DIYbanter - View Single Post - Main breaker inside vs. outside the house?

wrote:

In article ,
Jeffrey J. Kosowsky wrote:
In upgrading our electrical we have the choice of either keeping the
main breaker inside the house or locating it outside as part of a
combo unit with the meter?
[Note we need a separate main breaker since the main panel is about 20
feet away from where the meter is and the supply enters the house]

Locating the main breaker outside would save a little money since we
avoid the need for a separate breaker box inside.

Are there any disadvantages (or advantages) to having the main breaker
outside?

(note we still will be able to shut off power inside at the main
panel, I assume)

I'm not sure I understand. As someone else already said: You need to
have a main shutoff for the whole house outside (for the fire
department to kill power to a burning house quickly, without going
in), which has to be within 10' of the meter. So the main breaker
(which nearly always is the main shutoff for a residential system)
will go outside, whether you like it or not. So I fail to see how the
main breaker could possible be inside. It is theoretically possible
that your local area has modified the standard electrical code to
allow the main shutoff to be inside, but I find that unlikely.

It can be inside, but the 10' rule still applies. If your main breaker
panel is on the wall inside of where the power comes in, than an inside
main is ok.