Electrician installed wall connector using Romex 8/3 + 60A breaker

[davewill]

I think it’s time to fire him and call my county inspector. I hate to because he came recommended from a friend who has a personal relationship with him, and I don’t want to be that guy, but whatever.

I pointed out to him that he either needs to use #4 Romex or #6 MC, and provided him this link as an example - Link

He spewed something about MC being for commercial and not residential. I’ve checked local codes and cannot find anything to support this. At this rate, I’m better off just doing the work myself.

MC gets used a lot in commercial because it can be used within metal studded walls (like the interiors of office buildings), where NM-B can't. It doesn't get used much in residential because NM-B is both cheaper and easier to work with.

In your shoes, at this point, I'd have him change the breaker to 40a, reconfigure the wall connector for 32a charging and call it a day. The walls have been closed up and look neat, and I can tell you from long experience that unless your daily drive is so long that you're constantly running the battery down below 20% or you only have like 3 hrs a night to charge, 32a charging should be perfectly adequate.

Otherwise it looks like you'd have to:

1. Pay someone else to redo it.
2. Either sue or use some other sort of arbitration like a licensing board to get a refund.

 

[TexSam]

I had a similar problem. Initially I was going to purchase the Tesla plug in 14-50 charger but it was on back order and my MY delivery date was still months off. I thought I would go ahead and run the cable and mount the box and outlet. I used an 8g cable for the lower amp charger after checking with my electrical contractor. I was planning to use a 50a breaker. I did all the work but didn’t to the final connection with a breaker to the main box, I wanted to have the contractor to inspect my work and do the final connection.

Somewhere I ran across an updated NEMA code change. It said that that a plug in 220v now needed to have a gfci breaker, which runs about an extra 100.00. Since the more expensive Tesla charger was a 100.00 more but being a direct connect, didn’t require a gfci, (and not suited to use one) I thought bingo. (My original choice was still showing back ordered). My only issue was the 8g cable I had already run. I looked up the manufacturer’s spec and it showed it wasn’t rated for the extra draw. I called the electrical contractor which we use and told him my problem. He said some years back nema found through ongoing testing, the old cable ratings were overly pessimistic and updated the rating capacities. In my case he said the 8g could handle just under about 55 amps but since they don’t make a 55a breaker, I would have to use a 50a. When I went to the Teslas website to order the 500.00 unit I noticed they had dropped the cheaper 400.00 one and the higher one had been reduced to 400.00. . Although I couldn’t take advantage of the full capacity of the charger, it beat having to pull the 8g cable and the added expense of 6g. I just set the charger to a limit of 40a. I’m quite happy with that speed and final cost. Anyone need a Hubble 14-50 outlet and a very nice wall mount deep box?

 

[SageBrush]

In my case he said the 8g could handle just under about 55 amps but since they don’t make a 55a breaker, I would have to use a 50a.

<<<Sigh>>>
What "he" said is wrong, wrong, and wrong.
The next higher breaker rating may be used
The 90C column is not applicable if the terminations are only rated for 75C, which is typical.

You story might be code compliant if 75C/90C conductors were run in conduit. NEC violation if NM-B

 

[fiehlsport]

@TexSam your install should be set to 32A, not 40A. #8 Romex, 80% rule, 32A with a 40A breaker.

 

[davewill]

<<<Sigh>>>
What "he" said is wrong, wrong, and wrong.
The next higher breaker rating may be used
The 90C column is not applicable if the terminations are only rated for 75C, which is typical.

You story might be code compliant if 75C/90C conductors were run in conduit. NEC violation if NM-B

Actually, assuming it was 8ga in conduit, the advice was exactly right. Yes, you can technically use a 60a breaker, but there's no point when the highest you can set the Wall Connector in this scenario is 50a, anyway. If I were the electrician in this story, I certainly wouldn't bother with a useless detail like that.

 

[davewill]

@TexSam your install should be set to 32A, not 40A. #8 Romex, 80% rule, 32A with a 40A breaker.

Dude never said Romex.

 

[SageBrush]

assuming it was 8ga in conduit, the advice was exactly right.

Agreed.

 

[SageBrush]

Dude never said Romex.

And he never said conduit.

So is his install up to code ? Maybe

 

[fiehlsport]

Dude never said Romex.

He said he used an "8g cable" - Pretty safe to assume he meant Romex.

 

[SageBrush]

he was rambling about "all the connectors I have installed required neutral". "This looks different from what I've installed".

I wonder what he did with the white wire

The error I find most troubling is pairing a 60 Amp breaker with the AWG #8 Romex, although there are certainly others to worry about.

I do not really believe that a journeyman electrician would make these errors. I suppose one possibility is that an apprentice did the work without supervision. Not a happy thought.

 

[explosive0]

I wonder what he did with the white wire

The error I find most troubling is pairing a 60 Amp breaker with the AWG #8 Romex, although there are certainly others to worry about.

I do not really believe that a journeyman electrician would make these errors. I suppose one possibility is that an apprentice did the work without supervision. Not a happy thought.

The white wire is capped off inside the box, but I'm going to assume it was connected to the neutral bar in the breaker box.

 

[SageBrush]

The white wire is capped off inside the box, but I'm going to assume it was connected to the neutral bar in the breaker box.

I've deleted my earlier answer. I would not do it because of the possibility that the neutral and ground are not at the same potential. Capping at both ends is safest.

 

[explosive0]

He has offered to swap it out for 6/2 MC. A refund doesn't seem to be likely at this point, since he is saying he will make the recommended changes.

So I have a bit of a dilemma here. Do I let him install the 6/2 MC, then call an independent electrician to inspect, or do I suck it up and just go with one of the Tesla recommended installers? Tesla-recommended installer quoted $1200, while this electrician was almost $800.

Either way, lesson learned the hard way. The last thing I'm trying to do is burn my house down because of trying to save a few dollars.

 

[davewill]

He has offered to swap it out for 6/2 MC. A refund doesn't seem to be likely at this point, since he is saying he will make the recommended changes.

So I have a bit of a dilemma here. Do I let him install the 6/2 MC, then call an independent electrician to inspect, or do I suck it up and just go with one of the Tesla recommended installers? Tesla-recommended installer quoted $1200, while this electrician was almost $800.

Either way, lesson learned the hard way. The last thing I'm trying to do is burn my house down because of trying to save a few dollars.

I guess I'd let him fix his install.

 

[jcanoe]

The master electrician I hired to install my 50A charging circuit, 14-50 receptacle back in 2016 used MC wire. The MC wire runs from the panel through my unfinished basement up to the attic, over and down into my garage in a single run of ~70ft. I never asked but I believe that it is 6/3. Breaker is 50A (pre-2017 NEC so no GFCI.) The work was inspected and approved by the county inspector.

 

[explosive0]

I guess I'd let him fix his install.

Yeah. It's probably the cheaper route to go down at this point. I'll just get an inspector to take a look and pull permit. Fingers crossed.

 

[SageBrush]

Yeah. It's probably the cheaper route to go down at this point. I'll just get an inspector to take a look and pull permit. Fingers crossed.

Why is the electrician not pulling a permit ? Is that actually a legal choice in Houston ?

 

[starise]

I'm glad to hear the electrician agreed to at least put in 6-2. #6 would be the minimum for me and I would limit to 35 amps max. on a 50 amp breaker. There are other variables like distance of the run to consider. #8 wire is a big no no and I can't believe someone calling themself an electrician did it, especially if he put in a 60 amp breaker.

 

[davewill]

I'm glad to hear the electrician agreed to at least put in 6-2. #6 would be the minimum for me and I would limit to 35 amps max. on a 50 amp breaker. There are other variables like distance of the run to consider. #8 wire is a big no no and I can't believe someone calling themself an electrician did it, especially if he put in a 60 amp breaker.

That would be a limit of 40a charging on a 50a breaker. The #8 Romex would be good for 32a on a 40a breaker.

 

[starise]

I guess it all works out. Good to know we could ramp it up to 40 on that breaker. I had not considered #8 wire at all. So as you suggested, he could reduce the Tesla charger to 32 amps and be ok. Good to know. For someone in a pinch that seems like a decent solution. I just did a 100' run of #6 wire on another project and put it ona 50 amp breaker GFCI ( ouch $$). I had no issue with doing it because the overall load was less than my Autel is capable of. It was THHN in sched. 40 conduit.