# Vote for your Favorite All-Time Code Violation!



## user4818

That's quite a nice gallery of my work you've put together there. :thumbup:


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## John

I voted for #5 because I think that it is the worst because whoever installed it should have known better. Most of the rest are DIY classics.

What about the guy using a electric drill …standing on a metal ladder…in a pool? Now that one is a real classic.


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## Frasbee

There's so many choices, I can't decide!

I'm stuck between the plumbing L's and the extension box sandwich.


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## MDShunk

John said:


> I voted for #5 because I think that it is the worst because whoever installed it should have known better. Most of the rest are DIY classics.


That's actually a picture I took. It is installed here: http://www.habitatamerica.com/apt_unitedtowers_FP.html


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## John

Here's one you need to add to the list....I found it a while back.

View attachment 1200


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## John

MDShunk said:


> That's actually a picture I took. It is installed here: http://www.habitatamerica.com/apt_unitedtowers_FP.html


I hope that the "Problem" got fixed. :whistling2:


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## MDShunk

John said:


> I hope that the "Problem" got fixed. :whistling2:


Nope. Been that way since the 1974 inspection sticker.


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## John

MDShunk said:


> Nope. Been that way since the 1974 inspection sticker.


If it works, why fix it?.......right. :whistling2:


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## 480sparky

John said:


> Here's one you need to add to the list....I found it a while back.
> 
> View attachment 1200


I had to pare the choices down to 15 because that's the poll maximum.


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## John

480sparky said:


> I had to pare the choices down to 15 because that's the poll maximum.


I get it now...selective perception selections. :thumbsup:


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## nick

Well since we do commercial work only ill pick the extension rings stacked . 480 nice stuff like it . take care


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## JohnJ0906

Sooo many good... I mean _bad _choices. :laughing: 
Had to vote for the ol' floating receptacle - #10.


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## Kletis

I went for the floating receptacle too...it is just so stupid!! John, the drywall screw into the feeder is awesome!! I have never seen anything like that!!


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## Frasbee

Kletis said:


> I went for the floating receptacle too...it is just so stupid!! John, the drywall screw into the feeder is awesome!! I have never seen anything like that!!


Yeah, I can't deny that's some ingenuity.

Like, seriously, that guy must've been so smart to think of that.

I know *I'd *never think to do that, guess I have a lot more to learn than I thought.


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## micromind

Those are absolutely excellent! Really hard to get it down to one choice, I picked the extension box fiasco, mainly because I've seen similar installations. 

It never ceases to amaze me what is gotten away with out there. 

Rob


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## brian john

15 is my fav. but I am prejudice as one of my IR thermographers took this.

I really love he drywall screw in the conductor.


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## seo

John said:


> Here's one you need to add to the list....I found it a while back.
> 
> View attachment 1200


 He even has the wire wrapped the wrong direction under the drywall screw. I've never seen a tap installed like that!


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## TOOL_5150

Why is 9 a 'code violation' - What if the conductors stick out of the box 6"?

~Matt


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## 480sparky

TOOL_5150 said:


> Why is 9 a 'code violation' - What if the conductors stick out of the box 6"?
> 
> ~Matt


Stick out where?

The entire stack is two 4squares facing each other with 6 extension rings between them. How do you even get into the extension rings?


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## Archania

I prefer copper pipe to EMT "fuses," they conduct better :thumbup:

But I'd have to go for the Sandwich... Looks like another case of "whatever was on the truck." "Hey, we dont have any conduit left!" "Ahh hell, get me those 6 extension boxes!"


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## LGLS

All I can say is, ALL of those violations were performed by nonunion labor...:whistling2:


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## 480sparky

LawnGuyLandSparky said:


> All I can say is, ALL of those violations were performed by nonunion labor...:whistling2:


All I can say is....prove it.


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## chenley

Had to go for the extension box sandwich also. The RG6 on the recep was the only one I had not seen before. 

The most frequent code violation I see is in the mobile home courts we work in. The HVAC guys always seem to drill into the service feed conduit to feed the 10/2 into the panel for the A/C disconnect. Ripped another one out today and feed it into the panel right way.


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## Pierre Belarge

Ken
Nice job, it is good to have a funny thread. Jeez the screw in the conductor for a tap...


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## brian john

What's sad is we do 5 or more IR scans a week in these scans we are also looking for code violations and wiring errors at least once twice a month we see something of this caliber. And LGLS the work is completed by U and NU JWs.


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## user4818

LawnGuyLandSparky said:


> All I can say is, ALL of those violations were performed by nonunion labor...:whistling2:


Yup, you're right. I took credit for them. I'm a nonunion hack. :whistling2:


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## iaov

I pick 14 because I've seen so many boxes stuffed like that in the mill I used to work at.


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## william1978

I voted for #14 that just amazes me.


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## brian john

I was with an employee the other day and saw some incredible pipe work from 3/4-3 1/2" and it was straight, level consistent offsets and 90's up, down and around the site.

Always nice to see something to take the raw edge off crap work.


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## Minuteman

What gets me about all of these pics, including the '"drywall tap screw", is the AMOUNT of forethought that went into each one. Most of these would have been less time consuming to do the correct way. It has been said that, "You can't fix stupid". However, there is no question that, "Stupid CAN fix it"! :blink:


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## 480sparky

iaov said:


> I pick 14 because I've seen so many boxes stuffed like that in the mill I used to work at.





william1978 said:


> I voted for #14 that just amazes me.


Yet #14 only has one vote.........


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## william1978

LawnGuyLandSparky said:


> All I can say is, ALL of those violations were performed by nonunion labor...:whistling2:


Bull****. You probably did most of them for you to know who did them.


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## s.kelly

that is one amazing bunch of ****
I think i vote for 15.. that one and the sheetrock screw took alot of brass from someone who really should have known better.


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## TOOL_5150

480sparky said:


> Stick out where?
> 
> The entire stack is two 4squares facing each other with 6 extension rings between them. How do you even get into the extension rings?


AHH! I never really looked at it that close. What I thought I saw was a box, bunch of rings, then a flat cover with a 1/2KO in it. Now that I look closer I see this issue!! :laughing:

~Matt


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## fraydo

480sparky said:


> Stick out where?
> 
> The entire stack is two 4squares facing each other with 6 extension rings between them. How do you even get into the extension rings?


Isn't that what the KO's on the rings are for?:confused1:


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## Rockyd

1 and 10 are death at the ready!


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## I Conduit

I like #11, the gas line. It's not everyday you see someone who has invented a way to convert electricity into gas.


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## headrec

I voted 15. Some funny/crazy stuff.


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## Podagrower

480sparky said:


> Yet #14 only has one vote.........


 
I voted for 14 as well, bringing it's total to three. But I think I know why it's not getting the votes it deserves. Ken has mislabeled it to keep us confused. It appears to me to be a 4 11/16 box, not a 4 square. If it was a 4 square, I couldn't have gotten all the wires in. Besides, I was just gonna put on extension rings till I could close it.


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## thekoolcody

Yea, that flip-flop extention isnt safe. your just asking for a death wish


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## 220/221

OK, the flip flop one is more than likely not even plugged in so I'm not giving it any credit.

I am proud that I have been able to personally provide a few entries to the poll. I wish I had a camera with me to document some of the classics throughout the decades.

I SWEAR I have seen that overstuffed 5 square box but mine had mostly THW in it and older nuts...and more wires.

I also think that, even though I only had a cell phone pic, my EMT fuses were better than the ones in the poll.










There are so many to choose from. I have it narrowed down to the stacked extensions, the gas pipe and the conductor screw tap.


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## user4818

220/221 said:


> I am proud that I have been able to personally provide a few entries to the poll.


Your own work, right? :whistling2: :jester:


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## 480sparky

220/221 said:


> ............I also think that, even though I only had a cell phone pic, my EMT fuses were better than the ones in the poll........


But your EMT fuses aren't all there.......... you're missing one, so the load is single-phasing! :laughing:


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## mattsilkwood

had to go with #15 ive seen that more times than i can count. whats the amperage rating of emt?


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## brian john

The guys that put in your quasi fuses was a slacker and a hack, he couldn't even beat the ends flat.


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## 220/221

> But your EMT fuses aren't all there.......... you're missing one, so the load is single-phasing!


I go to a sh!tty little used car lot to troubleshoot the 240V lot lights. I am testing power in a *single phase* panel and find one of the legs is a high leg @ about 200V.

I track it to the source, on a different property about 500' away, and find the source to be a 3 phase switch. At some time, they destroyed one of the 120V leg lugs/fuse clips so they just moved the wire down to the high leg. Hey, it's still 240....right?


I tracked down a used switch but the owner of the building thought I was trying to rip him off (I heard him on speaker phone with the tennant). The switch is probably still like that. The car lot was gone in 6 months.


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## hogsmoss

these are all funny man, but #9 almost made me pee my pants. i can just picture the guy that worked on that last trying to fit all that **** back together.:laughing:


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## RePhase277

hogsmoss said:


> these are all funny man, but #9 almost made me pee my pants. i can just picture the guy that worked on that last trying to fit all that **** back together.:laughing:


I don't see why there are so many extension rings to begin with. How many wires could possibly be in there? There is a 3/4" pipe in and out at the top. And two 1/2" pipes at the bottom. That's probably a staged pic.


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## Magnettica

Gotta go with #10: Soap Bottle Cord.


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## Boneshaker

I had to go with #1, anytime you are staring at multiple instant deaths you gotta go with that one. My only doubt is it may be staged as stated in an earlier post. If proven to be staged I would change my vote to #15.


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## Richard Rowe

I vote for # 14 cause thats how we do it in Tennessee!!! GO BIG ORANGE (or big orange fire ball)


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## ampman

the missing dryer rec. is bad and very dangerous


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## lectric_hand6855

mattsilkwood said:


> whats the amperage rating of emt?


Depends on the size but I can't seem to find it in NEC. :whistling2:

I went with the extension box sandwich, I think that guy forgot his emt bender.

The flip-flop floating extension is ok if its plugged into a gfci....:stuart:


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## Mastertorturer

EMT Fuses for sure. What an idiot home owner does is what an idiot home owner does best. Act like an idiot. 

A person working in the trade knew better but did the evil deed. Thus he's someone who will do that again and again. So... it's the worst violation possible on the list. 

Someone should dust those emt for prints. It's criminal.


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## gold

I'm gonna go with #5 because it appears to be going into a gear, that tells me it was likely done by an electrician, who should know better. makes me wonder tho ... how much of this stuff never gets caught.


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## wbw1989

#7 is pretty messed up. It's run with 10-2 using the ground as neutral and the white conductor is not re-identified.


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## chris856

That does it. I need to bring a camera with me to work now. This is some good stuff thanks for sharing.


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## Ohmbre

Most definitely have to pick #9. I also like the 90 degree connector on the face of the 4S cover at the last extension ring. I've seen a few jobs like these.


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## 10492

I'm going with all the work was done by a Union side Jobber, attempting to do residential work.......because they were laid off and figured they could make some quick cash.


Then they were corrected by Non-union resi techs who know what they are doing.


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## jwjrw

Peter D said:


> Yup, you're right. I took credit for them. I'm a nonunion hack. :whistling2:


 
:laughing:


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## JoeKP

Had to pick #10 (the soap bottle cord) only because i found a pic of it in its earlier days (as a mint tin cord)and its 2 wire might i add...


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## BIGRED

Updated flip flop extension picture.


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## humanvoltmeter

I say number 1.

Just because idiots need to learn and pass the work onto other idiots


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## Bkessler

I ve posted this a few times, its the favorite of the ones I have found. but I picked the original can light, thats making the most of what you got!


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## Rudeboy

BIGRED said:


> Updated flip flop extension picture.


Still great.
:laughing:
:thumbup:


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## TOO_SL:IM

Well have to admit done the EMT thing.There are times on the job were you have to test stuff and sometimes there is not a fuse to be found.And yes we replaced them.


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## Widestance_Politics

I'm voting for pic #1 also.....I worked for a local Industrial Service/Rewind Shop as an apprentice...We got a call to go and check out a pump for the main fountain at the state fairgrounds....apparently the night before all of the carnies got frisky and hopped into the fountain splashing water leading to shorting out the pump...Man the possible result of that instance would have made International news....


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## voltz

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## The Lightman

15.)'s Slow time delay fuses are close, but those idiots in pool #1 are my pick.


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## Shockdoc

That 1900 collar fiasco reminds me of a guy I used to work with who would holesaw a 1900 blank and run conduit out of it ...Old saying,"can't fix stupid".


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## ColoradoMaster3768

Man, it _really _is hard to determine which _one _to vote for -- thought all deserved at least an honorable mention. But, I had to go with number 15, the "EMT fuses," because _any_ fool knows you should use _copper_ plumbing pipe! :thumbsup:


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