Importance of labeling a circuit breaker

Main Breaker Panel

Breaker panels should be labelled for easy operation when needed. (Photo Credits)

Accurately breaking an electrical breaker panel can be one of the things to do around the house that gets pushed to the bottom of the list each and every day. That is until one would need to turn off something from the main panel, and would have to go through the inconvenience of powering off everything around the house just to find out the correct breaker switch that needs to be turned off.

Popular Mechanics has highlighted the advantages of a fully labeled electrical panel. In its article it also emphasized the reason why this should be done as soon as possible. Builders and Contractors         

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“When the power goes out in just one section of your home, the likely culprit is a tripped circuit breaker. Usually, looking inside the breaker box will show you one tripped breaker switch that has flipped and is pointing in a different direction than the others. But by labeling your breaker box by room and area, you’ll confirm which breaker it is that tripped, without playing the guessing game and resetting everything.”

Read more here.

Labeling the breaker

Home design and improvement website Hunker has shared an easy to follow step-by-step procedure in labelling a home electrical panel. In its article, it mentioned that if the panel has been labelled before but the labeling has been outdated, then it is best to fully erase the labels first so as to avoid confusion. Electricians           

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“Panel indexing works best with two people. Station one person at the panel and assign the others the duty of moving around the house and testing devices. Use your cell phones to communicate, if necessary. Since this procedure involves turning off all individual circuits, it’s best to work in the daytime when there is window light to assist you.”

The rest of the tips can be found here.

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Home improvement website The Spruce also shared some advice on creating a breaker panel circuit directory. Apart from providing easy to follow guidelines, the article also shared some tips that would be helpful in labelling the electrical panel.

“Finding circuits that aren’t marked is simple: Turn on anything you can, then switch off each breaker one at a time and see what turns off in the house. With large appliances, a digital clock or interior light on the appliance is an easy giveaway. To check outlets, use a non-contact voltage tester, the safest and easiest device for checking for power. Just stick the probe of the tester into each outlet slot; if the tester lights up, the outlet still has power. Note everything that’s on the circuit and transfer your findings to the directory or the individual circuit. “

Check out the rest of the tips here.

Creating a panel directory can indeed minimize inconveniences in case there will be instances that power supply in certain parts of the home need to be turned off.

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