I have a small work shop in my basement with the usual power tools: table saw, miter saw, etc.
I also have a kid that is more and more curious about what is in that room every day. While she (generally) does a great job listening to me, it still nags at me that those tools are accessible to her, even though I unplug them after use. Some of the tools have safety switches, but those are more for unintentional use, like bumping in to the table saw. If she were to try, I'm sure she could figure these out.
I'm also not comfortable physically restricting access to the room. Our basement is divided in to two parts: the workshop and an entertainment area. If there were a fire, the fastest and safest way out of the house is through the workshop. Also many other safety things are in the workshop area, including water shutoffs, the electrical breaker, etc.
The outlets in the workshop have their own 20A breaker switch. Lights are on another 15A. I thought of installing a keyed switch between the breaker and the rest of the outlets. Something like this:
Which is rated for 20A.
- Am I overlooking a better solution?
- Would installing such a switch, as long as it's properly rated for the load it's going to carry, have any unintended consequences?