Spotted a weird panel install at a old church in Salem today

I was out doing a service call at a church built in the 1920s over in Salem. Walked into the basement to check their main panel and someone had mounted it sideways on a brick wall with just drywall screws. The whole thing was tilted like 5 degrees and the transformer was dangling loose. Has anyone else run into hack jobs like this in old buildings and had to figure out how to fix it without tearing everything out?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_wood8d ago

Drywall screws in an old brick church basement? That is absolutely terrifying. A transformer hanging loose is just asking for a fire to start, especially with all that old wiring from the 20s. I bet that panel is barely grounded too, if at all. Honestly, whoever did that should have their license yanked, if they even had one. Fixing it without opening up the whole wall sounds like a nightmare, you'd probably have to build out a whole new backplate just to secure it.

scott.grace8d ago

5 degrees is generous... I'd bet that transformer's been singing the blues for years.