Last week a homeowner in Phoenix told me to "just make it work" on a 40 year old panel

I walked into a house built in 1983 and the breaker box was literally held together with duct tape and hope. Customer wanted me to add a new AC unit without pulling any permits or upgrading the service. I walked off the job after they offered to pay me under the table with cash and a six pack.

2 comments

2 Comments

wells.reese5d ago

Hold on though, I gotta play devil's advocate a little. Yeah, adding a 30 amp AC to a 40 year old panel is dumb, but the duct tape part sounds like a homeowner special, not some ticking time bomb. I've seen panels that looked way worse and ran for another decade without a problem. @ryanf66, you're talking like a Zinsco panel is a death sentence, but some of those old Federal Pacific boxes are still humming along in my neighborhood, no fires yet. Is it really that serious, or are we just scared of anything that isn't shiny and new?

ryanf665d ago

Funny timing on this, I was just reading a thread over on r/electricians where a guy was talking about a similar situation in Vegas. It's wild how people think their 40 year old panel is just fine because it hasn't caught fire yet. I mean, yeah, maybe it's been running ok so far, but that doesn't mean you can just throw a 30 amp AC unit on top of a Zinsco or something. The duct tape thing got me though, that's a new level of sketchy. You did the right thing walking off, no job is worth getting sued or worse when that thing finally lets the magic smoke out.