"iwdplz" wrote in message
...
My brother is purchasing a home in Vermont and the following is holding up
the negotiations after home inspection; he's trying to decide if the
seller should pay for this (whether it's worth the risk in the negotiation
because my brother has already negotiated a rock bottom deal on the
house). The custom home was built in 1999. The general home inspector
says that since the main panel in the basement doesn't have a main
breaker, it is a code violation. Instead the main breaker is outside near
the pole which the home inspector is calling a "supplementary disconnect."
He says the main panel needs to be replaced which would cost thousands.
He didn't tell us what NEC code section was violated so we asked him but
it will take a few days for him to retrieve this info, but seller and
buyer are anxious to proceed sooner.

I reviewed relevant sections of the 2008 NEC and it says that it is fine
to have the main disconnect outside the house and the NEC chapter on the
disconnects didn't say that the disconnect has to be inside the main panel
which is attached to the home. I understand that in some installations
the main disconnect is placed separately outside so that firefighters can
get to it.

Is there a code violation that my brother should ask the seller to remedy?
I am not sure how the electrical inspector could miss something so basic
when the home was built in 1999. That makes me wonder if the general home
inspector is correct or not. Or was there an update to the NEC in the
past few years? What section/paragraph is not in compliance?

*Common sense says that it is better to have the wire from the distant meter
to the house protected by a fuse or circuit breaker. It is not an
electrical code violation and as other have pointed out home inspectors have
limited knowledge of everything. Keep pressuring that guy for a code
reference. Better still have your brother's lawyer keep calling him for the
reference.

I once was handed a report by a home inspector that said there were loose
electrical wires all over the attic and they were a hazard. The new owners
asked me to correct the problem. I went up in the attic and the only wires
visible and loose were cable TV wires.