DIYbanter - View Single Post - Liability & responsibility of electrician?

Doug Miller

In article .net, wrote:
I have been asked to offer an opinion in a sensitive situation.

A machinist moved his shop across town and required some rewiring (3-phase
outlets, conduit, etc.) in order to locate some machines where he wanted
them.

He hires a guy who's not a pro (and later discovers is not insured) but has
done shop wiring before and had a good attitude and track record. The guy
does good work. No complaints about the quality of his work.

Owner throws the switch, all works fine.

The story continues 4 weeks later when the very expensive CNC fries its
controller PCB to the tune of $4000.

Hard to make the case after 4 weeks that _anything_ the electrician did had
anything to do with this. At four seconds, or even four minutes, I'd consider
it obvious. But four weeks went by, and the owner thinks the electrician
caused this? No way.

Turns out the voltage in the shop was upward of 245 and the taps in the CNC's
power supply were set for 220.

So what? Equipment designed for 220V should be able to handle 245V. It's not
the electrician's responsibility to open the CNC machine to see what it's set
for.