When are inspections required

[DoItMyselfer]

I have a question regarding the inspection process in Canada. I am looking at adding a new circuit to my home and I was planning on doing the work myself to save some money. However, I am not sure if I would need an inspection on the work I did, and if so who would be qualified to do it.

I am not clear on if licensed electricians are able to do inspections or if you have to have someone come in from the city’s building department.

I also wanted to know if there is any way around the inspection. i.e. is it possible to run all of the wire myself but bring in an electrician to connect the circuit to the service panel?

I would just hate to do all the work myself to save some money and then end up forking over a few hundred dollars for an inspection of the work.

[Mr Fixit eh]

Where are you located, Doit? Most jusrisdictions do allow the homeowner to do all residential wiring *in your own home* That said, you are supposed to get an inspection from your electrical inspection authority for everything you touch in your home's wiring, including changing out a receptacle or putting in a more modern light fixture. In Ontario, that's the ESA at www.esasafe.com (http://) Call your town's building permit office, and they'll give you the contact information.

Although a licenced electrician can conduct a private inspection of your home wiring, he/she is not authorized to conduct a safety inspection for your electrical safety authority.

If you are thinking about fishing and pulling all the cables yourself, you'll want to discuss this with any electrician you are considering hiring. In my area, you would be very hard pressed to find a licenced electrician who would take the wiring and terminations you have made up into a circuit and "just connect to the panel." There are huge liability issues for the electrician and unless you have a friend who is an electrician, it's not likely you'll find any brave enough to do this for you.

In Ontario, the cost of a permit and inspection is $69 for 1 to 10 devices and $155 for 11 - 40 devices. If you are changing the service or panelboard, the rates are more. Although this is indeed highway robbery, it can get more expensive if you don't get the permit.

If you decide to do this job yourself, buy a good book on DIY home wiring (with lots of pictures) and study carefully. HomeDepot or your local bookstore has "Wiring Simplified", Black and Deckers, "Basic Home Wiring", and HD has "Wiring 1,2,3". And of course, we'll be here to help you out. :D

Remember that there are not many trades where a job done poorly can kill people or burn down your house, but electrical wiring is one of them.

[Radicalsheep]

So where in Canada are you At. I am sure that it does not matter. But I would go ahead and phone the building permit department. Just to make sure. And if you need one then I would get one.

What are you doing for work. I just finished wiring my Basement I may be-able to give you a few tips.

[DoItMyselfer]

DoItMyselfer

I am located in Southern Ontario - Sarnia to be precise.

I am looking to run a simple outdoor outlet for a pond from my breaker. It seems like this is pretty common at this time of the year due to the nicer weather. I am currently using extension cords but this is not an ideal situation. I have read previous postings on how to run underground wire and it sounds do-able. I am fairly handy and I have replaced some electrical outlets and such in the past. However, a job that would take around $100 or so will likely triple or more if I have to get electricians and inspectors involved.

I wish I had an electrician friend... they are about the handiest friends to have (besides a guy with a truck). Unfortunately I don't have one.

I would like some clarification though - if an electrician was to do the work would he need an inspection?

[Mr Fixit eh]

The electrician has to get a permit and inspection for the same job. It is usually included in his estimate.

Steve

[Homer]

If you are in Ontario you are required to have your work inspected by the ESA.

Here is the link (http://www.esasafe.com/business/ser-009.php) to the inspection section of the ESA website. You can even download the application forms and estimate the inspection fees.

Homer

[gbeichho]

When I wired up my sub-panel at my cottage, I did all the work but hired a local electrician who came out to wire the sub-panel.

I've use him three times now. The first time I had him come out to give me some advice on how to run the wires. The second time he hooked up my sub-panel, and the third time, he hooked up the other sub-panel for me. The cost was not outrageous at all. Of course this is in cottage land.

However, my father in-law did the exact same thing at his cottage with a different electrician.

I think it will still save you a lot of money.

I found the Black and Decker book very good, but I've used Knight's book (at home depot (the yellow one - Electrical code simplified) extensively as well.
And of course the great people in this forum.

George

[Unregistered]

What about when you live in a apartment. I'm living in a one bedroom apartment and I've turning my main room/kitchen into a large NOC with
large power requirments and I need to rewire. I'm very familer with doing this work and I'll double check everything and get it inspected. I just need to change my stove plug (no move stove for me !) into a 30A 240V twist lock
and add some more of said type with some amoured cable and breaker/junction boxes. What I'm has is this

____________________________
| |
Stove Panel

What I want todo is

_____________________________
| | Panel
*-- 30A Twistlock
|
*-- 30A Twistlock
|
*-- 30A Twistlock
*Denotes a 25A breaker and then possibly 8 guage (I have to check)

Currently the curcuit is rated on the fuse (yes fuse panel I want to change that but I have to wait for moooorrreeee money) at 35A and as the old style
long fuses. I'll keep that the same and plan on running 6 guage as a bit
of overkill - I also will likely want to put 25A breakers on every 30A drop
the equipment I'm pluggin in is 3 SGI Origin racks they have a powers distrubtion strip on each one that also have a breaker at 24A. Each rack will draw about 2000W. The everything can run at 120/240 except there are some important bits which only run at 240V. So I plan todo 240V for the hole
thing so I can cheese out and run everything off a 35A circuit as opposed
to at least 60A for 120V. Also I'm I allowed to run 240V to stardard (red)
receptacle if it's clearly labeled ?

This is my own little company that's just starting out, however it's a telecomonication company with fiber, microwave links, etc and power is very important. However not getting sued when somebody upstairs falls a sleep smoking, or the torch next door becomes more then just an alleged firebug. If they see something funky I'm afraid I'll get nailed. As far as me starting a fire
there's nothing that could catch *everything* is going to be in conduit/armoured cable and I'm very careful when wiring, so I'm less scared of me starting a fire as opposed to me getting blamed for it if the house burns down one day (I'm know unlikely). Also what if I wire like I was desribing but instead of putting a junction box where the stove outlet is I was to put a junction box right before, and just wire in a pluging for a stove. So that my wiring plugs in. Because the rest is semi-permantant would I still have to worry about inspection ?


Where are you located, Doit? Most jusrisdictions do allow the homeowner to do all residential wiring *in your own home* That said, you are supposed to get an inspection from your electrical inspection authority for everything you touch in your home's wiring, including changing out a receptacle or putting in a more modern light fixture. In Ontario, that's the ESA at www.esasafe.com (http://) Call your town's building permit office, and they'll give you the contact information.

Although a licenced electrician can conduct a private inspection of your home wiring, he/she is not authorized to conduct a safety inspection for your electrical safety authority.

If you are thinking about fishing and pulling all the cables yourself, you'll want to discuss this with any electrician you are considering hiring. In my area, you would be very hard pressed to find a licenced electrician who would take the wiring and terminations you have made up into a circuit and "just connect to the panel." There are huge liability issues for the electrician and unless you have a friend who is an electrician, it's not likely you'll find any brave enough to do this for you.

In Ontario, the cost of a permit and inspection is $69 for 1 to 10 devices and $155 for 11 - 40 devices. If you are changing the service or panelboard, the rates are more. Although this is indeed highway robbery, it can get more expensive if you don't get the permit.

If you decide to do this job yourself, buy a good book on DIY home wiring (with lots of pictures) and study carefully. HomeDepot or your local bookstore has "Wiring Simplified", Black and Deckers, "Basic Home Wiring", and HD has "Wiring 1,2,3". And of course, we'll be here to help you out. :D

Remember that there are not many trades where a job done poorly can kill people or burn down your house, but electrical wiring is one of them.

[Homer]

You mention living in an apartment condominium unit. For starters you will probably be violating your condominium agreement by renovating the residential unit into a commercial unit.

Do not wire a 120V receptacle (NEMA 5-15 or 5-20) with 240V. You must use a 6-15 or 6-20 instead and use the appropriate mating plug.

Conduit and armoured cable are not semi-permanent, they are permanent and need to be treated as such.

Homer