Locking an electrical sub panel

[Scott Gibbons]

I have two small children, my daughter is 6 and my son is 2 (and extremely curious). Right now all of my tools are covered, unplugged, and the breaker is off. I have a dedicated 100amp panel in the garage, so it makes this simple to manage. However, it is only a matter of time before my 2 year old figures out that the breakers are nothing more than switches and during that time he will craft a ladder out of God only knows what to get to them. Now my children are never unattended, but I am looking for that extra bit of safety. Do you know if it would be against code to somehow attach a padlock on the sub panel and lock it closed?

Thanks!
Scott

[Bryan Wellman]

What kind of panel? A lot of companies actually put a knock out in the cover and have loks that you can buy. Easier still is screwing/rivetting a simple hasplock onto the cover. See it all the time. As an electrician, the only time I have seen issues with locking out power is if the utility company cant get into it. For a subpanel, no problem locking it out when it's off.

[Scott Gibbons]

Bryan,
Its a cutler hammer and thats exactly what I want to do!

Thanks!

[Bryan Wellman]

No inspector will ever fault you for locking your panel if its off. Can't get any safer than that!!

[Scott Gibbons]

Bryan,
Just to clarify, the panel is on, it is fed by a 100amp circuit off our main panel in the basement. What is off, are all of the breakers that the panel houses. but the panel itself will be powered.

[Bryan Wellman]

Shouldn't matter. As long as you can easily shut the main breaker in the house panel off or the subpanel's main breaker in the house box, it's really not an issue. What concerns them is if you have things locked out with everything on. They expect you to be able to readily kill power in case of an emergency. With it being a subpanel you have th option of turning just its main off or the whole house.

[Scott Gibbons]

Thank you for the clarification. Much appreciated

[Bruce Wrenn]

Have you considered putting a non fused disconnect in the feed to your panel? Most include a slot for a lock. This way you could leave everything on in the panel, and just kill the power at the disconnect.

[Scott Gibbons]

I thought about it, but that same panel controls the lights in the garage so I cannot totally cut it off.

[George Bregar]

So you actually are locking a panel that is energized and has a live circuit...the lights.

[Scott Gibbons]

Yes, that is correct.

[Matt Meiser]

I can't comment on code, but energized, locked panels are all over the place in offices schools, etc. Those would be sub-panels most likely, fed from a main switchboard in an electrical closet.

Is there a knockout in the door to add a lock? I think the Siemens panel in my shop has one.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Have you considered putting a non fused disconnect in the feed to your panel? Most include a slot for a lock. This way you could leave everything on in the panel, and just kill the power at the disconnect.

Bruce, I am in a similar boat. When I google "non fused disconnect" most of the hits are for 200$+ devices with a minimum of 3 poles. For normal 2 phase power are you required to disconnect ground to?

[David Hostetler]

I have pretty much the same question. I need to talk to my building dept to find out for sure. I have heard conflicting reports on this. Some electricians say you can lock an energized panel, some say it is against city ordinances, they want the FD to have access to the panel to be able to shut off the circuits in case of a fire... But the PD here recommends locking any exterior panels... So I am completely confused...

[Rick Davidson]

Why not just use standard lock out tag out locks.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#circuit-bre...ckouts/=5nz50p