I don't get it, we are talking about a shed, it's not like anyone is sleeping there. (Oh and just for the record, there will be smoke protection installed also)
I don't actually care too much about your doing electrical work without a permit, and I have no ill intent. I am aware of your background, and am fairly confident you can do basic electrical work. I am also capable of performing workmanlike electrical work to current code, and have been known to install an outlet or two
sans permit.
The reason I called you out on it is because of your comment "The county be danged." I could be wrong, but it seems to me that you seem to think that "the county" is some enemy that you are outwitting. In fact, it is YOU who is breaking the social contract.
"The county" is, in fact, you and your neighbors. You and your neighbors have made agreements about what each of you is allowed to do. Your agreements are intended to safeguard each other's lives and properties as best as you can, balanced against your individual rights to behave as you would like. You, evidently, have assessed these agreements, and decided that you know better, and that the risks are small enough that complying with these agreements is not worth the time or money you would need to take to abide by them.
I have no real problem with this. However, if you are making this decision, you should at least be able to own it. It is not "The county be danged." It is "I, Dr. Alarms, have decided that, in this instance, I can operate in violation of the agreements my neighbors and I have made, because the risks to them are small enough that it is not worth my while to do so."
The fact that your fire service is volunteer strikes me as a factor arguing FOR, not against, getting the proper permit. A professional firefighter like DangerDave is at least paid for the risks he takes; moreover, the people in his county/town/city have agreed that, in addition to paying him to put out their fires, they will also take care of his widow if he were to die in a fire in someone's shed, and that they would pay him a salary to live on if he were to become disabled putting out a fire in someone's shed. Your volunteer neighbors (it is the Volunteer State, after all!) may or may not have these protections. Although I wouldn't condone placing a professional firefighter at risk unnecessarily, I would be even more reticent to place a volunteer neighbor at risk.
Finally, you might consider the
The Golden Rule. Let's say you go into someone's house to install an alarm. They have a dog, and the dog has not had its rabies vaccination. The owners say that, "The county be danged, we don't need no vaccination for our puppy -- the risk of his
both contracting rabies
and biting the alarm dude are too small to be worth our while." Are you in agreement with their decision and their right to make it?
Best regards,
