[nfapps]

I'm curious if there are any electricians or anyone who knows why they orient the main electrical breaker boxes toward the outside of many (most?) of the houses around here?

Many are placed in the garage wall, facing outside. It would make a whole lot more sense to me for it to face inside the garage and be accessible from inside rather than outside. I just don't get it. Is there some sort of history to this or reasoning why they are facing outside?

[tadtam]

I assume it's on the outside in an easily accessible location so that the fire dept. or other emergency response crew could find it and shut off the entire house quickly.

[Sadie612]

We use ours a lot. weed eater and edger needs plugged in.

For Halloween I plug in stuff and now I have a rocking chair and swing out with a lamp for night time...it just is a bug attention getter. It looks pretty though =)

[NDJeff]

You mean electrical boxes as in power outlets? I would imagine that's for electric lawn mowers/trimmers/leaf blowers etc. I would still want plenty of outlets inside the garage myself though since I like to tinker.

[jjameson922]

No, I believe the OP is talking about our circuit breaker boxes. Always thought to myself, how stupid and easy for someone breaking in to use.

[nfapps]

Originally Posted by jjameson922

No, I believe the OP is talking about our circuit breaker boxes. Always thought to myself, how stupid and easy for someone breaking in to use.

Yes, I tried to make it clearer on the first post. I am in fact talking about the main circuit breaker box, and I've often thought the same thing. I'm wondering if anyone knows the logic, why don't they place the circuit breakers facing inside the garage rather than outside?

[NDJeff]

Oh they put the main panel outdoors? How stupid! What's the point of an alarm system if any clown can walk up and kill the main breaker? I worked as an electrician as years - industrial work, not residential, but the only reason I can imagine they would do that is it must be cheaper to install somehow. I guess it's technically within electrical code, since the main provisions have to do with making the panel accessible. I haven't opened a code book in years but the main premise is that the area directly in front of the main panel needs to be clear and accessible. I suppose it's less likely that the homeowner would block access to the panel if it's facing outside. Garages tend to be packed full of crap and I imagine few homes are code compliant in that way.

[ScoopLV]

"Ease of access for firefighters" doesn't quite work -- the boxes have hasps and keys so they can be padlocked. Although I suppose every fire truck has a bolt cutter in it.

Our alarm system has an internal battery backup, so it will run for days with no power. So that part doesn't really bother me.

[observer53]

This is not a Vegas specific issue, it's common all over the west and southwest.

[BBMW]

HUGE security issue. Also, it does occasionally rain in Vegas (and when it does, it rains like the world is coming to an end.) I would assume they design these to be water proof. But it's still something I'd want inside.