"Rodney Kelp" wrote in message
...
| The greatest danger would be as you say, someone connecting the feed lines
| backwards putting the neutral and hot lines in reverse. That kind of
mistake
| from a licenced electrician though, would be a grave violation of code and
a
| powerful demonstration of stupidity.

But as they say, **** happens. In each case the occupants survived, as they
have in other cases. We don't have time to analyse each possible result from
each possible combination of faults or errors. We follow the code because
that represents the accumulated wisdom gained from all previous occurrences.
If we didn't need the code it wouldn't exist.

If the homeowner (or anyone else) doesn't follow the code, god help the next
poor ******* who tries to work on the electrical system. There is a very
popular show on TV in Canada called "Holmes on Homes" which shows some of
the nightmare results of not following all codes, electrical, plumbing and
building. Some of the stuff he has found could loosen the bowels of a
granite rock.

N