Voltage drop question - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

rselectric1 · 10-28-2009, 08:03 PM

I've only seen them check polarity and ground on residential inspections in bedrooms. They might also check for AFCI's in the panel.
Why asketh thou? Sounds like you have an interesting scenario about to occur.

chris77 · 10-28-2009, 08:13 PM

I've never seen them check anything other than that either but a builder I wired a house for had a buyer bring in a home inspector and on his checklist was voltage drop in bedroom outlets. Granted it is at opposite side of house from service but is dedicated to 6 outlets only. probly 60' run from breaker to outlet

Tinstaafl · 10-28-2009, 08:34 PM

You have GOT to give us the followup on this. My experience is the same as RSelectric's.

Not to say there couldn't be a problem. In another life, I had a service call on a fax machine. Seemed that every time a fax came in, their office computers rebooted. Turned out that the thermal printer in the machine was pulling the line voltage down to ~34V. Since that only drew a couple of amps, I had 'em call their electric shop.

I never did hear what they found, but I never got a callback on the machine.

rselectric1 · 10-28-2009, 08:45 PM

As Tinstaffl said, we need a follow up or more info on what your particular worry is.
There are guys on this site that can do voltage drop and service entrance calculations in their heads. (480 sparky you out there?)
There must be something in particular they are looking for.

chris77 · 10-28-2009, 08:47 PM

When I tested farthest outlet from panel under no load i had 123v. i plugged in my 200 watt heat blanket and dropped to 121.5v. and with 1500 watt hotbox dropped to 109v. I have since gone back and used a spare 12/2 in attic to use as home run instead of 14/2. Repeated hobox test and came up with 112v. at 1500 watt load. I need to know if there is a standard load used in calculating acceptable voltage drop for home inspection. The heavier the load, the more the drop in voltage

rselectric1 · 10-28-2009, 09:01 PM

It sounds like you are more worried than the home inspector will be.
Give your thread a little time. When the real analytical and electrical gurus chime in, I think they might tell you the same thing.
I'll be interested to see what they have to say too.

I sounds to me like you are worried about nothing.

concretemasonry · 10-28-2009, 09:27 PM

The home inspector is usually a generalist because of the low price paid to them for safety, cost and obviousl things that do not look right. They usually avoid code problems because they do not know when the work was done and what code was in effect at that time. They usually only raise "red flags" for certain special items that "do not look right" and may need a specialist (plumbing, electrical, heating, structural or roofs) that may need a second look.

Many home inspectors may also have some specialities and they usually look closer at the items they are familiar with and usually have the usual tools (or toys as we may call them) to look further.

Very often, people look too closely at the numbers after a decimal point, which are really only decoration and there may be other factors.

rselectric1 · 10-28-2009, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concretemasonry

The home inspector is usually a generalist because of the low price paid to them for safety, cost and obviousl things that do not look right. They usually avoid code problems because they do not know when the work was done and what code was in effect at that time. They usually only raise "red flags" for certain special items that "do not look right" and may need a specialist (plumbing, electrical, heating, structural or roofs) that may need a second look.

Many home inspectors may also have some specialities and they usually look closer at the items they are familiar with and usually have the usual tools (or toys as we may call them) to look further.

Very often, people look too closely at the numbers after a decimal point, which are really only decoration and there may be other factors.

Well said

TimelessQuality · 10-28-2009, 09:47 PM

could they (or do they) use all the drop numbers to calculate some sort of efficiency rating for the home?