Walked into a house where the homeowner DIY'd the panel with duct tape

Found a 200 amp panel in a basement near Akron where someone had taped a bus bar back together and the inspector just nodded at it, has anyone else seen a patch job that somehow passed?

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1 Comment

quinnperry19d ago

Is duct tape not a recognized electrical bonding method in Akron? I've seen inspectors wave through way sketchier stuff, like a panel where someone used a penny as a bus bar replacement and the inspector just asked if it was a 1982 copper one. If the tape is holding the bar together and the break is clean, the current path is still there, just with a little extra resistance. Honestly, a properly wrapped layer of tape might be better than some of those bolt jobs I've seen where people strip the threads and hope for the best. The real problem is when the tape gets hot and goes crispy, but if it passed the load test, I say let the homeowner ride it until the first real surge.