Troubled Houses - The Home Owner's Resource^sm - Electrical

We see many interesting adverse conditions during our inspections, partly because of the unlimited number of ways people can mess up a house, but also because we do a thorough inspection to reveal these adverse conditions. We hope these stories and illustrations help home owners avoid these costly conditions by learning about causes, preventions, and remedies. A home purchase can create opportunities for the new owner to improve the home, possibly increasing its value, durability, and usefulness.

NOTICE TO BUYERS & SELLERS: This site does NOT encourage or discourage the purchase of any individual house, or style, age, location, or condition of house.  Conditions shown and/or described in the following articles may have been remedied at the house where these conditions were found.  These conditions typically can be remedied by qualified contractors. The presence of these conditions in any house is comparable to any other real estate consideration such as price, size, or location.  Consult a qualified home inspector before purchasing any house, and consult a qualified real estate agent for more information on how to handle a real estate transaction where adverse conditions are reported in a home inspection.   This site does not describe any house by address or knowingly show a readily identifiable exterior image.  Further, no home actively listed for sale  will be described on these pages at the time the article is posted.

Copyright HankeyandBrown.com. All rights reserved.  "Troubled Houses - The Home Owner's Resource" is a SERVICE MARK of Hankey & Brown Inspection Service Inc.  List of topics and all articles in this resource. (Also includes Photos of the Month.)

THANK YOU for visiting HankeyandBrown.com.   Learn more about our services, which now include IR Thermography, radon testing, and carbon monoxide tests.
                                                 Electrical story list

Replace unsafe Federal Pacific Electric panels  
We uncover the service panel, even if it has an inspection approval sticker.

Overlamping creates the potential for fire hazards
Light fixtures, particularly those with enclosed incandescent bulbs, are typically marked with a label indicating the maximum wattage bulb permitted to be installed in the fixture.  Unfortunately, most residential light fixtures use standard "Edison" base bulbs which have the same socket and bulb thread pattern for a variety of wattage bulbs.  Therefore it is very easy to install a bulb with a higher wattage rating than intended by the fixture manufacturer. Use of a higher wattage bulb than the fixture rating is known as over lamping.  Prior to the middle 1980's many light fixtures did not have thermal insulation between the bulb and the fixture wiring.   These un-insulated fixtures are particularly vulnerable to over heating from over lamping. Enclosed fixtures such as the one shown below left may not show signs of over lamping unless carefully examined when changing the bulb. The socket of this fixture is shown below at right.  

Notice that the open end of the socket is damaged and what was once white insulation on the wire is now scorched brown.  Several months earlier, a similar light fixture in the same apartment was found to be flickering and when examined had worse heat damage than the fixture shown here.  These fixtures had been in service in a frequently rented resort condominium since about 1980. When removed, the proper wattage bulb was in use, but the label indicating the maximum wattage was no longer legible. These fixtures had a high potential for arcing and or fire. RECOMMENDATION: Carefully examine enclosed light fixtures, especially those over 25 years old, to check for signs of overheating including scorched wires, embrittled sockets, or charred debris in the globe. If any signs of overheating, or overlamping, are found, have a qualified electrician replace the fixture.   

Experts recommend replacing Federal Pacific Electric panels & Stab-Lok breakers.

Homes equipped with Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) circuit breaker panels and/or the FPE "Stab-Lok" circuit breakers have a substantially greater potential for fire and electric shock due to failures of these circuit breakers.  The panels and breakers are labeled FPE or Stab-Lok, or Federal Pacific Electric, Newark, NJ. Thousands of homes, particularly townhouses built in the 70's and 80's in the Twin Cities have FPE panels since they were a lower cost product than other panels and breakers.  Every year we inspect homes that still have these panels and breakers in use. Experts consider this equipment a latent hazard.

        
The panel above has an Underwriters Laboratory (UL) listing label (black sticker at upper right corner on the cover door but this does not make the panel safe.  A New Jersey court ruled that FPE violated consumer fraud laws when they obtained the UL listing with fraudulent testing.   The presence of a State Board of Electricity inspection approval sticker (yellow and red at top of panel cover door) does not make the panel safe.  The state electrical inspector has no authority to reject a UL listed product installed in a proper manner.  The panel cover also has uncapped openings which exposed live components.

The breakers are also labeled and can be readily identified by their red handle markings and their non-standard ON position pointing to the outside edges of the panel. 
 

Field research on FPE panels and breakers is extensive and many experts have detailed the history of the failures of FPE panels and breakers.  We agree with the  concensus recommendation that FPE panels and breakers should be REPLACED. 

More information is available by clicking the following links:

                         Sources of Moisture in Electrical Panels
ABSTRACT: The intrusion of moisture at electric service panels has the potential to cause corrosion and water damage to electrical equipment. While the design and installation of most systems keeps them dry, roughly 10% of residential systems suffer from moisture intrusion and corrosion.[i]

                                   Uncovering the unexpected
In 2010 we inspected a large suburban home with both a main electrical panel and an additional panel located in the laundry for several branch circuits including some large electrical loads such as water well pump, clothes dryer, and oven.   The seller's disclosure document indicated that the main panel had been repaired after a lightening strike, and the seller had a letter from an electrician describing a repair to the panel in the laundry.  The seller stated that this repair was done after a prior inspection found some damage in the laundry panel.  The electrician's letter indicated that the main feeder conductors in the laundry panel had been repaired by placing insulating sleeves on the conductors. 

The electrician's repair letter was less than one year old, so one might assume that there was no reason to open the laundry panel to inspect the wiring.

Our inspection practice is however, to examine all readily accessible electrical panels, even if they have State of Minnesota Electrical Inspection approval labels.  In this case, close examination of the panel in the laundry revealed that overheating damage had occurred AFTER the repair mentioned in the electrician's letter.

                          
The feeder conductors labeled A & B are the wires that the electrician repaired by adding insulation sleeves.  The recent overheating has melted the insulation sleeve and portions of the aluminum wire at B1. Our report recommended ADDITIONAL corrections to this panel by a qualified electrician.  The key point here is that while repair documents are useful maintenance records, qualified home inspectors take the time to determine and report CURRENT conditions.  Repair records are not a substitute for ASHI® Standard inspections. 

The Electric Shower

                                            
While this 20+ year old photo may seem preposterous to some, it illustrates an unfortunately frequent installation of a basement bathroom without consideration of the surroundings.  In this case, the white box on the rear wall next to the electric meter is the main fuse panel.  As you can see from the soap holder, the shower was used occasionally.  While the electric service, including the fuse box, is old it was not improperly installed.  The shower, however, should NEVER have been installed so as to place the electrical components in a wet location.  The lesson here is to obtain the services of a qualified plumber whenever a new fixture or bathroom is to be installed.  Return to topic list

Beautiful but not practical

                          
This beautiful fireplace surround was built as part of finishing a previously unfinished basement.  The cabinet maker did not understand that the electric service panel (in the left cabinet) needs to be always accessible, not hidden behind a television and bookcase shelves. We advised our customer to have a finish carpenter modify the cabinets to make the electric panel readily accessible. Click here to learn more about our services.

Find the circuit breaker panel

                                                   
The contractor that renovated this condominium kitchen failed to realize that the refrigerator would block access to the circuit breaker panel (on the refrigerator side of the orange wall).  Our inspector couldn't find it until he went to the condo one floor below and asked them where the breaker panel was in their unit.  Theirs was on the same wall, but not blocked by a refrigerator.  We have not heard what remedy was applied to the situation.

More wires ≠ More power

                                        
The electric service shown above has been modified with several sub-panels. All the additional boxes were fed from the main terminals at the top of the main breaker panel. (above the white breaker handles.)   The main terminals are not intended for multiple wires, and one or more of the five wires jammed into these terminals (detail shown below) are likely to have a poor electrical connection.  We recommended that a qualified electrician replace all the boxes with one larger service panel to reduce the potential for overheating or loss of power to one or more circuits.  Click here for information about our services.         

Switch wired wrong in 1971 still in use in 2007

                                              
Our typical inspection of the electric service panel revealed this 1971 house had aluminum wiring in the branch circuits.  On a hunch, we removed the cover plate from this switch.  The face of the metal mounting strap was marked, "Back wire CU only, Side wire CU or AL."  No wires were visible at the side terminals, so we pulled the switch out and found it was back wired with aluminum wiring, in violation of its marking.  Aluminum wiring, improperly installed, presents an increased risk of fire.  Given this case of improper wiring we recommended that every electrical connection in the house be examined and/or rewired. 

Attics must be carefully inspected

                                   
It is critical that the attic be carefully examined.  In this case we found multiple cases of wiring damage due to squirrels in the attic.  Cost to repair wiring and compressed attic insulation was about $5,000.  Return to topic list

     Why we open the electric service panel. (One of several reasons)

                  
This electric service was found in a 1987 built house, with a partly finished basement.  The inspection was done on a very hot humid summer day while the central air conditioner was in use.  The basement was very cool, due in part to unsealed return air ducts, which created a negative air pressure zone in the basement.  The interior of the panel cover door is covered with condensation.   When it came time to examine the inside of the panel, the consequences of the condensation were revealed.    

                           
Notice the water dripping off the red wire at the top, and off the bottom of the connections for the white and bare copper wires at the left side of the main breaker.   Also the bottom of the panel is rusty, which is consistent with repeated exposure to water.

                     
Our inspection of this electric service revealed that the conduit entering this panel lacked sealant around the main conductors.  This allowed warm humid air to be drawn through the conduit from the meter box on the exterior wall.  Whenever the outdoor air has a dew point higher than the air temperature of the basement, the first cool surface this air meets is the electric service panel, which becomes a condenser with water draining across the breakers and collecting into the bottom of the box.  Our recommendation was to have the conduit properly sealed and drained by a qualified electrician and to have the electrician examine all components in the service for water damage.  

Our customer had the repair done and allowed us to take photos of the completed work.