Talked to an old building inspector in Chicago last winter

I was at a job site in Wicker Park, six years back, and this city inspector came through. He told me that my whole method for wiring old buildings was safe but lazy. He showed me a trick for running conduit under original wood floors that took me an extra hour but saved a redo. Anyone else pick up a weird trick from a city official?

3 comments

3 Comments

reed.eva2mo ago

Bet he also told you the building was probably haunted and you'd save more time just burning it down lol

butler.brian2mo ago

haunted and you'd save more time just burning it down lol" - ok but what if the ghost is actually a projection from some old electrical wiring or something and thats why equipment keeps failing there. could be a legit safety hazard from faulty grounding not a poltergeist

elizabeth_gonzalez1mo ago

Wait have you actually checked for old knob and tube wiring in that place? Lots of buildings from the early 1900s have cloth wrapped wires that break down over time and can cause all sorts of weird electrical problems. The grounding thing makes sense too because if the ground wire is bad it can create stray voltages that mess with sensitive equipment. Did the maintenance guys ever find any melted insulation or scorch marks near the breaker panel? Those are usually the first signs of a bad ground. I had a friend whose whole living room flickered like crazy until they found a live wire touching the metal conduit in the wall.