Electrical question

[Ryan Harrington]

Good afternoon,
I am putting in a sub-panel for my shop and unwittingly purchased one without a door. Do I need to take it back, or is it ok to use an open-faced panel in a woodshop?

Thanks

[Cliff Holmes]

Is it really "open" or just doesn't have a door over the breakers? In other words, are the busses exposed? If not, it should be fine as long as it's indoors.

[Ryan Harrington]

Is it really "open" or just doesn't have a door over the breakers? In other words, are the busses exposed? If not, it should be fine as long as it's indoors.

Busses are not exposed, the panel just didn't come with a door.

[John McClanahan]

I don't have a door covering the breakers in either the house or garage.

John

[John Coloccia]

My opinion: get one with a door. It will help keep wood dust from getting all over the place in there, which is probably a good thing. At a minimum, keep an eye on it the first couple of months, and vacuum it out regularly if you need to (and turn off the breaker feeding it first!).

[Myk Rian]

No door on mine. Only things in there are spider webs.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I have a door on mine, but it's rarely closed. But realistically, mine is not in the dust making part of the shop. Otherwise I would be worried about sawdust accumulation in the panel. They aren't sealed "dust tight" just enough to be "finger safe". I would say to base it on the proximity to the dust generating equipment.

[Jason Roehl]

Ummm...Ellis Walentine, Host of WoodCentral lost his shop due to a fire believed to have been caused by a buildup of sawdust in his electrical panel. It's not something to take lightly.

[John McClanahan]

The saw dust alone would not cause a fire. There must have been other problems with the electrical panel that would get the breakers, wire and saw dust hot enough to ignite.

John

[Jason Roehl]

That's hard to say. Sawdust is an excellent insulator, and even a panel that is operating within specs can get very warm. With years of buildup holding that heat in, it could get it smoldering, or even a single wire being just a little loose (happens quite a bit) could throw it over the top--either through a direct spark, or just a very small connection area which would get very hot.

[scott vroom]

If it were my shop I'd take it back and get one with a door.

[Owen E Wheeler]

If it were my shop I'd take it back and get one with a door.

Agreed. I just replaced a sparking breaker in a panel installed in what later became a closet. It's not code to have electrical devices in closets, but remodeling over time brought this sparking breaker (sparks emanating from knife contact with buss bar, old & corroded) within 6" of cloth coats.

Dust gets everywhere in a shop, period, end of sentence. Dust should not get inside your breaker box, and the devices inside a breaker box should not spark, but both things happen. Why risk it?

[Jesse Tutterrow]

I have two feeds in my shop the original feed I put in 20 years ago (30 amps) and the new 60 amp feed. The 30 amp feed is to a breaker box with out a cover over the breakers. So, when I remodeled and added the additional 60 amps, I built a raised panel door to cover the 30 amp box. I did cover the inside of the door with a piece of sheet metal. Also, I placed a couple of rare earth magnets to hold the door tightly closed.

[Guy Belleman]

Seems like access to breakers, whether tripped or just wanting to shutoff for any kind of work, would be a good feature. I know when I purchased our house and garage/workshop 5 years ago, nothing was marked in the two 200-amp boxes. Having doors on the boxes allowed simple elimination to identify all circuits.

[Jim Rimmer]

vacuum it out regularly if you need to (and turn off the breaker feeding it first!).

Makes it pretty difficult to run the vacuum.