ny state code for my circuit breaker?

I live in orange county, ny. Currently finishing my basement with a few friends. I would like to box in my circuit breaker and generac ez switch as well as a few other things. In other words it will be its own small room. Can anyone tell me how far the wall must be from the breakers or where i can find more info easily for where i'm living. Thanks im advance.

 

You need to have 30" side to side. The panel does not need to be centered in that 30" space. You also need 36" clear area in front of the panel.

Some people build a cabinet around the panel. As long as you can open the doors and access the panel easily and remove the front panel if work needs to be done on it, this may work for you too.

 

The problem is proving the closet will not be used for storage. You could just mount a 48" wide set of pre-hung interior doors against the wall and have the panels hid yet still meet code.

Image source Meynards

 

Its going to be an actual room with a door due to a few other things . So from the actual circuit breaker (not the wall the breaker is on?) Needs to be 36"? Sorry if it wasnt clear to me! Im doing this without permit and just want to be up to code if anything but it will be accessable no problem.

 

Code for residences say no breaker boxes in closets so if it ever is inspected you would have to convince the inspector it isn't a closet.

 

The requirement is measured from the face of the panel, not the wall the panel is mounted on. I like Ray's idea a lot better by placing doors over the two panels. Why are you not getting a permit? Are you aware that not getting a permit could possibly cause you problems down the road if you should ever have a fire, a flooded basement or decide to sell your home.

 

Many people in my area didnt think it was worth it including my builder, general contractor, real estate agent. But they all said do everything to code to save future headaches.

 

If you don't have a permit and inspections, how will you, or the county, know that the work meets all code requirements, including any that the county may have adopted on its own?

Is this about building a new house? Or doing an extensive remodel? I'm surprised that your builder and GC would allow that, let alone suggest it. I'm also surprised that your real estate agent would offer an opinion.

 

My opinion is the best way to avoid future headaches is to get the permits and all inspections. There are some unscrupulous insurance companies that look for any little loophole to deny a claim and finding a home damaged by flood or a fire that has had extensive work done without a permit may be enough to deny the claim.

I had a neighbor who did some extensive remodeling including a rough-in for a bath upstairs without permits. The new owners hired a contractor to finish the bath, among other work, and the city wouldn't issue the plumbing permit because no permit had been issued for the rough-in. What a Freakin mess they had.

 

I would also highly recommend pulling a permit. It'll cost a few $$ and take an hour or two out of your life for inspections, but the investment will be well worth while for a few reasons:

1) The inspector may catch some safety issues that you missed. (Smoke alarms, CO alarms, egress windows, mis-sized wiring, etc etc.) Unfortunately, few of us know everything there is to know about building/remodeling, so it's always good to have a second pair of eyes look over everything.

2) When it comes time to sell your house, the issue of permits may come up. The new buyers may require you to have it inspected (which may be a huge issue) or it may cause buyers to hesitate buying since they have no idea how correctly it was constructed.

3) Insurance as others have mentioned

4) Peace of mind. You can sleep at night knowing that everything was done correctly and up to code.


Many people are concerned about involving inspectors, heck, I was (and in some cases still am) worried about what they might find. But it's worth while. Even a "NOT PASS" sticker now and then isn't the end of the world. I'd rather know about it when I'm in the process of building and can make an easy fix here or there and not once everything is clean and painted.