Interesting...do all college dorms have unlocked electrical boxes on each floor?

[yankeesfan]

With room numbers labeled for each switch...?

 

[destrekor]

uh... not the dorms I've seen here. (Ohio State)
And half of the dorms here are ancient.

and I cannot imagine at any time that ever being argued as a good idea to implement. No idea how that ever actually got approved to be installed that way. And that's just the idea of breaker boxes being easily accessible in the first place. I imagine them being left unlocked is simply careless oversight somewhere. Unless there isn't even a locking mechanism... ?

 

[brblx]

i would imagine most dorms either have the breaker box hidden somewhere (basement) and/or locked with a padlock. as is in the case in most institutions with lots of random people roaming around.

 

[pray4mojo]

have fun

 

[yankeesfan]

Sorry. What's the difference between an electrical box and a breaker box?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think it's against code to lock out a panel so that would not work either. To me they should just put a small sub panel in each room, I would hate to not have access to my own electrical panel. Never know if you trip a breaker or something you want to be able to easily go flip it back on.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sorry. What's the difference between an electrical box and a breaker box?

Same thing just different term.

Load center, sub panel, electrical box, breaker box, breaker panel... all same thing, more or less. Sub panel would be a panel that branches off another panel but pretty much does the same thing.

 

[coldmeat]

The panel was locked in first year, I tried to open it. I'm living on campus this year too, but in a townhouse, and I think the panel is in the furnace room, which is locked obviously.

 

[destrekor]

I think it's against code to lock out a panel so that would not work either. To me they should just put a small sub panel in each room, I would hate to not have access to my own electrical panel. Never know if you trip a breaker or something you want to be able to easily go flip it back on.

Ah yeah forgot about that whole code thing.

Obviously the point being, don't put big control things near the hands of hoards of students.
I mean, my freshman year we had a fire alarm because one of the students decided he wanted to take a lighter to a poster in the hallway.

And hell, I don't think any of our buildings have breakers for individual rooms.
Or if they do, we don't know it. I've never heard of anyone tripping a breaker in their dorm room. If power went out, it was a wide area and not a single room.
I know every room I've been in, we've had to come close to pushing limits. But never lost power to a single room.

 

[shocksyde]

In my college apartment building, the cable connections box for the entire floor was in the stairwell. I opened it one day, and got free cable and internet for the rest of the year.

 

[tokie]

Mine had unlocked electrical boxes in the common kitchen. It was eventually used for pranking, though thank god I had a laptop otherwise I would have lost a pretty important essay I was working on.

I did get the other person back though. Good times.

 

[Leros]

My dorm freshman year had that. Very useful for when the neighbor's were blasting music at 3am.

My dorm sophomore year at breaker boxes in each room.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My dorm freshman year had that. Very useful for when the neighbor's were blasting music at 3am. .

lol that could be fun.

"TURN THAT OFF!"

"Make me!"

*click, put in breaker lock, walk away with the key*

 

[Schadenfroh]

If you tamper with that and you are discovered, you will be receiving "dorm justice."

 

[tokie]

If you tamper with that and you are discovered, you will be receiving "dorm justice."

Which was basically a stern talking to by an RA. I didn't mind that, since she had massive jugs and she was more afraid of me than I was of her.

 

[grrl]

Which was basically a stern talking to by an RA. I didn't mind that, since she had massive jugs and she was more afraid of me than I was of her.

Not always. A guy from an adjoining dorm smashed our hallway intercom one night (it made too much noise for him) so my roommate super glued a dime over his keyhole. The keyhole was recessed into the doorknob so it took him well over an hour to get it out!

 

[alkemyst]

HOLY SHIT!???????

This is like a picture with some naked perfect ten hottie with her ass up beckoning you and out of left field you tell her:

"we really need to touch up that chair rail...it's all nicked up"

 

[destrekor]

HOLY SHIT!???????

This is like a picture with some naked perfect ten hottie with her ass up beckoning you and out of left field you tell her:

"we really need to touch up that chair rail...it's all nicked up"

srsly?

You would advocate turning off power to rooms without their knowledge?

Fuck people like you. I'd kick teeth in if anyone did that when I was working on something on my computer.

Granted, the odds of that occurring are minimal since I procrastinate so successfully, but the whole idea is not cool. Dorm pranks are fun, but not messing with something critical like power.

 

[alkemyst]

why'd you quote me?

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Not always. A guy from an adjoining dorm smashed our hallway intercom one night (it made too much noise for him) so my roommate super glued a dime over his keyhole. The keyhole was recessed into the doorknob so it took him well over an hour to get it out!

Well that's a fire hazard. Just plain dumb.

 

[Evadman]

Well that's a fire hazard. Just plain dumb.

If there is a fire you have to go towards the fire in your room? If there is a fire in the room do you think the firemen are going to look for a key? I fail to follow your logic.

 

[Modelworks]

It is as suggested a code requirement. You don't have to provide access to every rooms breaker, but there must be a way to turn off power to any outlet at any time easily. Most public places ( schools, shopping centers, offices) lock the box containing the individual breakers and leave the main disconnect unlocked because in an emergency you really don't want to be trying to find breaker 21 for outlet 7 in room A on some list posted beside it.

 

[grrl]

Well that's a fire hazard. Just plain dumb.

So you think he was locked IN his room or that his empty room might have caught fire while he was home for the weekend?

 

[alkemyst]

So you think he was locked IN his room or that his empty room might have caught fire while he was home for the weekend?

Dude, in many flash games you may be presented with a fire approaching you, only to find out the only door out of the room has been locked.

duh...

 

[grrl]

Dude, in many flash games you may be presented with a fire approaching you, only to find out the only door out of the room has been locked.

duh...

I plead youthful ignorance then. That story is from before flash was invented (even before Win 95 came out!). Could you find it in your heart to give my roommate a pass on this one little indiscretion?