Walked into a new condo building near Chicago and saw a real mess...

I was doing a walkthrough for a potential install at a 12-unit condo building in Naperville last Tuesday. The builder had already run all the low-voltage wire but somebody used zip ties to bundle alarm cables right next to the main electrical panel. No separation at all, just a big bundle of signal wires touching 120V lines. I told the property manager that interference would trigger false alarms for half the units. He looked at me like I was making it up. Has anyone else dealt with builders who wire things this sloppy and then push back when you say it has to be redone?

4 comments

4 Comments

tarabell18d ago

Used to blow off stuff like that too till I saw it wreck a whole system, @robin628.

vera_robinson3618d ago

lol it's fine it's just low voltage" okay and a car is just a car until you crash it lmao. I swear some people treat code violations like optional suggestions.

the_diana18d ago

Yeah @robin628 I had an electrician tell me bundling low volt and high volt is fine then my entire security panel fried?

robin62818d ago

lol yeah that sounds about right honestly. Builders love to pretend like they've done this a million times and then pull stuff like that. I had a guy tell me once that "it's fine, it's just low voltage" while he had his alarm wires literally bundled through the same knockout as the main feed. Like bro, that's not how electricity works lmao. You can't just ignore basic physics because you're in a hurry. The worst part is when they act like YOU'RE the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. I bet if you left it like that and the false alarms started rolling in, he'd still blame you for not fixing it. Nah, you gotta stand your ground on that one or you'll be coming back every week to reset panels.