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It is in Houston, where anything electrical requires a permit, and permits are only given to master electricians. You can do the work without a permit, but then you have to either disclose the unpermitted work when you sell, or lie on the disclosure form, which opens you up to triple damages and attorney fees for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act(which applies to personal home sales)
You don't need a permit to add a receptacle. But the triple damages and attorney fee part was amusing.
If it's your own house to live in, just take it down. No one cares if you have a garage opener or not. However if you are selling it or renting it, spend the money to have a proper outlet installed. It will be easier to sell or rent of it works.
Now, the other question is, if there is no proper outlet, is the rest of the installation correct? IE safety sensors.
Option 1
Go buy a longer cord. Remove the old cord at the opener and attach the newer longer cord. Plug in. Done.
Option 2
Relocate the existing outlet.
Take a pic of the old box or tell me what the existing wiring or conduit is there and I’ll tell you what you need to do to rewire it.
Thanks everyone for the answers. Let me address few questions asked by you:
1. CO mean Certificate of Occupancy, not Colorado. I just bought the house and have to get the certificate in order to move into the house.
2. No, I'm no uncomfortable replacing the cables, but there are two reasons I don't want to do it:
- to pass the upcoming re inspection I had to address multiple other more serious issues, e.g. fixed about 10 non-working power sockets (fixed them by myself, so you see I'm not uncountable with electricity), install new water heater (not by myself), install few additional fire and CO alarms, replace leaking faucet, insure the grass is cut and etc and etc. So basically I didn't have enough time given that I have to travel each time almost 100 miles to the new house and I had only 6 days to arrange and fix everything. And this is not the main reason, the main reason is:
- I honestly do not believe there is any reason for this strange requirement. And it is really hard to make me to do something when I see no good reason or logical need. What is the need of forcing home owners to replace the cables by themselves, putting them into risk of loosing the warranty and introducing the risk of fire in case the job is done wrongly? Does it really sound safer than extension cord? Think about this. Oh, I know you would say nobody force you to do it by yourself, call professional. I can, but I still don't see why should I pay hundreds of dollars and loose the warranty. Why? Why??
Regarding why it was installed this way - the electric sockets are installed on the ceiling, probably even before the openers were bought, and the openers don't have enough cord length. The only one to blame here is the manufacturer of the openers, really stupid way of designing the product. Nobody else could fix that problem, nobody else to blame.
So, this extension cords the only issue I wasn't able to address, I gonna remove the extension cords and say I'm not gonna use the openers. If I fail inspection again I gonna move without it, that's it. Will do re-inspection one more time after moving in.
It sounds stupid, but for some reason some garage openers don't have long enough electricity cords.
Also, there is strange requirement in CO rules which doesn't allow to use extension cords for the garage openers. Very questionable requirement, definitely it will not be safer for anyone if I have to replace the original cord myself rather than just attach the extension cord.
So, I had inspection, and failed it. One of the points - use of the extension cords for the garage openers. I honestly don't have any desire to cut the original cord, and connect non-original longer one. Definitely it will not be safer than usage of the extension cord. Question - for the re-inspection, can I just remove the extension cord and leave everything as is? Can inspector fail me just because the original cords of the openers are too short? What if I say I'm not gonna use them and all and gonna throw the openers in the garbage. Am I required by any law or any code or rules to have electric openers, and have their cords to be long enough to be able to reach socket?
Think about it - it's neither strange nor stupid nor questionable. The receptacle must be in close proximity to the machine so no extension cord is required. Why? For the same reason a short cord is required on such an appliance. Because a hanging cord in an area with vehicles and pedestrians moving in and out is a hazard of both electrocution and fire.
Option 1
Go buy a longer cord. Remove the old cord at the opener and attach the newer longer cord. Plug in. Done.
Option 2
Relocate the existing outlet.
Take a pic of the old box or tell me what the existing wiring or conduit is there and I’ll tell you what you need to do to rewire it.
The point is just to pass the inspection. I'm not gonna spend a single minute for nonsense like purchasing the copper then going inside each opener and re-wireing it. Extension cord approach takes 3 minutes total.
The point is just to pass the inspection. I'm not gonna spend a single minute for nonsense like purchasing the copper then going inside each opener and re-wireing it. Extension cord approach takes 3 minutes total.
It is in Houston, where anything electrical requires a permit, and permits are only given to master electricians. You can do the work without a permit, but then you have to either disclose the unpermitted work when you sell, or lie on the disclosure form, which opens you up to triple damages and attorney fees for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act(which applies to personal home sales)
Houston does not permit a homeowner to do his own work with permit and inspection?
That wouldn't surprise me in Chicago (where they don't even allow Romex), but it would surprise me in Texas.
I can get a permit to do my own electrical work in Garland, McKinney, and Plano (with subsequent inspection).
Regarding why it was installed this way - the electric sockets are installed on the ceiling, probably even before the openers were bought, and the openers don't have enough cord length. The only one to blame here is the manufacturer of the openers, really stupid way of designing the product. Nobody else could fix that problem, nobody else to blame.
Nope, that's still the fault of the electrician who installed the receptacles.
It's not rocket science to figure out where the garage door opener motor will be. Any electrician should be able to nail that within two feet by eye.
Keeping that cord as short as reasonably possible is a matter of safety.
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