New National Electric Code rules to make it safer for firefighters to turn off power during a home fire will actually come back and bite fire service in its ass

 I have always said The Fire Service is its Own Worst Enemy

Unfortunately  New NEC 70 The National Electrical Code rules where not thought thru and will be putting Future Firefighters lives at Risk 

NEC 70 now requires all new Electrical Services to homes to have an outside disconnect so Fire Fighters can turn power off and do not have to wait for power company's to respond or risk either going into a cluttered dangerous  basement and shutting breakers off or pulling the meter 

OK so far so good sounds like a good idea . But is it ?

Take a look at the pictures below 

 

 Here is a 45 year old disconnect for a rural home 

Normally you open the lid and the breaker is covered with a steel plate you cant see what's underneath  waiting to hurt you.

 

Still want to shut off that breaker ?  

You see this is the problem no matter how you weather proof an outside disconnect they deteriorate over time.

So a firefighter does not know this danger exists  opens the box pulls the breaker and  several things can and will happen.

If he is lucky the breaker does its job no one gets hurt .

or this can happen  only one side of breaker shuts off and half the power is still on to home.  

Another issue can happen .  You pull breaker and it does not shut off at all .

In a worst case scenario breaker  arcs and catches fire and in an  absolutely  worst case the breaker dead shorts and explodes blowing the inner cover out of the enclosure killing whoever is in front of it .

I am a Forensic Electrical Inspector and Fire Investigator and have seen all these incidents  happen

with outside disconnects on Mobile Homes  and  Roof Top HVAC units  .

 Electrical burns are devastating i personally have experienced a 3 day trip  to hospital when a breaker blew on me and it was indoors  

So I know what im talking  about . Of course the fools who proposed this new rule  will be long gone or retired 

when the accidents start happening and there will be no one to blame . 

 

There's a saying in the Electrical Industry . Its not the electric that scares me its who wired it ahead of me.  

 

 

 

Original Breaker Panels had Main Fuses not Main breakers heres why

 If you go into an older home or business built in 50s you will more than likely find that the breaker panels that did not have a main breaker and instead had main fuses.

This is because of 2 reasons  1st main breakers where at the time very expensive and main fuses where cheaper . 2nd Main fuses had a higher Fault current rating than main breakers at the time and there was the worry of runaways when a breaker tripped  and main breaker could not handle the amperage produced and damage the electrical system 

In my area you typically find them in the rural   Penelec territory's  in Cambria and Blair County Pa.   as they required main fuses because their systems had higher fault amperage's 

 

I Will no longer specify or purchase RAB lighting fixtures after 1 exploded and manufactuer did nothing.

 RAB has always been a premier manufacturer of lighting expensive and worth every penny but lately they have been slowly going down hill 

My customer bought 4 of these very expensive commercial wall lights almost a grand a piece  to have one die early and another one explode 

the entire lens assembly fell to the ground 
  luckily no one was standing under it .

A friend of mine who is a guard at a school sent me pictures of  ceiling lights that exploded as well due to wires being run under the lights frame and getting pinched 

 

Needless to say the school is preparing to take legal action about RAB because almost every light was like this.

Its a shame a company with a sterling reputation is now suspect every time you buy one.

 

 

Old Style AC Only Fire Alarm Panels once thought bullet proof now failing and you may never know

 They where the first modern Fire Alarm Systems to come to market they used 120 volts AC power to operate and ring the bells and had a 2nd power leg from a different phase which acted as a back up trouble signal if fuse on primary blew. 

Some systems where pretty simple Pull Stations and bells or horns  and some times Heat Detectors. many where installed between 1930s and early 70s   

  No warning lights to tell you something was wrong  only way to tell was a small bell which came on when a fuse blew on primary  power leg .

The bells and horns where wired in series which means if one went bad or 1 simple wire break entire line of horns or bells did not work .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there where fancy complicated systems which punched out pull stations and codes but again where AC power only with series bells and horns

 

 But one good thing these systems where considered bullet proof but this is not the case now that they are getting over 70 years in some cases protecting apartment buildings and town halls they are starting to silently fail.

The problem the simple plunger switch in many of these pull stations or simple snap switch 

These switches after having 120 volts ac  running thru them all these years are starting to break down 

and go to a grounding situation and since many of these older systems are all in conduit  a violent short circuit develops and damages the panel and in many cases the back up power phase does not turn on the trouble bell. So now you have a non working system which everyone just assumes is working when it is not. 

Systems are suppose to be tested annually but many times they are not .

I just recently took over an old Faraday System in an apartment building and this is exactly what happened and only god knows how long the system was not working as previous building owner was a slum lord. 

Yes  the twilight of many of these old style panel is now upon us and its just a matter of time when a serious fire breaks out and building occupants will not be notified.  

 

Another case of a Non Qualified person calling themselves an Electrician.

 I do Forensic Electrical Inspection for various entity's and was recently called to a home having unbalanced voltage issues.

Prior to my arrival the main breaker panel to the home had been replaced by a supposed electrician.  

One of the problems in Pa we don't have license   for electricians except class A city's  

 

One look at box initially was nicely done . But that's where the real problem comes in.  

Thou everything looks correct its not in fact its a very dangerous situation going on-why?

The individual failed to install a Safety number #6 copper wire ground to water pipe and no ground wire . He also failed to put the green grounding screw which ties  the neutral buss bar to the panel so it is grounded. 

The safety ground missing was part of reason lights would go dim and bright due to the aging old electrical grid in the neighborhood and its also there in case of lightning to draw it away from service. 
 

These people paid for a professional instead they got a hack. its absolutely criminal what this individual did but again he will get away with it, He was called back told to fix and call  a certified 3rd party inspector recognized by Pa. 

When home owner was getting ready to sell he changed the electrical outlets not knowing the danger he caused. and home inspector should loose his certification and never be allowed to inspect again in Pa.

 I do occasional work where i perform Electrical Forensic Inspection. for various entity's.

I was asked to look over an electrical outlet which caught fire in a bedroom in a house and nothing was plugged into it. 

 

  After examining everything I found out Aluminum  Romex was used in this house and was mixed with copper very bad thing.to do..

To make matters worse before the owner a former home builder moved out he changed all the electrical outlets  which where specifically designed to use copper and aluminum the cheap Chinese ones where copper only they hooked the aluminum romex 

Power being pulled thru the outlet and the dissimilar metals lead to a galvanic action and heat and caused the outlet to start smoking.  

 

To make matters worse they hired a home inspector to go over the home and even thou Aluminum Romex was clearly visible in breaker panel inspector never said a word about  it  and is required by law to do so upon finding it which means he gave this house an easy pass.

I HAVE WRITTEN PREVIOUSLY ABOUT THESE SO CALLED HOME INSPECTORS . THEY ARE WORTHLESS AND SHOULD BE BANNED FROM OFFERING SERVICES PERIOD. THEY SHOULD HAVE TO GO THRU SAME TRAINING A MUNICIPAL BUILDING INSPECTOR GOES THRU.

THIS INSPECTOR  SHOULD BE BROUGHT UP ON CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR RISKING A CATASTROPHE A FELONY CHARGE IN  PA. 

Needless to say most he will face is civil lawsuit and once again a non qualified home inspector gets away with costing a new home owner thousands to correct an issue he should have clearly pointed out . 

Fire Suppression Blankets there all the hype in putting out fires.Just one problem many can be deadly and spread a fire because how they are made

 Did an inspection of a fire scene in a family's home after the Chicken they where frying caught kitchen on fire when grease ignited while making an evening snack.

The home Owner had an older Fire Extinguisher which he tried to use to put it out ,but because it had not been inspected or maintained it lost its pressure to propel the powder 

 

But he had back up he had purchased a fire safety blanket which he put over the stove as he had seen in the instructions but the blanket   caught fire and home was destroyed

                                                         

 The problem is many of these blankets are not certified by any 3rd party certification outfit to their worthiness so there is no guarantee they are suitable to be used in a fire .

and this blanket says not to use on grease fires where others show them being used for the purpose  

Plus many blanket manufacturers are very deceptive how they sell these blankets for what they can do.

Yes they use them in industrial settings but those blankets are highly regulated .and personnel trained to use them.

If your going to buy a blanket make sure it has UL or ETL certified seal and learn how to use properly.

But a Fire Extinguisher is always my first go to. 

 

 

 

 

Limited Area Sprinkler Systems in closets and crawl spaces are a good ideal but is anyone testing to make sure they work ?

 Limited area Sprinklers are a great idea I recently came across one in an apartment building  tenant storage room 

Its just 3 sprinkler heads run off the buildings main water line  NFPA 13 limits these systems to 6 heads and they make sense where you don't need a full sprinkler system but want extra protection. Like storage rooms and Trash chutes etc 

 

But the question is who or when are these to be tested if there ever tested ? 

I can find nothing in codes require them to be tested other than NFPA25. to make matters worse   valves serving them are not locked or electrically monitored  like regular sprinklers . Seems to be a AHJ call and the bigger problem is really old limited systems generally have no inspectors test valve or flow switch with bell which limits there inspection. 

So the next question is after they have been installed 20 to 30 years will they even still work? 

I have seen steel pipe sprinklers where rust was so bad heads did not activate  should not happened with a copper or plastic piping but still who is keeping an eye on them? 

Lots of questions no answers .