Comment by joshlittle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by joshlittle | Hacker News Reader

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This rule is a lifesaver.

I’m renting a single family home in San Francisco. I drive a Chevrolet Bolt EV.

Using a little known SF electrical code that allows DIY electrical work in a fully detached house, I installed a 50-Amp 250v NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage. I did 50A service for room to upgrade the stock EVSE in the future. My landlord is fine as I’m insured, followed all National Electric Code guidelines and laws. It cost me $100 in parts/wire.

I then created a NEMA 14-50P to a NEMA 5-15R adapter to plug the GM stock EVSE in at 250v.

It’s a little known fact about the Chevy Bolt that the included EVSE charger supports 250v - by wiring each blade on the NEMA 5-15 plug to a 125v hot lead; then wiring the ground pin to neutral. I then locked the NEMA 5-15 plug/receptacle extension cord in a lockbox clearly labeled.

While a normal 40A EVSE Gives 7.2kW, this setup- still limited to 12A due to GM/Clipper Creeks firmware - gives me around 3kWh. That’s perfect for my use. I am not tempted to really upgrade this set up a time soon, but can if I want to. It’s also easy enough to take with me.

Total installation of level 2 charging in my San Francisco rental? $150ish.

(Please don’t try this at home if you have no idea what you’re doing when it comes to working with electric. this is only informational, not an endorsement!)

Using a little known SF electrical code that allows DIY electrical work in a fully detached house

If you did this in my property, when I found out what you did, you'd be in violation of the lease and paying me to have a licensed electrician out to inspect the work and do anything needed to bring it up to code.

I can't imagine why your landlord is ok with a tenant's DIY electrical work, since the landlord is the one on the hook if it goes bad now or in the future.

Two points, one more "editorial" than the other:

First, the person you replied to didn't say that they didn't have it inspected and didn't have to meet code. I just perused San Francisco's municipal ordinances. They follow the same ones I've seen elsewhere. The homeowner or lessee of a single-family detached house is allowed to pull permits on his or her own authority and do the work. The work must still follow the same inspection process from the city and must meet all relevant codes. It is not just that the tenant could slap wire wherever he or she chose; the relevant rules would still be followed.

Second, and this is the editorial part, why do landlords--at least the ones I read on the Internet--have such an adversarial relationship with tenants? "My property," "what you did," "violation of the lease," and so on. The tenant is the one making the money for you; why immediately assume bad faith? If you're going to be all legalistic about it, when you signed the lease, you signed over most of the rights for "your property" to the tenant. Perhaps that should be a more harmonious relationship?

I assumed he didn't pull permits because he said It cost me $100 in parts/wire -- nothing about permit fees.

Because tenants, in general, don't have a long-term interest in the property and are willing to cut corners. Some things I've seen:

Switching 15A breaker for a 20A breaker "because it trips too much".

Wiring an extension cord into the panel and running it through a hole in the wall to the garage "because I needed another circuit (my grow lights kept tripping the other one)"

Swapping hot/neutral when replacing outlets

Using a wire nut that's too small and taping it to hold it in place.

Not using a wire nut at all, just twisting wires together and taping them.

It's funny how some people seem to be afraid of DIY electrical work. In European countries it's really different. For example, in Switzerland, you can do it yourself, but it must pass the routine inspection. France is even laxer.

If you follow most of the most important rules (Fuse, RCCB, cood conduit, proper cable), hardly anything can go wrong.

Hell, you can easily destroy a house with a single cigarette, but nobody talks about it.

In the USA, the landlord holds the bulk of the responsibility if shoddy electrical work injures or kills someone.

While it is certainly possible for an amateur to follow the right procedures and do safe work, it's also possible (and even quite likely) that they don't know everything they need to do, and end up doing something unsafe.

While you can easily destroy a house with a cigarette (though many landlords have non-smoking clauses here), a cigarette won't generally burn down the house a year from now after the tenant who did the work is long gone.

They said they were insured, so presumably, the landlord is covered.

That's not a safe presumption -- insurance companies can deny a claim based on unlicensed work.

So unless the tenant was a professional electrician with his own liability insurance that would cover the work, it's quite possible that the landlord is not covered.

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