Main Electrical Line safety issue??

6 years ago

Our builder usually puts the breaker boxes outside of the house and we are paying extra to have it placed in garage. As you can see from photos the main electrical line from the service panel comes into the house and has drywall laying on top of it. Is this a safety issue or how it would normally be done? Should we be concerned?

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Comments (7)

mtvhike
6 years ago
Why would you want the breaker box not inside your house? Especially in another building; all the circuits would have to be run from that building to your house (unless you have another breaker box in your house).
User
6 years ago
Not a problem with wiring.

I have seen many homes with outdoor electrical panels. I prefer the panel inside, maybe for “security” issues. Criminal or vandal, or dumb kid playing with the breakers.
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Sherilan Young
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
We want it inside for security issues. Where it would be placed on outside wall is more than likely not inside of the fence. But you do not see a safety issue with the drywall on top of the conduit @jimmat?
Ron Natalie
6 years ago
Outdoor panels are pretty common in warmer climates like Florida and California. The only issue I can see (the image is really tiny and pour) is the service cable doesn't appear to be supported, but since the panel appears to not be there yet, the installation isn't complete and that can be coming later. There's no problem with drywall touching the cable.
Bruce in Northern Virginia
6 years ago
One question to ask: Most cities have a limit on how long the service entrance wire from the meter to the panel can be, because that wire is not protected by the house main breaker. For example, if you had the meter on the front of the house and the panel in the back there could be 20-30 feet of service entrance wire between them. Even that problem is fixable by adding a power shutoff switch next to the meter. I've never actually looked at these switches (other than seeing them on the house), but I assume they are set up as a main breaker that would trip.

You could also ask the contractor to run the SER inside metal conduit where it comes right up against the drywall. This would only be for physical protection of the wire. I'm sure they would charge you for it, but it shouldn't be that expensive.

Bruce
mtvhike
6 years ago
In my former location, the maximum distance was 6 feet!
Ron Natalie
6 years ago
Yep Bruce is correct. You can have a main disconnect at the meter if you go a long way. I've got a big honking service disconnect (I have no idea why it is so big when the 400A breaker on the primary panel is nowhere near that large physically). I have no "main panel" really as the service disconnect is that external one. From there going forward in the house, everything is treated as a subpanel. I've got one primary subpanel which feeds seven sub-sub panels (plus a few branch circuits of its own).