film studio in old 1920's office building?

[asterix2k10]

film studio in old 1920's office building?

My friend has a film studio in an old 20's building - film shoots use lots of high powered lights. An electrician came by and said the old wiring is steel/copper so it generates more heat, also it has old style grounding using the metal pipe that contains the wiring - and the ground may not active maybe because someone might have cut a wire over the decades that would disrupt the ground. When I plug a surge protector in a room it says no ground. It has the old fuse box system just tied together with a new breaker system in a closet inside the building. The electrician said its not up to code and if the city saw they would shut it down. What is the risk of fire here?

 

[Moseph]

Who really knows what the risk of fire is without seeing it or knowing how many amps are being pulled? If it's not up to code, it would seem to me that it doesn't make much of a difference since as your electrician pointed out, an inspector would have it shut down. If you solve the code problem, you'll eliminate the risk of it being shut down & not having a studio as well as eliminating whatever fire hazard may be present.

 

[Paul F]

Well now you've done it. You have it on record that an electrician examined the wiring and told you it doesn't meet code. You are now fully aware of the fact. Anything you do now, that incurs a liability due to that electrical system is negligence. Your insurance company won't give you the time of day.

Besides, its the right thing to do. Your friend needs to fix it. Not having proper grounds is a serious safety issue. Not for fires - that's what fuses and breakers are for - but for shock. That GFI is useless without a proper ground.

 

[paulears]

I'm not sure how it is in the US, but if you really do not have a reliable ground - which is, after all, a system to stop you dying - then the wiring needs to be fixed or replaced. If there is a local or national code, then if it doesn't meet it, then if somebody gets injured, it will be somebodies fault.

Fire is NOT the number 1 risk, but electrocution. You also need to consider any safety devices you have installed. Some require the ground connection, others are independent of it, but the entire purpose of the ground is to provide a method to shunt fault currents down to the ground, rather than through a person. With no fault conditions, a failed ground is not critical, but the protection has gone. Fire comes from overheating of conductors or circuit components, or arcing where conductors are not linked mechanically well. overheated conductors can set fire to flammable objects. A dodgy ground won't in itself cause a fire, but as it cannot protect, any faults elsewhere could do it. All this doesn't matter if it's a code issue. The code requirements are simply to make the system safe. Fire is just one of the dangers. Melting insulation on older installs can even release cyanide gas, which was present in older insulation. Overheating and fire can release asbestos fibres into the atmosphere - so it's not just fire!

 

[David W. Jones]

When I scaled down some time back, I moved my studio into a building built in 1889.

One of my first priorities was to have a licensed electrician completely rewire the entire building!

 

[danjenkins]

This is (sadly) a very common issue in small theatres all over the US. Most of the time building owners and producers take the position of "that's too expensive to fix so lets just not worry about it", and the problem goes on for years. And quite honestly, there usually isn't any issue with it for years and years. But that one day someone gets hurt because of it, your friend will wish he'd fixed the issue back when it was first discovered.

So yes, it should be fixed.

 

[Michael Carter]

Y'know, if the breaker box is accessible and the wiring is exposed conduit, it's not that hard to rewire a building - or at least the rooms that are in use.

If the breaker panel is fairly modern and can be upgraded with better breakers, great. If not, you need an electrician and a permit to install a new panel.

In most US cities, it's legal for a homeowner to do basic circuit work. In a lease situation maybe not. But it's not phenomenally expensive to upgrade past the breaker box.

If your friend is capable, he could easily learn how to run basic circuits, have the landlord/electrician pull a permit, do a lot of the grunt work (running wire, etc) and have an electrician check it all out, complete the hookups, etc. Get the landlord to give him a free month for his labor.

Most guys that own commercial space - especially old run-down space - have relationships with trades like plumbers, electricians, etc.

But it's probably illegal to lease a space in that shape - in the US you have to get a C.O. (certificate of occupancy) with an inspection - and there'a a lot of stuff inspected... outlets have to be x-high above the floor, breaker access, lots of details.