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Sounds pretty much of a local "takes your chances" scenario to me...been in HD's halfway across the US and have yet to find one that has that level of expertise displayed. Run across a few individuals here or there that have seemed pretty good, but far more just employees off the street than anything else. Department managers tend to be reasonably knowledgable of product, but that doesn't necessarily translate into trade or regulation expertise.
The requirement or permit comes when running the wires. Adding to an existing circuit or even adding a new one requires this "permit". It's ridiculous and as I said, I didn't know of this requirement before installing my subpanel and in floor receptacle. Ahh the beauracracy of it all... Cheers, cc
Not necessarily -- if an insurance company can find a way to get out of a claim, or at least to reduce it, they will.
Let's suppose that you purchase a roll of Romex that has a small defect in it somewhere. Not very likely to happen, but let's say there is a small section where one of the conductors is 40% narrower than spec.
Now let's suppose you happen to use that section on a circuit that has a fairly heavy load on it (pushing the 80% limit for several hours at a time). Now suppose that this defect, under a heavy load for a long duration, overheats and starts a fire.
Should your insurance company find out that this circuit was installed without a permit, what are the chance they will deny the claim? In fact, even if they simply found out that *ANY* wiring in the home was done without a permit, there is a good chance the claim will be denied.
Admitedly, this scenario involves a lot of "what ifs", and the part about the insurance company "finding out" about the non-permit may be pretty dubious, but does anybody really want to take the chance. Even if they end up paying, it might be six months or a year later than otherwise.
If your work passed inspection, the insurance company loses any chance to deny the claim due to the electrical work - case closed.
I agree that a lot of the people at many of the HDs near us are quite knowledgeable.
My only complaint with this is that if I need something off the top of a shelf (i.e.: I need someone who's only skill is to climb a ladder!), I have to wait 20-30 minutes while the "expert" employees have to field a bunch of questions, many of which are well answered by the many how-to books that can be bought at HD.
Alas, I have learned the secret: move a ladder to where you need it and start climbing it. It is amazing how fast someone will be there to get the item down for you! ;-)
I have worked in fire and rescue for over thirty years and in that time I was involved in two declined claims. In both cases it was the homeowners own action that caused the fire. In order to breach the contract the insureds own action must be the cause of the loss a manufacturers defect would not be enough. Most state insurance commissioners take a very dim view of refusing claims and no carrier will do it lightly. I'm not saying that the insurance carrier will never refuse a claim but in thirty pluss years of service and thousands of fires with literally dozens caused by home owner action I have only heard of two refused claims. In both cases the insurer had an open and shut case and the home owners action was unlawful per se.
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