Best options for adding electrical?

[Roger Feeley]

Frank,

I did the cutoff for a number of reasons. One of the biggest was to make an emergency switch accessible to my 8 year old daughter (and now to my grandsons). I put the switch beneath the sub-panel and it's easy to teach the young one to go pull the red lever.

I've had very positive feedback from electricians about the cutoff. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that I'm violating some code someplace. I'm not the least bit concerned about the safety of my wiring. But I still like the peace of mind that total isolation gives when I'm messing around in the sub-panel.

[Frank Pratt]

Hey Roger, I understand your reasoning there. It never hurts to go the extra mile if you feel it's worth it.

[Roger Feeley]

Frank,

I freely admit that what I have is a bit of overkill. I'm retired and this will probably be my last shop so I wanted to do it up right and I could afford it. We old people want things tidy. But I've had this feature before. This is my third basement shop. Two shops ago, I had a neighborhood friend who set up the same thing for me. He was chief electrician at a power plant but needed some extra money (4 kids in college at once!). He suggested the cutoff and got me a deal. He was the one that wanted that dividing line between licensed electrician and weekend warrior. I've had other electricians over and they have always made very positive comments.

When I moved to shop #2, I had my friend remove the cutoff and sub-panel and re-install it at the new house. When I moved to shop #3, I had another electrician friend remove it all and I brought it with me. I wanted more amperage than it could handle so I gave it away and put in a bigger rig.

I only use the cutoff when I'm messing around in the sub-panel. I should be fine just killing the breaker in the main panel but...belt and suspenders. The big thing is the emergency switch.
When I work downstream of the sub-panel, I kill breakers.