Thread: Would you remove this panel cover?

Would you remove this panel cover?
The panel had a tag from the power company that read "hot".
Main breaker looks like it is installed wrong and not aligned properly with and cover opening.

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Based on those two pictures I see no reason not to remove the cover.

Assuming that you pull the deadfront, even if you do not observe a problem, are you going to:

1) bless the panel,

- or -

2) recommend that an electricians investigation in any case because the panel was tagged for an unknown/unclear reason?

If the latter, why run the risk (of both liability and injury) to further investigate the panel?

I wouldn't put much stock in a tag that says "Hot" on a panel that should be live. If it said "Danger" or "Do Not Open" I would be concerned. This is based on the info in the two pictures.

Not enough to go on in my opinion. I see misaligned breakers with the openings in the deadfront cover regularly. The tag that says HOT means......I have no idea. If the entire box was energized, I'd expect to see more explanation than that.

Somebody (apparently the power company) is going to put a tag on a hot panel and not disconnect it? I don't think so. Open that sucker. If it's hot, your heirs will live well!

I'd touch my sniffer to it. No, not this sniffer, my voltage sniffer.

"HOT" does not mean 'the cover is hot' (energized), it probably just means that the panel inside is energized ('hot'), possibly someone complained that there was a problem and the power company came out and determined that the panel was energized, so the problem must be downstream from that panel.

As others have said - check it with a voltage sniffer, then check it with a volt meter, and if it checks okay, go ahead and remove the cover - using the care you always SHOULD USE.

It is not at all uncommon for someone who heats up a panel that may have been disconnected for some reason to put up some indication they have done so. In my area, electricians frequently hook up new overhead services and mark the service equipment as HOT to reinforce to others that the panel/meter housing is energized, not to indicate that the metal housing is at some potential above ground.

I would guess in this housing market that homes are being checked that have had utilities cut off for a while and are now being restored as part of getting them on the market. A friendly reminder that the panel is now hot might keep an errant HI from frying something

Kind of like a gun that is always treated as if it is loaded, every panel is hot.

I would agree with what others have said about a warning that the panel is now hot. If the tag were red I would be more concerned.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I did have a panel "COVER" that was hot once. The ground leg had arced away at the spike, so as the other have stated check the cover first.

Originally Posted by Robert Smith

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I would open it..But you guys should get some training from the NFPA 70E.
i you allready have not done so.. here is a link..http://www.ieci.org/uploads/SafetyPr...on12.15.06.pdf

http://www.vmlins.org/PDFs/RootPages...tofNFPA70E.pdf

http://www.aeccontrol.com/cspublic/R...essRelease.pdf

I really don't think we need NFPA training to open a panel. It's pretty basic safety training, and I'm pretty sure that every home inspector school covers it.

Like others have said, just that tag alone would not give me pause. I would be very concerned if there was a warning posted, but again, it depends on what the warning said.

Are we not there to find defects?