Outdoor service panels versus indoor

[Frank DuVal]

As for happy customers, I suspect most of those don't even know what a panel is or where it is until something goes wrong.

When doing custom homes I have customers argue about where the meter is and how to hide that! Imagine also hiding a 42 pole space panel or TWO!

I would guess where exterior panels are normal, people are used to looking at them so there are not many complaints in those areas.

Ah, the old east vs west thing again. :lol:

And to having never having reset a breaker in 19 years, well of course not, no AFCIs back then!:thumbsup:

 

[cowboyjwc]

One thing about an outdoor panel is that you rarely have to move a bunch of boxes to get to it.:happyyes:

 

[jaggedben]

One thing about an outdoor panel is that you rarely have to move a bunch of boxes to get to it.:happyyes:

No you just have to cut down bushes sometimes. But I agree with you, outside panels on average are more likely to remain unobstructed.

 

[K8MHZ]

No you just have to cut down bushes sometimes. But I agree with you, outside panels on average are more likely to remain unobstructed.

Does 3 or 4 feet of snow count as an obstruction? That's not unusual for Michigan to have that much snow on the ground for a couple months.

 

[hbiss]

Does anybody know what the environmental specs are for regular, GFI and AFCI breakers? I briefly looked around some manufacturers sites but I couldn't find anything. But there has to be. I did see Siemens has a fungus resistant option. Direct sunlight in like S California on a panel has to cause high internal temperatures. Northern temperatures can get down into the sub zeros. What do extremes of hot and cold do to a thermal trip? Does extreme cold cause lubricant to become sticky?

-Hal

 

[bkludecke]

As has been mentioned numerous times in this thread, different locales due things differently for a variety of reasons. Not right or wrong, just different.

As to environmental effects on AFCI or GFCI circuit breakers, I can only report that in my locale we get sub-zero temps in the winter and 100 in the summer. We get snow sometimes many feet thick as well but the climate is generally dry; almost never humid. Exterior service and distribution is the norm here for residential installs and all of the equipment seems to hold up very well over the decades with very few failures. Direct heat from sun exposure has not been a problem for the residential equipment but I have seen a few problems with heat on heavily loaded commercial panels. We deal with it and like it this way.

 

[jaggedben]

Does 3 or 4 feet of snow count as an obstruction? That's not unusual for Michigan to have that much snow on the ground for a couple months.

We don't have snow out here.