the user. It is through the grounding wire (bare copper, green wrapped, green/yellow wrapped) protection is provided. This “Upgrade” has caused users to feel the tingle of electricity, because there is no grounding conductor providing the path of least resistance back to earth. The unbalanced load from the Ungrounded conductors (hot or black) is carried by the grounded (white AKA neutral) conductors, therefore the white conductor is not neutral and should always be considered, a current carrying conductor. This replacement of non-like receptacles, forced the technical committees and code writers to come up with language in the code, identifying this practice as not up to code and creating language that would allow enforcement of this practice. Knowing that it would be difficult to enforce and the obsolescence of two prong receptacles an alternative needed to be provided. Rewiring the circuits to provide the ground is a costly option, one that routinely requires the rewiring of the home or at a minimum the specific circuit. The newest alternative is to replace the receptacle with a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI). I’ll discuss GFCI next. So currently there is just a few means to remedy the two-prong dilemma. First and foremost, if you can find them, the replacement of like receptacles is appropriate, but does not afford the protection of grounding. Many manufacturers have discontinued the production of non-grounded receptacle. Rewiring is the best option, but also the most expensive. Rewiring the circuit could mean rewiring the entire house, which could trigger other expenses like upgrading the panel, meter socket, and smoke detectors. The most economical and code compliant replacement is to use a GFCI receptacle or if possible, in the panel using a GFCI breaker.

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters have been around since the 1980’s in receptacle form and technologically have developed significantly in the past three decades to the circuit breaker and use in the panel, protecting the entire circuit downstream from the breaker. The GFCI is a solid-state technology, that works off the principal of, what goes in must come out. The circuitry in the GFCI works on the recognition of a 4 to 6 milliamp difference (Most Commonly referred to as 5 Ma) from what is flowing through the receptacle or as supplied from the breaker. The only accurate way to test the function of the GFCI is the test button found on the receptacle or the breaker, as the manufacturer literature explains. Home inspectors will often write up that a circuit that needs protection (within 6 feet of a sink, basements, garages, etc.…) is not compliant with some recommendation to seek a qualified electrician to make repairs or inspect. This is often because they use their plug testers trying to trip the GFCI or breaker. These plug testers are not consistent with manufacturer recommendations and require a ground reference for them to the work. If the test function is working on the receptacle or breaker, the circuit is protected. The plug-in tester can be discarded. This is also why the NEC allows for non-grounding (2 prong) receptacles to be replaced by a GFCI. When utilizing this method all receptacles downstream from the protected GFCI receptacle need to be identified as non-grounding or replaced with a GFCI themselves. This is perfectly code compliant. That having been said, it is prudent to say that a complete rewire is the safest solution.

Panel grounding is the foundation to the need for re-wiring circuits, upgrading receptacles or ensuring that grounding is safe and code compliant. Section 250 of the NEC is the chapter to look at for grounding should you choose to follow up, but these points are easy to understand but not always identifiable. To understand the grounding conductors, one needs to understand the utility and how power is delivered to the house. This happens either through a service lateral (underground) or service drop (overhead). The Utility company will deliver two ungrounded conductors and a grounded conductor to the meter socket. The two ungrounded hot conductors, red and black, and the grounded (white/neutral) carry the power to the meter. The unbalanced load from the two hot conductors, is carried by your white wire, often miscalled a neutral. Each hot leg brings in 120 volts for total of 240. If one of those hot legs drops out, the grounded (white) conductor will carry the balance of the load. Because of this, the white wire cannot be neutral and should always be regarded as a current carrying conductor.

The meter socket is the point of termination form the utility, and typically the transfer of ownership and responsibility. Some utility companies use the point of attachment in lieu of the meter socket. Some meter sockets also serve as the point of disconnect. This is becoming more common and required for the protection of firefighters. A Meter Main as often called, has a built in disconnect manufactured with the meter socket, or has a standalone disconnect, outside and astride, the meter socket. If there is no disconnect outside than the disconnect or first termination point will be at the main breaker, inside the house panel. It is here at the first termination point that a grounding conductor needs to be added. This is the bare copper that goes to grounding rods, water meter, UFER ground or any other acceptable method as identified in the code book and accepted by the AHJ.

If the first point of termination is the main breaker panel inside the house, then it is perfectly code compliant to have the white wires and bare copper wires, attached to the same termination bar inside the panel. However, if the first point of termination is outside at the meter main, then the grounding conductor shall be attached to the meter main and a four-wire service entrance cable shall be provided to the remote house panel, located away from the meter main. Should this occur than the grounding wires should be secured to a ground bar, separate from the grounded (white) conductors. Often home inspectors fail to recognize the need for a four-wire service entrance conductor from the meter main to the panel.

This post hopefully helps identify some misinterpretations and give readers a little more knowledge for their purchases. If you have any questions or need more specific information, feel free to reach out to me.