Up To Current Standard?

Or; ready for current overload? In this third installment of Wall of Shame, I’ll talk about one area of renovations that needs close scrutiny during inspections. And that is the electrical system.

There is alot of renovating going on in Austin & San Antonio in neighborhoods that were built circa 1920’s to 1950’s. Back in those days, folks didn’t have all the appliances & electronic gizmos that we have nowadays & there was no need for alot of power. Electrical service was typically 100 - 125 amps and in some cases only 60 amps. Today a sub panel is anywhere from 50 to 100 amps on average with total amps into the home at 200 amps; maybe less if you have gas fired appliances in some cases. The problem arises when a renovation is done and the contractor does not take into consideration the size of the conductors coming in from the pole. This may be an oversight on their part; we all do make mistakes. Or worse, they really don’t know what they’re doing.

I was recently in the North Loop neighborhood in Austin doing an inspection on a renovation; or I should say a complete re-do from the ground up that was completed approximately 7 or 8 years ago. The inside of the main service panel at the meter looked great and according to current standards right down to the 200 amp disconnect. However; upon closer examination, the conductors from the pole to the weather head right before the drip loop did not match. A splice had been made and it was quite apparent that the gauge of the original service drop conductors from the pole did not match the gauge of the conductors going into the service panel; and not in a good way. The original feed appeared to be intact; most likely 100 to 125 or so amps, which isn’t necessarily a problem as it seemed for the last 7 years. The occupants obviously didn’t have high electricity demands.

Let’s say the new occupant buys an electric car and needs a charging station. Or, decides to convert the detached garage into a full fledged shop complete with 220 volt circuits & maybe a welder. Hey, the service panel outside says at least 200 amps, right?. Wrong! You can see that the scenario may not have a happy ending.

I did call it out on the inspection & I hope the issue was rectified by simply installing a smaller disconnect to match the current coming in to the box.