240 volt 200 amp disconnect switch question

[EddieWalker]

When I built my house in 2005 I had it in my head that I needed 200 amps for my shop and 200 amps for my house. Over the years it's never been an issue, but it's also something that I've never actually needed.

A few years ago we made some significant changes in what we wanted with the house and I've been working on remodeling it ever since then. The biggest change is converting my 24x30 attached workshop/garage into our new living room. I added on a 30x40 three car garage to replace the shop and I'm currently working on the wiring in the shop.

One thing is that we want a whole house back up generator. For that to work, I want just one panel to power the entire house. So that is the panel that I'm running everything to. It's expensive, but not all that complicated.

The panel in the shop is going away and will be used when I build my new Shop. The wire to that panel is buried under my driveway and staying there. The distance from the panel on my exterior wall to where the new Shop is a lot closer than running from the meter buy a huge margin. My plan is to just run new wire from the old panel to the new Shop when everything else is done.

For now, I need to terminate the existing wire inside a box in my wall that I can then connect the new wire to in the future. This will be on my interior wall, inside my new Living Room. I plan to cover it with a picture of some kind so it's not visible.

With the 200 amp breaker off at the meter, I'm not worried about just wire nutting it and leaving it in a box. But it seems to me that now is the best time to install what I want to be there forever. My first thought was to install a Disconnect Switch like what I have for my HVAC system. It's only 60 amps, but basically, it's a big heavy duty on off switch. I need one for 200 amps, and that seems to be where I'm having issues.

Lowes has this for $210 which should work. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-S...e-Outdoor-Enclosed-Circuit-Breaker/5001782473

I can install conduit down the bottom of it so I can run my wire to the Shop in the future. I just don't want to spend over $200 for a switch that has a cover and will be hard to hide once it's installed. I could install it on the outside of the house, but it's right next to my new fancy front door, and it will be ugly and obvious.

My thinking for a disconnect is that it would allow me to turn off the power to the entire shop from inside the house in case of a fire. I don't know any other advantage to having a switch. I don't want a breaker. To me, that just adds to where problems could happen. There is already a 200 amp breaker at the meter, and there will be a 200 amp breaker inside the panel that I'll install in the new Shop.

Am I on the wrong path looking for a switch?

My other option is to install a Junction Box. I'm not familiar with what is needed to connect 200 amp lines inside a Box. I've done a couple searches on Lowes.com and Amazon.com without finding something that seems right.



What are my options? What would you do?

Please provide a link or what search words I should be using.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[Oaktree]

A 200A disconnect is going to be a pretty good size, can you build a little decorative "house" around it to conceal it? Maybe an identical one on the other side of the door for symmetry? Don't think it's code to have a disconnect inside.

A bit off topic, but a 24x30 living room!! Yikes!! My whole house isn't much bigger than that!

 

[Chewwy]

. . .

A bit off topic, but a 24x30 living room!! Yikes!! My whole house isn't much bigger than that!

He IS in Texas!

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

If you just wanted to splice in an enclosure you would want something like this. Just a terminal block.

These are the only disconnects that I'm used to working with. Generally they are fused but you can get them non-fusible. If I'm understanding correctly whatever you get will be in the living room. I would personally go with a breaker or terminal block. With the thought process that they would be easier to hide. Breakers are tried and true, have you had problems with your current panel mains?

 

[Hughman]

I have a 200a manual transfer switch for my PTO generator like the one pictured above. It is a big beastie.

 

[EddieWalker]

A 200A disconnect is going to be a pretty good size, can you build a little decorative "house" around it to conceal it? Maybe an identical one on the other side of the door for symmetry? Don't think it's code to have a disconnect inside.

A bit off topic, but a 24x30 living room!! Yikes!! My whole house isn't much bigger than that!

I didn't think about Code. What does it say about connecting the 200 amp lines? I'll try to Google it, but so far all I get is something else.

With 12 foot walls, it should hold all of my taxidermy!!! This picture was last weekend. I'm removing all the shelving from the wall and then the OSB so I can install the new outlets, insulate the walls, and install 3/4 inch plywood on the walls. Ducts need to be moved too.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you just wanted to splice in an enclosure you would want something like this. Just a terminal block.

View attachment 4483547

These are the only disconnects that I'm used to working with. Generally they are fused but you can get them non-fusible. If I'm understanding correctly whatever you get will be in the living room. I would personally go with a breaker or terminal block. With the thought process that they would be easier to hide. Breakers are tried and true, have you had problems with your current panel mains?

View attachment 4483660

Thanks. The current panel works fine. My issue with it is its size and the big door that lifts upwards. I guess I could keep it there and try to find a different door for it so I can cover it with a picture, but I was really hoping for something a lot smaller.

The ON/Off switch that you posted wouldn't work with sheetrock on my interior wall.

 

[ponytug]

Breakers are going to be smaller and less obtrusive than a disconnect. However, I think that a switch requires a label indicating where the upstream breaker is.

You have such great creative talent, have you consider an outside feature that might make the exterior box less obvious?

Why not use a properly sized junction box, and run extension wires to wherever you plan to have your new shop/garage panel? Routing wires to the shop after you finish your living room would be more difficult, right? My recollection is that junction boxes are not supposed to be hidden, but that may not be correct, or current, as the NEC has updated that sort of thing a few times lately, and I am not an electrician. I believe panels are not to be hidden at all, and have defined spaces in front of and laterally around them.

All the best, Peter

 

[MossRoad]

Can you remove the panel for use later in your future shop, put a splice block in a small enclosure in its place, and cover it over as you want? That wire TO that panel already has a breaker feeding it somewhere, so that's where you'd kill power to the splice block for now, and the future shop later.

If you want to move that feed to your panel that's inside the house, you could just put a large breaker in the house panel and move that feed from the breaker by the meter to the panel in the house.

That would allow you to kill the shop from the house rather than going out to the meter.

 

[MossRoad]

Also, to clear a few things up for myself and maybe others, the panel that's closest to the meter is the main. Anything past that is a sub-panel and has to be wired as such, which means isolated neutrals and grounds.