Are these legal in Illinois ?

[neophyte]

The guy kind of seems to, I don't know what you would call it. But 2 times he kind of lied to me, once he said he was 30 mins away, then he asked for my address, I mean how do you know how far away you are if you don't know where I live. Then he did the same thing about the price. Oh well we will see how it goes tomorrow

Sounds to me like your getting the run around. One of two things is going on here. Either he's really good and just too busy to get to you.... or he's really bad and not reliable. Either way from your description he sounds like a liar. Do yourself a favor an quit wasting your time on him. At the very least get a second opinion. $$He might just want to upgrade your panel.$$ The way it looks from here?? Your on your way to a pajama party and it would be in your best interest to take the petroleum jelly with you.

Neo

[MAC702]

he told me the tandem breakers are indeed against the law,

I have two thoughts. First, you already know he's a liar and poor businessman. He might be giving you a line to get a much more expensive job out of you. Though you did hear this from other sources, too, I think.

Second thought: I wonder if Kalifornia is aware that another state banned something before they did...

[neophyte]

Second thought: I wonder if Kalifornia is aware that another state banned something before they did...

Excellent point Mac! That would have to be a first.
Jesse
aka Neo

[90blackcrx]

He is an older guy, and he keeps calling me by the wrong name also.

I think he might of thought I wanted to run a 240v of a tandem breaker , we will see if he shows up tomorrow. Today he was waiting for the fire chief to sign off on something.

I just wish I had the laws in front of me about tandem breakers

I called another place and they never even called me back.

[neophyte]

He is an older guy, and he keeps calling me by the wrong name also.

Well that explains it and has kind of got me thinking, ...was I too hasty in my last response? Maybe a little too quick to judge? I don't think so. Senility is not forgetting to zip your pants up.... senility is forgetting to unzip them.

Food for thought:
It appears as though tandem breakers are not legal in Downers Grove IL.
http://www.downers.us/citycode/code/...apter10.II.htm

Jesse
aka Neo

[90blackcrx]

Where did you see that there not illegal, I only found this

For any installation, there shall be only one wire under the screw or lug for each fuse or breaker. No tandem circuit breakers shall be allowed.


By the way google is great, you type in a word, click high light and if the word is on the page, it high lights it.

Anyways the guy is stopping by at 2 today, we will see if he comes today.

[90blackcrx]

Well he showed up today, about 1 hour late though.

He said we would need to upgrade the box ( even though he never looked at it, but he did ask me if it was full ) he said they would have to put another, new copper tube in the ground for a grounding source. He said I would have a huge panel in the house, I swear he said it would be like 5 feet tall.

The only good thing he did say was I could run the wire along side of the house, into the garage. With another sub panel in the garage, which is ideal.

He kept stressing that it would not be a lot. Well he is leaving the estimate in the mail or front door tomorrow so we will see how much a lot means to him (which we were talking about his brother who is a multi millionaire he said )

[Greg60143]

Section 10-28 item (d) last sentence of the Downer Grove code is where it says that it's illegal - No tandum circuit breakers

[90blackcrx]

I missed the not legal part, ok I got ya.

Yeah he said they were against the law.

[Tailshaft56]

Just a thought but they are most probably regulated on both state and local levels. Seems like I remember a some of the This Old House projects in the Chicago area where even residential wiring has to be in conduit. The main reason for this is the heavy union influence designed to create additional work. Since the code specifies minimum number of slots for each capacity panel the code gurues must be figuring there is no need for additional ckts. Your best bet is to talk to the city building inspector for electrical and he ( or she ) should be able to tell you right away if it's acceptable to use a split breaker. There is a chance it means tying 2 breakers together with a jumper to get additional amps to a circuit hence the single wire per breaker statement. A space saver breaker is really 2 individual breakers in the same case. You can bet they are UL approved and meet NEC guidelines. At any rate just go to horses mouth and get the straight skinny.

Dennis

[Bob Sigmon]

Just a thought but they are most probably regulated on both state and local levels. Seems like I remember a some of the This Old House projects in the Chicago area where even residential wiring has to be in conduit. The main reason for this is the heavy union influence designed to create additional work.
Dennis

Dennis,

This was my thought exactly.

[MAC702]

The main reason for this is the heavy union influence designed to create additional work.

Yep, my thoughts too!

Um, is it possible for you to do this job yourself? What Illinois don't know won't hurt 'em? BUT, if ANYTHING were to EVER go wrong and they found those things in the ashes...

[90blackcrx]

BUT, if ANYTHING were to EVER go wrong and they found those things in the ashes...

Yeah thats not going to happen. I wish someone on here could do it, anyone

[90blackcrx]

Got the estimate today

4,000 its going to cost, and that does not even include the welder

Thats not cheap to me, but maybe it is to others. Running that 220v with the extension cord is sounding better.

[dcsound]

Does the prohibition of tandem breakers apply only to new service, or to all situations? There are certain tandem breakers that are labeled as being only for existing panelboards. I really don't see what they harm, as long as the ampacity of the panel is not exceeded. Some of the larger panelboards certainly have enough room to accomodate 84 circuits, instead of 42, especially if the wiring is mostly in conduit. Putting than many pieces of MC or Romex into a panel is another matter.