Breaker Box Outside?
 

I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel

Samiel wrote:

I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel

Log onto: alt.home.repair Long, long, long thread just this week!

In article ,
Samiel wrote:

I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!


Oh no! Do *not* buy the house! You will be sorry!


Are these valid concerns?


You must be paranoid!


Dimitri

Jim,
You must have lived in an old house prior to this one.
I don't know which part of the metroplex you are in, but Dallas code
requires they be outside. Older homes had them in closets, etc.
If security is a concern, you can get a lock for it at home depot.
If a madman takes an ax to the box.. a padlock isn't going to stop him
anyway and yer screwed smile
Try to avoid ****ing off madmen, and you should be okay.
lucy :)

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message ...
Samiel wrote:

I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel

Log onto: alt.home.repair Long, long, long thread just this week!

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 20:59:38 +0000 (UTC),
(D. Gerasimatos) wrote:


Oh no! Do *not* buy the house! You will be sorry!

You must be paranoid!

Dimitri

Ah... I always have seen these boxes in the garage (seems easily
accessible there). I guess times have changed.

The house is being built in Ft. Worth, TX.

- Samiel

In article ,
Samiel wrote:

Ah... I always have seen these boxes in the garage (seems easily
accessible there). I guess times have changed.


They can go anywhere. Lots of old construction has them outside. Newer
construction generally has them inside or in a garage. At least this is
my experience in California. I've never given a second thought to whether
the panel is inside or outside. There are advantages and disadvantages to
both.


Dimitri

"Samiel" wrote in message
...
I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel

This is Turtle.

I have never heard of any problems with the box outside except loosing the key
to it. Get a 99 cent lock and two keys at Auto Zone and put the key up in the
garage shelf behind the motor oil and you will always have it. If you loose it
take a wire cutter plyers and just cut it off and replace it.

TURTLE

Samiel wrote:
I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel
I got one outside and one in the garage. Outside one handles the big
jobs like heater blower, A/C, then it feeds the one in the garage which
feeds all the outlets in the house

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 21:00:12 GMT, "me" wrote:

Jim,
You must have lived in an old house prior to this one.
I don't know which part of the metroplex you are in, but Dallas code
requires they be outside. Older homes had them in closets, etc.
If security is a concern, you can get a lock for it at home depot.
If a madman takes an ax to the box.. a padlock isn't going to stop him
anyway and yer screwed smile
Try to avoid ****ing off madmen, and you should be okay.
lucy :)

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message ...
Samiel wrote:

I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel

Log onto: alt.home.repair Long, long, long thread just this week!



Stupi question time: how do you keep the weather out of such a box?
They don't do things like that up here, nobody wants to go out at 0
degrees to turn a breaker back on.

Chris Hill wrote:
snip

Stupi question time: how do you keep the weather out of such a box?
They don't do things like that up here, nobody wants to go out at 0
degrees to turn a breaker back on.


Special breaker enclosures are used; they are classed as NEMA 3-R
(raintight).

Here's a typical:
http://reliancecontrols.com/tth300.jpg

They have covers, drip shields on top, and hub provisions
for conduit entry which exclude water.

Jim

In article ,
says...
On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 21:00:12 GMT, "me" wrote:

Jim,
You must have lived in an old house prior to this one.
I don't know which part of the metroplex you are in, but Dallas code
requires they be outside. Older homes had them in closets, etc.
If security is a concern, you can get a lock for it at home depot.
If a madman takes an ax to the box.. a padlock isn't going to stop him
anyway and yer screwed smile
Try to avoid ****ing off madmen, and you should be okay.
lucy :)

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message ...
Samiel wrote:

I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

Are these valid concerns?

- Samiel

Log onto: alt.home.repair Long, long, long thread just this week!



Stupi question time: how do you keep the weather out of such a box?
They don't do things like that up here, nobody wants to go out at 0
degrees to turn a breaker back on.

My entrance panel is outside, and live "up here" (Vermont) where it
gets a tad colder than 0 degrees. ;-) My panel is in a closet off the
front porch. It's under the roof and over the basement, but outside.

--
Keith

Samiel wrote:
I am getting a new house (should be complete next month) and I noticed
that the breaker box is outside!

I usually see them in the garage or maybe even a closet, but is it
good to have it outside?

Downsides I can think of:

1. Thief can turn off all my switches from outside
2. Must keep padlocked and I could lose the key
3. Rain/water could possibly get in there messing up stuff?

The current NEC requires an outside cutoff switch, which
I suppose can be the main breaker in the breaker box.
The way it is usually done around here is to have a rain-tight
box outside with a 200A breaker in it to act as the cutoff
switch, and then the regular breaker box inside. I can't
recall seeing all the breakers located outside, but I do
know the new code doesn't allow the breaker box to be
in a closet, and they don't even like them being behind
a door (like in a front hall such that opening the front
door would cover it). So, I guess if you don't want an
"ugly" breaker box visible in your nice new house either
outside or in the garage is the best bet.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.