INSPECTION BUREAU, INC.
250 WEST COURT STREET, SUITE 320 E
CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202

(513) 381-6080
FAX: (513) 381-6123


“Electrical Safety Since 1888”

IMPORTANT NOTICE

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December 22nd, 2003

RE: Residential Underground Inspections

In 1977, referring to (then) current (1975) NEC language, IBI suspended it's requirements for inspections of underground service laterals for single family new construction.

Over the years many changes have taken place. Some of the most important are:

  1. The number of residential service conductors being installed underground today are significantly higher than in 1977.
  1. Residential services are larger today than in 1977 and demands continue to rise. Likewise, utility transformers are larger & more efficient resulting in the availability of much higher and more destructive available fault current, which reveals itself very dramatically under fault conditions. There is no overcurrent protection provided for service conductors.
  1. When we are asked to make inspections for repairs/replacements of existing residential service laterals, we frequently see that previously uninspected conductors were not installed at proper and safe depths.
  1. Counting the 2002 edition, the NEC has been revised nine times since 1977. The edition that was in effect at the time of the suspension of these inspections (1975 NEC) cannot be referred to or used for inspection of new construction today.
  1. The current edition of the NEC provides many more considerations for safety than it did in 1977, chief among those being: changes in protection for conductors emerging from grade, changes for enclosures subject to physical damage, the requirement for warning ribbons in trenches, changes in listing requirements, changes in the rules for splices & taps, new rules requiring protection from ground movement and changes in the minimum cover requirements.

There is no practical way to determine compliance with current NEC rules without performing inspections.

The suspension of these inspections that was implemented in 1977 will be abandoned and the requirements for these inspections will be re-instated on January 1, 2004. Effective January 1, 2004, all electrical permits issued on or after that date shall have inspections of all underground installations. (This replaces the current policy that all underground installations require inspection except for residential service conductors on new construction.)

These inspections will be made at no additional charge if they are requested to be made at the same time the inspection for rough in or temporary release is performed. On jobs when the electrical contractor needs to have this inspection made as a separate trip, the trip charge is $25 (twenty-five dollars).

For the reasons stated above public safety will be improved with only a minimal impact to the electrical contractor.

 

Gaylord Poe
Chief Electrical Inspector

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