This is topic State Electrical Inspectors. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr....... in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 01-18-2002, 10:45 PM:
We hired an electrical contractor to wire in a control relay in our ORC consoles so it would allow the LED projector to energize when the projector motor shut down. OK - so far - no problem.Next: The contractor had to obtain an electrical permit from the state to legally do it. Jeeze.....
So the electrician put an ice cube relay (Cutler-Hammer) in the system to allow the receptical feeding the LED projector to switch on when the projector shut down. No problem.
Now the electrical inspector said "fuse the relay coil".....(that circuit is already fused.....) But that's ok - whatever spins the inspector's crank, I guess....
Enter electrical inspector. He did not like the wire. He wanted stranded conductor instead of solid conductor. (what a jerk)
Now he wants documentation on the fuse holder, relay and the relay socket to make sure it is "UL" approved. 
Now the inspector wants us to go back to ORC to get documentation to make sure the ORC Console can handle an extra 1/10 of an amp without overloading and tripping the 60 amp breaker. Grrrrrr...
Pardon me, gentlemen, but I think this electrical inspector should buy a life at "K" Mart.
We hire a contractor to do minor work. We can't legally do any minor work such as this now, as we could get a hefty fine if we did and got caught doing it in this state.
Please don't get me wrong.....I am for electrical safety. All our electrical parts come from commercial suppliers such as Johnstone, Grainger, All-Phase Electric, and Platt Electric. We do our best to stay away from the hardware stores. Much of that hardware store stuff is sub-standard.
Four things come to mind.
1. The electrical inspector has to justify his job.
2. The state makes money on permits.
3. Electrical inspectors like to think they are God.
4. If they have a bad day, their philosophy seems that it is necessary to ruin everybody's day.
To top it off, the electrical contractor we hired is a journeyman, licensed and bonded, and has been doing electrical contracting work for years!
Everyone I talked to while I was trying to get practically non-existant documentation in ice cube relays and minor stuff like that agree that some - but not all inspectors - are a bunch of jerks.
Maybe I have a bad attitude, but if one of these jerks expects me to hire an electrical contractor to change a hard-wired Xenon Power Supply complete with a permit to do so can just KMA!
Paul.
Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 01-19-2002, 01:56 AM:
Hey Paul I can relate to your problem, over a year ago I did an install in Monroe Wa. I knew about the Electrican union & they had to wire in the consoles, but I did not know the low voltage was included, I wired up all (9) sound racks & was on my last one when the electrical inspector came in & ask to see my permit, when I asked what permit, the booth was RED TAG !! one of the union electrican turned me in, yes I was fined $2,000.00 for wiring the sound racks, it was later dismissed, I was told by bthe inspector that we could mount or connect the surround speakers, the electrican was way behind schedule, we were trying to help them not screwed them around when one electrican called the union & report me....well now they had to mount 180 surround speakers & teminate them...whoooaaa weeeee was they pissed off about that, then they had the nerve to ask me to please help them install & connect the speakers so they can meet the opening date without being sued for failing to complete as schedule...I said not only no But HELL NOOOO, you guys turned me in to the electrical inspector & you exspect me to help you guy out, Noooo you were ordered by the inspector to mount & termiate the speakers, put on extra men if you have to, I'm not touching a damn thing....this cost the electrical contractor overtime, extra men power, I told them if the speakers are not connected correctly you'll have to do them again, the booth is Red tag because of you guys, deal with it & have it ready before opening date...it was...of course I did not make friends in Washington State...we had the electrical contractor inspect our sound racks so we can remove the RED TAG, this guy passed it, but didn't have a clue what he was looking at, he took my word that the wiring was correct.....but I now found a loop hole in that law, the next time I work in Washington State I will use it on the sound racks.....so I can relate to the electrical inspection in Wa.....I was told by the inspector anything over 5-volts has to be wired by a license electrican.....I just shook by head & said OK !! You don't want to piss off a inspector !!
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-19-2002, 02:18 AM:
Moving to Film Handler's Forum