I was working on a house last month where the previous homeowner had bent the equipment ground back over the cable sheath just like we used to do with the bonding strip of BX cable. I was not surprised because LICENSED electricians are still doing things that were outlawed 30 years ago and there are some LICENSED electrical inspectors who are still passing this stuff.
The most common violation that I see around the Cleveland, Ohio area is that the service weatherhead is below the point of attachment and the splices are above the weatherhead. This is a problem because stranded insulated conductor is a poor excuse for a water hose. Compact stranded conductor is an even poorer excuse. Water inside of a conductor corrodes the wire from within and this damage is not detectable. Also, water that is inside of a conductor can freeze causing damage. Since a lot of building wire has a 105 degree Celsius second rating such as AWM water that is inside the conductor can boil when the sun is beating on it.
The second biggest violation is an around the gutter mast that looks like a cow miscarriage. This is partly because of peasants who think that a through the roof mast will leak water. ( For that matter, when adding circuits to grandmother's house she would not let me drill holes in the ceiling joists in the basement because she though that holes in the middle of the beam would weaken and she was a far cry from a civil engineer. ) There is also a house on my street with a hip roof that has ZERO overhang. So, the only legal way to put in a new service is to go underground.
Mike Cole mc5w at earthlink dot net
Michael R.Cole
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