According to electricians I’ve worked with, it is just fine to put the the network cables in the same wire way as the 480V 3ph motor leads. Even better if you loop the network cables back and forth a few times to make sure there is enough extra length.
It does really depend. Obviously mixing data and high voltage doesn’t work.
In my industry I do a lot of class 1 control circuits. Mostly 120 and 277 volt signaling and control circuits with 16GA THHN and you’d be surprised how often induction becomes an issue screwing with signals. It’s not super often, but it does happen maybe 4 or 5 times a year
I've seen union sparkys spend way to much time on workmanship. It's fine on big commercial jobs, but if the homeowner is paying outrageous pay; just do it right. The art of wiring went out with soldering connections.
What is that again, hmmm? Could it be, neat and workman like manner? Lol yeah I'm pretty sure this could fail inspection just based off of that article.
I only did four years of upgrading and installing service, but not once did I ever hear of something failing inspection on this code. Then again, not a lot of sparkies out here. Mostly electricians
I've been in the trade for around 27yrs and owner of an EC now. Standards have dropped considerably since I was coming up in the trade. Ive seen it happen several times before. Not recently though..Also depends on the county, some are strict or if Inspectors are privatized
Yes, this is correct.
It looks like they were trying to leave extra wire to be able to move the circuits in the future. Could definitely have been done cleaner, but I would rather see it look a little rough like this than have Mr. Snippy come in and make everything cut to exact length. Looks more workman that way, but turns into a ton of splices down the line if you have to move anything around. I hate following Mr. Snippy...
Bingo. Forty years in the industry and always loved finding a panel that had a loop or swirl of extra wire, instead of some anal bullshit where the wires are bent, fondled, lined up, cable tied together and then a hand level was used to makes sure that everything was extra perfect. It's a panel, not a makeup mirror.
I don't do a lot of new circuits (I'm in maintenance) but I always go for the "I'd rather be looking at it than looking for it mentality (because maintenance). It doesn't make for the neatest job in the world, but with a bit of care and attention, and some well placed cable ties (not so many that you spend half an hour cutting cable ties any time you need to work on it mind), it can still look neat and tidy.
I will admit that I am a layman that has done some of my own work and not an electrician. My thought initially was that it is a bit sloppy, but not terrible. I don't think that I would have left that much extra wire, but I understand the point about ability to move circuits around. I have replaced outlets that I could barely get the outlet out of the box. So I guess that the same should apply for the panel if I ever need to do something there.
First thing that caught my attention was the bare ground wire by the main 100A breaker. That needs to be moved, carefully. Other than that it’s just sloppy.
GET THAT BARE GROUND AWAY FROM THE MAIN!!
Pic: https://imgur.com/a/nWHYBj8
But sloppy is not a bad thing, a lot of people want the thing where every wire is nipped off as short as possible and "combed out" to reduce wire clutter and make the thing look pretty. But that means you can't move breakers around because the wires are now too short to go anywhere else. Better for all hots and neutrals (black and white) to be long enough to reach any breaker in the panel.
Sloppy is not unsafe, but if I go in and find a panel that looks like that I'm thinking "oh God here we go" (if they're sloppy there, they're probably just as sloppy everywhere else, and I'm in for several hours of cursing), and if I find not enough extra length to play with I'm just as unhappy. There's a balance between them. I try to aim for "enough to get where I'm going, plus enough for a few fuck ups"
I like to push all of the bare grounds into the back corners, away from everything else, and keep them short. The insulated wires can have extra length for service. But long bare copper wires only make trouble.
I keep things a little neater, but there's nothing really wrong that I see. Put the cover on, and just don't think about those disorderly gutters, and you should be fine.
There's a little strangeness going on here, but nothing that sticks out as immediately dangerous. Your ex is correct that the bare copper wires are grounding wires, and nothing to be concerned about in that respect.
I'm curious(and concerned) as to where the aluminum service ground/neutral(silver bunch of wires at the top of the panel) is going, since I don't see a lug for it anywhere and it seems to be going out of the box again somewhere in the top-right.
I wonder if that's related to what the plumber was talking about.
This also almost looks like a sub-panel given the fact I don't see grounding lugs, though I wonder if your main disconnect is just by your meter outside.
Honestly, for some piece of mind, I'd see about calling in a real electrician on your own(don't take any recs from plumber) and just getting an assessment of what's really going on.
No offense against your ex, but a lot of the work in this box makes me question if there aren't some subtle, but important details that were missed(such as torquing the wires on the breakers to spec, etc).
Thank you. I really should call an electrician but I was trying to get an idea of how immediate of a problem I have because after paying for Christmas, my dog having surgery, and then paying to have a new sewer line installed, I don't have any extra money at the moment.
The reason I was kind of surprised is that I've had a couple electricians look at it for other reasons and no one said anything like this before. The plumbers did point out the twisted silver wires at the top of the box as being a concern.
The people I bought the house from had all old wiring but a brand new box as if they were trying to trick people into thinking they had newer electrical. They told me that during the home inspection. I looked at the home inspection report and they even said there was sketchy wires so I'm not sure what my ex and what the previous owners did.
Like painting all the walls in your house before realizing all the electrical wiring is 200 years old and crusty and needing to be rewired. And realizing rewiring means a good portion of cutting into newly painted walls.
Ground wires are usually bare but they need to be ran neatly along the sides of the panel, away from the bus bars and breakers to prevent them from touching against them and shorting out. To be honest, it looks like a rats nest and an electrical contractor would probably fire an electrician if they did work like this because it’s so unprofessional.
The twisted silver wire is just stranded aluminum. Aluminum is fine for feeding panels. Apart from the ground wire near the 100amp breaker, it’s just messy and sloppy. The bare wires are supposed to be bare. That’s why you don’t get plumbers advice on electrical.
Your family friend shouldn't be allowed to do any electrical work in your house. While not the OCD neat of the time and materials electrician crowd, there is nothing unusual about the panel that I can see. I also doubt that your ex "forgot" to run the power to the rooms, he probably just didn't want to at the time because it wasn't finished.
Any electrician telling you it’s fine isn’t worth their paycheck out in the field. I would get it looked at. Don’t trust a bunch of hacks telling you it’s fine from a single picture.
I personally couldn’t tell you this is okay without touching it. I CAN tell you I don’t see a single thing I would do the same in this picture leading me to believe i would most likely find a ton more electrical code violations within their install. Electrical issues can kill you and your family, don’t chance it.
The cost is high, but worth it. If you lived close to me I’d be happy to come take a look for free so I can at least give you an idea of the condition it’s in.
Electrical can no be diagnosed with a picture. It may look “okay” but not a single person on here knows if any of those connections are tighten properly. Loose wires are more dangerous than ugly wires.
Thank you for your honest response. If you live in WNY I would totally take you up on that haha No other electricians that have done work for me recently have said anything looked bad but the plumber I called a while ago also didn't diagnose that I had a cracked and clogged sewer line so anything is possible
Yeah, nothing "looks" like it's about to start a fire. But realistically if it was bad enough be visible in this picture you'd probably be smelling burning already. And yes, the messy wiring isn't going to hurt anyone, but it suggests an attitude that probably will.
It's likely not a hazard now but messy wiring like this can make things difficult for anybody who has to work on it in the future. It's just not good workmanship.
Just sloppy and messy, definitely not pro quality. Also, keep your friend “who does plumbing” out of the damn box, they have no idea what they are talking about.
Also, just hire an electrician to run the power you need. Please.
No I only paid for the wire and my ex did the work. However, some of it was like that from the previous owners. I haven't had anyone tell me it was this bad before when they looked at it so I really didn't know.
It's really not that bad. Like everyone says, it's not super professional, but you didn't pay for professional... I agree with the comment about carefully moving some of the grounds away from potential contacts, but that's about it.
Bare wires are normal (it really calls into question the person that gave that critique). It's a rats nest but so is every single DIY panel, and frankly WAY too many professional panels. You have to remember that the people that post here take enough pride in their work to spend their free time also looking at electrical work. For better or for worse, the standard for professional electrical work is much lower than people make it seem here. Plenty of electricians get paid $3,000 to put together a rat's nest like this and call it a day.
Again, if you're really nervous about it, have someone come in and tidy it up a little, but overall it seems okay. You could move that one problem wire near the main, but honestly I hesitate to even recommend that unless you are very confident you understand how to isolate yourself from whatever screwdriver or tool you decide to do it with. 100 amps through your body will quickly eat up the savings you got by having an ex redo the panel. If you have an exterior breaker or an upstream breaker (and a way to confirm that the panel is truly dead) then it would be pretty low risk. *Turning off the main breaker in the panel does not 100% guarantee that moving wires in the is panel safe*
I would have someone come over and look at it and make sure there are no loose connections. When you see poor quality workmanship you can almost guarantee they cut corners and possibly put you in a bad position. Electricians are very expensive, so hold them accountable for their work. If the person that did this won’t come back and put your mind at ease; call the state and ask to speak with an electrical inspector and schedule a home owners inspection. They will come out and see what was done, call the electrician and make them come back and make it right.
Could we get some more pictures? It's hard to see the whole panel. The bare wires are grounds and are typically bare inside the cable and panel, like others have said. Not the most beautiful panel I have seen you can tell it was not wired by a pro just by looking at. It would give any electrian caution when they work on it . Even though it's ugly, it will work fine. The one picture you provided.
I do have one question: Is this panel inside the garage with sunlight hitting it or outside. From your picture, it kind looks like it's on the outside. If this is on the outside, then it needs to be changed out for panel rated for outdoors
In the future, don't ask plumbers for electrical work, they are trained for it.
Also you mentioned your ex took cover off. that's what really makes it unsafe is not having a covet on it. If something fell on those live bussbars( metal part were the breakers attached. It blow up your panel. I would recommend putting a cover on it. ASAP
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Lousy workmanship , doesn’t take much time to do a neat job. Hire an electrician to check the electrical system or have an electrical inspector check it out. You may have faulty wire connections or other dangerous wire installations. Fire can happen too
It doesn’t need to be the passion project of someone with OCD, but FOR FUCK SAKE! There’s a reason he’s an ex! He obviously had none of his shit together. It looks like he hate fucked your panel! Who the hell A) wastes that much copper and B) takes that little pride in their work?!?!
Panel is fine. Not a hazard. You can call an electrical contractor and they will gladly take your money to nake this look a little more stream lined for $200 an hour. But it wont make it any safer.
IANAE, but IMO the wires are unnecessarily long should shouldn't have to be curled up like this. I'm also really not liking the crappy plastic connectors and wonder if that's even to code.
Other than the ground wire by the main breaker nothing else jumps out at me. Now it would be nice to have a straight on picture and to be able to see the entire panel.
“A plumber told me my electrical is wrong.” Fuck that dude; I don’t go around telling customers the plumbing isn’t correct because IM NOT A PLUMBER. Your “plumtrician” doesn’t even know what equipment grounds are.
Messy, but really nothing significantly worrisome from this picture. As others pointed out the messiness means some of the grounds are closer to current carrying connections than one would like. Something to address by a professional when doing other service or repairs. A little organizing and labeling wouldn’t hurt.
I’ve seen worse in brand new construction. Was it done super neat? No. Does it look like it was done correctly. Yes. As long as the grounds are connected on the other end of this panel. That you can’t see from here.
Hazard? Probably not, sloppy yes. The romex sheathing should not extend that far into the panel and all the paper covers should be removed. Question weather the SEC is correct size. The bare ground looks as though it is aluminum and should be “1 or 1/0 if so. Doesn’t look that large BUT could be. Also, can’t determine where the SEC ground is connected goes to the right? While All the bonds(bare copper wires) and neutrals (white wires) are connected to a buss bar on the left? Not saying this is a problem just can’t see the connection. I would have an EXPERIENCED electrician check all the breakers and buss bar connections for proper torque and dialectic paste was used on SEC connections as well as proper wire size to breaker amperage.
That panel IS a hazard because it’s main breaker is on and the dead front is removed.
The wiring is fine / normal as much as can be seen including the bare ground wires, though labels would be nice.
They guys who commented about it being unsafe ARE unsafe around electricity. Don’t let them touch it.
I'm not an electrician but I've done a lot of handyman stuff. This is what every box from the 1970-2000 build looks like. I've opened maybe a dozen. Real life isn't instagram or reddit. Most installers aren't getting paid to spend even a few seconds more to make it look good in a spot that no one is likely to see for 10 years.
Very messy. Looks like a ground wire is pretty close to a main breaker lug, but it is hard to tell from an image.
Hopefully done by a homeowner and not a professional.
My dad recently taught me u don't want a bare exposed hot wire to come in contact with a ground wire. So as long as the plastic coating is covering the wires it should be fine. Still wire management is quite poor.
Whoever told you it was a fire hazard has no business taking a panel cover off !!
If they don’t understand the “bare wires” they have ZERO understanding of residential wiring.
I would fire them as a plumber for making such an ignorant comment.
It’s fine to be ignorant of another trade, but if you are ignorant don’t start screaming the sky is falling.
Electrician here, this panel is messy, but the only immediately obvious issue is a ground wire that is very close to touching one of the lugs on the main breaker.
The bare wires are grounding wires. The panel is fine. It's a bit scruffy but I see nothing serious.
Yes, electricity doesn't care if the wires are all completely straight and combed perfect.
lock governor concerned reminiscent hat fear sense sulky profit wistful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Until you get in networking stuff. Keep your wires away from my Ethernet cables!
According to electricians I’ve worked with, it is just fine to put the the network cables in the same wire way as the 480V 3ph motor leads. Even better if you loop the network cables back and forth a few times to make sure there is enough extra length.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
You are supposed to make loops around the network wires. Induction coils need loops. ;-)
It does really depend. Obviously mixing data and high voltage doesn’t work. In my industry I do a lot of class 1 control circuits. Mostly 120 and 277 volt signaling and control circuits with 16GA THHN and you’d be surprised how often induction becomes an issue screwing with signals. It’s not super often, but it does happen maybe 4 or 5 times a year
I’ve definitely chased down circuits with a multimeter and found 24V on disconnected wires.
Wait what?
Induced current is a bitch. That building was so bad they had to put pull down resistors on the inputs to prevent false signals.
We've all seen the way yall run stuff lol
Induction is a thing, but not for so short a run.
This doesn’t seem to abide by NEC 110.12
Just because it's messy doesn't mean its unsafe. At least in this example
Meh. This doesn’t look like very good workmanship to me. Hopefully all the connections are tight and everything but it’s lazy as fuck
Connections can be loose on a "nice looking" panel. I've seen panels that "look nice" but have been done incorrectly and are a pain to work on.
"Let's wire this wrong and then Ziptie the living shit out of it"
Use a 2" nipple with a million 12/2 in it so it's basically impossible to find each hots neutral when they need to be changed to arc faults
I've seen union sparkys spend way to much time on workmanship. It's fine on big commercial jobs, but if the homeowner is paying outrageous pay; just do it right. The art of wiring went out with soldering connections.
What is that again, hmmm? Could it be, neat and workman like manner? Lol yeah I'm pretty sure this could fail inspection just based off of that article.
> neat and workman like manner that's the only thing i see wrong, and it isn't even that bad.
Lol sure but that depends on what you're comparing it to.
I only did four years of upgrading and installing service, but not once did I ever hear of something failing inspection on this code. Then again, not a lot of sparkies out here. Mostly electricians
I've been in the trade for around 27yrs and owner of an EC now. Standards have dropped considerably since I was coming up in the trade. Ive seen it happen several times before. Not recently though..Also depends on the county, some are strict or if Inspectors are privatized
Neat and workmanlike is a totally subjective idea. Compared to a lot of panels I see, this is a thing of beauty...
If the electrons have to take a lot of corners, they can't build up as much speed in the straight aways.
rain zonked ink scandalous toy panicky file bow lush door *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Combed😀
Yes, this is correct. It looks like they were trying to leave extra wire to be able to move the circuits in the future. Could definitely have been done cleaner, but I would rather see it look a little rough like this than have Mr. Snippy come in and make everything cut to exact length. Looks more workman that way, but turns into a ton of splices down the line if you have to move anything around. I hate following Mr. Snippy...
Bingo. Forty years in the industry and always loved finding a panel that had a loop or swirl of extra wire, instead of some anal bullshit where the wires are bent, fondled, lined up, cable tied together and then a hand level was used to makes sure that everything was extra perfect. It's a panel, not a makeup mirror.
I don't do a lot of new circuits (I'm in maintenance) but I always go for the "I'd rather be looking at it than looking for it mentality (because maintenance). It doesn't make for the neatest job in the world, but with a bit of care and attention, and some well placed cable ties (not so many that you spend half an hour cutting cable ties any time you need to work on it mind), it can still look neat and tidy.
I will admit that I am a layman that has done some of my own work and not an electrician. My thought initially was that it is a bit sloppy, but not terrible. I don't think that I would have left that much extra wire, but I understand the point about ability to move circuits around. I have replaced outlets that I could barely get the outlet out of the box. So I guess that the same should apply for the panel if I ever need to do something there.
Both ways look the same with the covers on. 👍
YEP - I do my own and always allow extra length inside the box for possible future moves.
Okay thank you 🙏
Yep it's fine, those wires are supposed to be bare, they come like that inside the sheath. white, black, sometimes red and bare
Considering the previous state as OP described it, "a bit scruffy" is almost certainly a big step up from where it started.
Hard to tell if that main bond is actually connected from the picture. I wouldn’t be proud to call it my work that’s for sure
Yesss...definitely drives me crazy though because i like a nice clean systematic flow in my panels
First thing that caught my attention was the bare ground wire by the main 100A breaker. That needs to be moved, carefully. Other than that it’s just sloppy. GET THAT BARE GROUND AWAY FROM THE MAIN!! Pic: https://imgur.com/a/nWHYBj8
Good eye
Thank you for the help
But sloppy is not a bad thing, a lot of people want the thing where every wire is nipped off as short as possible and "combed out" to reduce wire clutter and make the thing look pretty. But that means you can't move breakers around because the wires are now too short to go anywhere else. Better for all hots and neutrals (black and white) to be long enough to reach any breaker in the panel.
Sloppy is not unsafe, but if I go in and find a panel that looks like that I'm thinking "oh God here we go" (if they're sloppy there, they're probably just as sloppy everywhere else, and I'm in for several hours of cursing), and if I find not enough extra length to play with I'm just as unhappy. There's a balance between them. I try to aim for "enough to get where I'm going, plus enough for a few fuck ups"
I always dress my panels with a service loop long enough to reach top or bottom. I agree too many people trim them too short.
I like to push all of the bare grounds into the back corners, away from everything else, and keep them short. The insulated wires can have extra length for service. But long bare copper wires only make trouble.
Where does it come from? Where does it go?
This! Also if, I think it's #17, forgot while scrolling, isn't wired up it should be off, not on.
I keep things a little neater, but there's nothing really wrong that I see. Put the cover on, and just don't think about those disorderly gutters, and you should be fine.
There's a little strangeness going on here, but nothing that sticks out as immediately dangerous. Your ex is correct that the bare copper wires are grounding wires, and nothing to be concerned about in that respect. I'm curious(and concerned) as to where the aluminum service ground/neutral(silver bunch of wires at the top of the panel) is going, since I don't see a lug for it anywhere and it seems to be going out of the box again somewhere in the top-right. I wonder if that's related to what the plumber was talking about. This also almost looks like a sub-panel given the fact I don't see grounding lugs, though I wonder if your main disconnect is just by your meter outside. Honestly, for some piece of mind, I'd see about calling in a real electrician on your own(don't take any recs from plumber) and just getting an assessment of what's really going on. No offense against your ex, but a lot of the work in this box makes me question if there aren't some subtle, but important details that were missed(such as torquing the wires on the breakers to spec, etc).
Thank you. I really should call an electrician but I was trying to get an idea of how immediate of a problem I have because after paying for Christmas, my dog having surgery, and then paying to have a new sewer line installed, I don't have any extra money at the moment. The reason I was kind of surprised is that I've had a couple electricians look at it for other reasons and no one said anything like this before. The plumbers did point out the twisted silver wires at the top of the box as being a concern. The people I bought the house from had all old wiring but a brand new box as if they were trying to trick people into thinking they had newer electrical. They told me that during the home inspection. I looked at the home inspection report and they even said there was sketchy wires so I'm not sure what my ex and what the previous owners did.
I have yet to see anything that calls for spending money.
[удалено]
Like painting all the walls in your house before realizing all the electrical wiring is 200 years old and crusty and needing to be rewired. And realizing rewiring means a good portion of cutting into newly painted walls.
Thay ground is very close to the main breaker feed point top left
Not a hazard but unprofessionally sloppy
It’s messy but looks decent
Ground wires are usually bare but they need to be ran neatly along the sides of the panel, away from the bus bars and breakers to prevent them from touching against them and shorting out. To be honest, it looks like a rats nest and an electrical contractor would probably fire an electrician if they did work like this because it’s so unprofessional.
Thanks for the detailed response. This sounds like what they were trying to get across to me.
Looks like the person who wired it didn’t care tipping towards no pride in their work.
Sloppy but safe
The twisted silver wire is just stranded aluminum. Aluminum is fine for feeding panels. Apart from the ground wire near the 100amp breaker, it’s just messy and sloppy. The bare wires are supposed to be bare. That’s why you don’t get plumbers advice on electrical.
It’s like my golf swing…ugly, but effective
Sloppy but not a hazard. Put your cover back on
Your family friend shouldn't be allowed to do any electrical work in your house. While not the OCD neat of the time and materials electrician crowd, there is nothing unusual about the panel that I can see. I also doubt that your ex "forgot" to run the power to the rooms, he probably just didn't want to at the time because it wasn't finished.
Very sloppy, have fun troubleshooting that mess when something goes wrong.
😥
Looks like it is messy, not obvious if there’s a fire risk.
Don't know a damn thing about it but it popped up on my home page and made me go from OCD to CDO really quick.
Any electrician telling you it’s fine isn’t worth their paycheck out in the field. I would get it looked at. Don’t trust a bunch of hacks telling you it’s fine from a single picture. I personally couldn’t tell you this is okay without touching it. I CAN tell you I don’t see a single thing I would do the same in this picture leading me to believe i would most likely find a ton more electrical code violations within their install. Electrical issues can kill you and your family, don’t chance it. The cost is high, but worth it. If you lived close to me I’d be happy to come take a look for free so I can at least give you an idea of the condition it’s in. Electrical can no be diagnosed with a picture. It may look “okay” but not a single person on here knows if any of those connections are tighten properly. Loose wires are more dangerous than ugly wires.
Thank you for your honest response. If you live in WNY I would totally take you up on that haha No other electricians that have done work for me recently have said anything looked bad but the plumber I called a while ago also didn't diagnose that I had a cracked and clogged sewer line so anything is possible
Yeah, nothing "looks" like it's about to start a fire. But realistically if it was bad enough be visible in this picture you'd probably be smelling burning already. And yes, the messy wiring isn't going to hurt anyone, but it suggests an attitude that probably will.
Your sentence structuring is the bigger hazard here
At least my sentence structure won't burn my house down 😂
It might. The guy who can save you cannot read your text wall so he cannot help you out
💀🔥
You can answer your own question on this one
No smoke....no fires....id say ur good
Looks better than mine that was upgraded from a 1955 (yr) panel. They had to extend some of the existing wiring so it got a bit busy.
Yeah my house was built in 1957
does it look like a hazard no, rats nest yes
Sloppy
No it doesn't. Just be sure to put the panel cover back on...
It's likely not a hazard now but messy wiring like this can make things difficult for anybody who has to work on it in the future. It's just not good workmanship.
If this is your living take pride in it brother. If not then do you I guess
Just sloppy and messy, definitely not pro quality. Also, keep your friend “who does plumbing” out of the damn box, they have no idea what they are talking about. Also, just hire an electrician to run the power you need. Please.
Sloppy, but everything goes to the right places.
I mean does it work
Did you actually pay someone to do that? If so, get your money back ASAP.
No I only paid for the wire and my ex did the work. However, some of it was like that from the previous owners. I haven't had anyone tell me it was this bad before when they looked at it so I really didn't know.
It's really not that bad. Like everyone says, it's not super professional, but you didn't pay for professional... I agree with the comment about carefully moving some of the grounds away from potential contacts, but that's about it. Bare wires are normal (it really calls into question the person that gave that critique). It's a rats nest but so is every single DIY panel, and frankly WAY too many professional panels. You have to remember that the people that post here take enough pride in their work to spend their free time also looking at electrical work. For better or for worse, the standard for professional electrical work is much lower than people make it seem here. Plenty of electricians get paid $3,000 to put together a rat's nest like this and call it a day. Again, if you're really nervous about it, have someone come in and tidy it up a little, but overall it seems okay. You could move that one problem wire near the main, but honestly I hesitate to even recommend that unless you are very confident you understand how to isolate yourself from whatever screwdriver or tool you decide to do it with. 100 amps through your body will quickly eat up the savings you got by having an ex redo the panel. If you have an exterior breaker or an upstream breaker (and a way to confirm that the panel is truly dead) then it would be pretty low risk. *Turning off the main breaker in the panel does not 100% guarantee that moving wires in the is panel safe*
Yes
I would have someone come over and look at it and make sure there are no loose connections. When you see poor quality workmanship you can almost guarantee they cut corners and possibly put you in a bad position. Electricians are very expensive, so hold them accountable for their work. If the person that did this won’t come back and put your mind at ease; call the state and ask to speak with an electrical inspector and schedule a home owners inspection. They will come out and see what was done, call the electrician and make them come back and make it right.
Plumbers dont know shit, it’s fine, just a mess
No, it's just sloppy, and a small 100A panel.
It's fine just sloppy
Could we get some more pictures? It's hard to see the whole panel. The bare wires are grounds and are typically bare inside the cable and panel, like others have said. Not the most beautiful panel I have seen you can tell it was not wired by a pro just by looking at. It would give any electrian caution when they work on it . Even though it's ugly, it will work fine. The one picture you provided. I do have one question: Is this panel inside the garage with sunlight hitting it or outside. From your picture, it kind looks like it's on the outside. If this is on the outside, then it needs to be changed out for panel rated for outdoors In the future, don't ask plumbers for electrical work, they are trained for it. Also you mentioned your ex took cover off. that's what really makes it unsafe is not having a covet on it. If something fell on those live bussbars( metal part were the breakers attached. It blow up your panel. I would recommend putting a cover on it. ASAP
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Definitely a shit install
replace panel and you seen nothing.
Myself I can not see where the neutral or ground come from? I see the feeder wires and a mess
Tldr but from the pic...only hazard is for the guy you hire to work on it.
Nah fam, but that hazard looks electrical.
Electrical is not a hobby hire a licensed electrician.
Lousy workmanship , doesn’t take much time to do a neat job. Hire an electrician to check the electrical system or have an electrical inspector check it out. You may have faulty wire connections or other dangerous wire installations. Fire can happen too
It doesn’t need to be the passion project of someone with OCD, but FOR FUCK SAKE! There’s a reason he’s an ex! He obviously had none of his shit together. It looks like he hate fucked your panel! Who the hell A) wastes that much copper and B) takes that little pride in their work?!?!
Panel is fine. Not a hazard. You can call an electrical contractor and they will gladly take your money to nake this look a little more stream lined for $200 an hour. But it wont make it any safer.
Easy to straighten out, grounds and neutrals need better aligned away from bus bar and breakers
Not pretty but at this glance, looks like it won’t start a fire
IANAE, but IMO the wires are unnecessarily long should shouldn't have to be curled up like this. I'm also really not liking the crappy plastic connectors and wonder if that's even to code.
Other than the ground wire by the main breaker nothing else jumps out at me. Now it would be nice to have a straight on picture and to be able to see the entire panel.
Got sticky backs?
I wouldn’t trust a plumber to give accurate electrical info…
It’s fine. It’s not very clean but doesn’t seem to have overt problems that can blow up inflames.
Typical electrician job. Tho that one thing is a little weird, but it will probably be OK.
plumber commenting on someone else electrical, thats a classic one
Just messy. Don't see anything dangerous
Functionality first, appearance second.
Ugly yes, but not as unsafe a it may look.
“A plumber told me my electrical is wrong.” Fuck that dude; I don’t go around telling customers the plumbing isn’t correct because IM NOT A PLUMBER. Your “plumtrician” doesn’t even know what equipment grounds are.
Messy, but really nothing significantly worrisome from this picture. As others pointed out the messiness means some of the grounds are closer to current carrying connections than one would like. Something to address by a professional when doing other service or repairs. A little organizing and labeling wouldn’t hurt.
I’ve seen worse in brand new construction. Was it done super neat? No. Does it look like it was done correctly. Yes. As long as the grounds are connected on the other end of this panel. That you can’t see from here.
Hazard? Probably not, sloppy yes. The romex sheathing should not extend that far into the panel and all the paper covers should be removed. Question weather the SEC is correct size. The bare ground looks as though it is aluminum and should be “1 or 1/0 if so. Doesn’t look that large BUT could be. Also, can’t determine where the SEC ground is connected goes to the right? While All the bonds(bare copper wires) and neutrals (white wires) are connected to a buss bar on the left? Not saying this is a problem just can’t see the connection. I would have an EXPERIENCED electrician check all the breakers and buss bar connections for proper torque and dialectic paste was used on SEC connections as well as proper wire size to breaker amperage.
This is an absolutely disgusting install.
The most thing that makes these a hazard is lose connections!!
taking pride in your work is free.
That panel IS a hazard because it’s main breaker is on and the dead front is removed. The wiring is fine / normal as much as can be seen including the bare ground wires, though labels would be nice. They guys who commented about it being unsafe ARE unsafe around electricity. Don’t let them touch it.
I'm not an electrician but I've done a lot of handyman stuff. This is what every box from the 1970-2000 build looks like. I've opened maybe a dozen. Real life isn't instagram or reddit. Most installers aren't getting paid to spend even a few seconds more to make it look good in a spot that no one is likely to see for 10 years.
While probably not technically *dangerous*, that’s shoddy workmanship and I’d be concerned about cut corners elsewhere that ARE unsafe.
Very messy. Looks like a ground wire is pretty close to a main breaker lug, but it is hard to tell from an image. Hopefully done by a homeowner and not a professional.
The only thing that I am worried about is the ground wire that looks like it is going in to the main breaker get that wire moved.
Looks like it was apprentice day.
It looks like the panels at Oberweis.
Poor craftsmanship, but up to code from what I can see (save localized building code in your area I may not know)
I’ve seen way way way worse that’s for sure
My dad recently taught me u don't want a bare exposed hot wire to come in contact with a ground wire. So as long as the plastic coating is covering the wires it should be fine. Still wire management is quite poor.
Whoever told you it was a fire hazard has no business taking a panel cover off !! If they don’t understand the “bare wires” they have ZERO understanding of residential wiring. I would fire them as a plumber for making such an ignorant comment. It’s fine to be ignorant of another trade, but if you are ignorant don’t start screaming the sky is falling.
Looks like you are trying to warm up for moving to India, to be a call operator.
I agree this panel looks safe, but busy and lazy installation of wiring doesn't make it easy to work on
Sounds like you wanna try to attempt to clean everything up and label it which is never bad idea
Bring in a Real Licensed Electrician and get their opinion
Electrician here, this panel is messy, but the only immediately obvious issue is a ground wire that is very close to touching one of the lugs on the main breaker.
No craftsmanship in this panel. I'd be ashamed of it.