# Loose connections



## ICE (Feb 10, 2012)

I twisted a wire to see what type of wire it is and it came loose from the breaker.  So I tripped the main to put the wire back and found that all of the screws were loose on the breakers.  The service entrance conductor looks like it could fall out of the lug too.

And now that I think about it, I didn't reset the main breaker.  Oh well, I shouldn't have to do any of that.







The service upgrade is a bootleg and so is the patio cover.  They get to keep the service upgrade and half of the patio cover.


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## chris kennedy (Feb 10, 2012)

Tag 110.14(A) and walk away.


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## Francis Vineyard (Feb 11, 2012)

110.14 . . . "unless the device is identified for the purpose and condition of use."Forgot how to tell when they need to use inhibitor grease between copper and aluminum?  Sometimes it's difficult to tell if there's any makes me wonder if there's enough applied.Francis


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## Dennis (Feb 11, 2012)

Francis Vineyard said:
			
		

> 110.14 . . . "unless the device is identified for the purpose and condition of use."Forgot how to tell when they need to use inhibitor grease between copper and aluminum?  Sometimes it's difficult to tell if there's any makes me wonder if there's enough applied.Francis


I am confused-- are you saying inhibitor grease is needed for the copper connection in that panel?


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## chris kennedy (Feb 11, 2012)

Dennis said:
			
		

> I am confused


Thats just old age, get used to it.


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## Dennis (Feb 11, 2012)

chris kennedy said:
			
		

> Thats just old age, get used to it.


Speak for yourself.  I am still young and beautiful- just ask me.  Turned 61 yesterday.


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## chris kennedy (Feb 11, 2012)

Happy Birthday buddy!


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## Francis Vineyard (Feb 12, 2012)

Happy Belated Birthday Dennis!

Chris figured me out; I'm the one that's confused; it's the conductor not the lug unless listing says otherwise. I'm sure my other questions have been answered elsewhere; getting lazy to look.

Francis


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## inspector444 (Feb 13, 2012)

Francis Vineyard said:
			
		

> 110.14 . . . "unless the device is identified for the purpose and condition of use."Forgot how to tell when they need to use inhibitor grease between copper and aluminum?  Sometimes it's difficult to tell if there's any makes me wonder if there's enough applied.Francis


Sorry for going off topic............but this brings up an old issue for me.  When I was a new inspector, I was taught deox was required at all service connections with alum. wiring.  No one ever challenged my request to see the use of deox/inhibitor.

Than I heard a UL rep say- If inhibitor is required, it would be provided with the product. I never saw a requirement for the use of deox.

Can anyone provide an instance when it is supplied with a product, or a listing requiring the use, or a code section mandating the use.  I don't recall ever seeing a written requirement  mandating the use.

Steve


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## Dennis (Feb 13, 2012)

The new aluminum wiring does not require Noalox.  It is made of different material then in previous years.  As a rule I use copper but occasionally use aluminum and I still use the noalox even though it is not required.  I have never seen wire supplied with noalox and doubt that it made.  Certainly if the manufacturer calls for t then you must but I have not seen it.


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## raider1 (Feb 13, 2012)

Polaris lugs come with an anti-oxidant compound already installed in the lugs. This is about the only product that I have seen that comes with the anti-oxidant already in the lugs.

Chris


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## chris kennedy (Feb 13, 2012)

raider1 said:
			
		

> Polaris lugs come with an anti-oxidant compound already installed in the lugs. This is about the only product that I have seen that comes with the anti-oxidant already in the lugs.Chris


Butt-splice crimp connectors also.


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## ICE (Feb 14, 2012)

They understood that I was serious.  A few hundred dollars would have saved much of the patio cover but the planning dept. review fee killed it.  That's just wrong.  Hell that's an insult.  Government still hasn't reached a level of sophistication that accommodates pedestrian projects. (_no Fatboy, that does not mean sidewalks_)

Why wasn't it, "Here's a permit and six copies of a handout young lady....tell your husband to follow this and make sure he calls for inspection just like it says, in six languages....now give us a couple hundred dollars.  Quit your bitching, it could be a hundred a language.  Why? Why you say?  Because we have a monopoly, that's why."  And don't forget....we need to eat too.  Or as my father the contractor would say, "It rains on the just and unjust alike."  Dad reads a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_t5GPbp5IY


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## ICE (Feb 18, 2012)

This doesn't qualify as a loose connections, just a poor one.  There are five strands at the ground rod and only three here.  This is a disconnect at a detached garage and yes I know that there are other violations.  This is typical of the work produced by a general contractor.  In a better world, we wouldn't let anybody but a licensed electrician touch this work.


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