Can I install a switch for my dishwasher?
The dishwasher is on a 15 amp circuit. The plan would be to take the existing dishwasher wire run it to a box in the sink cabinet and place it high on the side cabinet wall. Put the switch into this box and run a new 14/2 wire from the box to the dishwasher – switching the hot.
Newer dishwashers might require a 20amp breaker and I wonder if a switch would be rated for 20amps or if I have to get a special switch.
The breaker for the dishwasher is located in a suite that has the house breaker panel so I don't want to have to enter the suite to service the dishwasher. Ideally the suite(s) would have their own sub panels but they don't. The dishwasher is having issues so it will likely need to be serviced more than once.
The idea is I can turn the switch off and disconnect the dishwasher without access the suite and flipping the breaker. The dishwasher has a problem with either the impeller, turbidity sensor, control board or a blockage in the discharge line. The issue is intermittent and there is a workaround. Notifying tenants for access and turning the breaker on and off and testing each thing when I get time makes the job 100% harder also in the future for replacing the dishwasher this makes it easier. The newer or higher end dishwashers have a plug in option – dishwashers and wall ovens seem like the only appliances still hardwired that require breaker access to service. Now that dishwashers are moving to outlet based installation, servicing requiring access to breakers is a thing of the past.
Best Answer
That's a Code violation.
You have subdivided your house into different dwelling units. Any dwelling unit's breakers must be readily accessible to the occupants of that same dwelling unit. NEC 240.24(B). That means the breakers must be in the dwelling unit, or in commons spaces.
You can call them "suites" if you want to, but that's just mincing words. You've made it perfectly clear that the occupants of "suite" A either cannot access their own breakers, or would have to uncomfortably intrude on the occupants of "suite" B to do so. That's not allowed.
It is allowed for the breakers to be in a commons space (NEC is about safety not security from petty vandals). So maybe you can get lucky and flip the panel to the other side of the wall it's on, or redefine the breaker room to be commons space.