Hi everyone. I just had an inspection done for a house I purchased. The only thing that I am somewhat concerned about is a note about the way the fuse box was wired.

The image below contains what the inspector flagged.

The issue was:
"*More than one breakers are double tapped - corrections are recommended, * over strip wires running to the duplex Outlet by the main panel."

Is this something I should be concerned about?
Would it be difficult to fix?
Any idea, if needed, what an electrician would cost to repair?

 

The first photo is not very clear, but Square D breakers are listed for two conductors in certain sizes. The inspector should know this.

The second is not an issue. You can run individual conductors through a nipple into the box. There is no need for the sheath.The

It does look like they missed the neutrals and grounds in the same hole of the bus.

 

Photobucket doesn't allow third party linking. I'm not sure everyone can see your two small pictures.You can load pictures directly to the board...... How-to-insert-pictures

 

Me being the inspector my first thing on the list would have been (I can only go by what I see in the pictures) the neutral and ground wires in the same setscrews as PCBoss mentioned already.

I would also more than likely seeing it is a Square D would be able to look at the breaker and determine if the breaker being used and being double tapped was rated for such use.

Over stripped sheathing for this outlet in this case is not issue. Just sloppy work.

Seems to me like the inspector was just trying to justify his rate by being able to list as much as possible on his worksheet for you.

My bigger concerns or what I would want to know are other areas. Such as is the breaker panel (this is not a fuse box) bonded correctly etc. Is this a main breaker panel? I don't see, well can't make out if the "grounding" screw is set in the panel or not.

Any way you can take some more pictures that are clear.

 

That is correct for individual THHN, but my understanding if it's NM-b the outer sheath needs to enter the outlet box.

 

That's normally correct but in this case the OP can use the sheathing as a label like the person did wiring the rest of the panel. Let's just call it an oversized label.

 

A quarter of an inch of Romex cable sheathing visible in the outlet box or junction box is considered normal. What counts is that the box clamps need to land solidly on sheath, not on the conductors.

You should strip off the sheathing to the desired degree prior to inserting the cable into the box. If not, when you finally strip the sheathing you will find it very difficult to not leave excessive amounts of sheathing which in turn might take up too much space in the box to stuff everything in and put the cover on.

I never understood the problem of double tapping considering that two branches of wiring that could be individual branch circuits could join in a junction box and a single cable continue to the panel to be connected to one breaker. But it is true that two wires may not go under one screw unless the terminal is designed for that. Needed terminal design is such that the ends must not touch each other and must no be able to slip sideways out from under the screw just before the screw is tightened.

 

Thanks for the help everyone.

These pictures are the ones the inspector took during the inspection. The house closing isn't done yet, so I can't go and take more pictures.

The issue he claimed, is it worth concern? When I get the house, I can post more detailed pictures.

 

They are both very.minor issues or a non-issue.

 

When I enlarge the image further.... I can see at least one green bonding screw in the neutral bar.
Also.... I can see the two wires correctly connected to the breaker. One on each side of the screw.

 

Another vote here - No the issues that the inspector noted are not major issues at all and this factor alone should not "shy" you from buying the house or asking the seller to reduce the price in order to make the changes.

 

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback. This has eased my worry to get it fixed asap. However, I will post more pics once I move in to see if I need to change anything.

 

This inspection was obviously done by an independent home inspector. The industry is pretty well noted for many inspectors not being qualified to inspect or criticize electrical work although there are a few who do a pretty good job. Your inspector was evidently not one of those few.