Okay, you are probably wondering what type of politically incorrect statement I am about to make here. In fact, I was wondering if I ought to post this or not. So, I decided that to backup my opinion, and to clarify the matter, I would supply a photograph of their little pointy tips and, from that, give a full explanation of my opinion and disgust.
Below, are the offending members. I removed these from a circuit breaker main panel at a home in Point Roberts. You might think that three of the four look like regular sheet metal screws. Well, that is the problem -- they have sharp, pointy tips. Think about it, what if that long screw and sharp point should accidentally be screwed into (impale) a live non-grounded wire? It would lead to a bang and a dead short to the grounded panel. Not nice. Actually, somebody must have lost all the screws because even the third one is not the correct screw. It was loose in the cover, too small to screw in and too long to boot. A good hardware store has the proper screws for panels, and they screw in well, but they have blunt tips, no sharp points. When it comes to circuit breaker panels -- off with the little pointy tips!
Thanks for dropping by,
Steven L. Smith
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Steven,
Good advice! And a great excuse to head to hardware store!
Cheers,
David Swierczynski
Adam,
I get your point but, believe me, if a homeowner had to pay the ultimate penalty for every stupid and unsafe thing that he or she did, there would be a lot more tombstones throughout the land. People just do not get it. Compared to some of their deck construction, and other wiring issues,this is white bread. At least, odds are, if the screw hit a wire it would short to ground killing the power prior to killing the so-called workman.
So Jason,
For the record, did you learn your lesson, or did the screwdriver learn the lesson? I have to admit, many years ago I once damaged a relay coil by putting a screw into the windings. There was suppossed to be a mounting screw in that location, but I grabbed one that was a silly millimeter too long. Not any explosion, a 24V circuit, but sure made for a maintenance nightmare at the radio station where I was chief engineer. It was a crucial transmitter remote control.