

- #Electrical control panel labels professional#
- #Electrical control panel labels series#
- #Electrical control panel labels windows#
Not exactly how I define spending quality time with my true love…. Meanwhile I stood next to the outlet and yelled out when the breaker was tripped. He understands basic rewiring and can replace outlet.Īnd until this weekend, any electrical work always started with him standing in front of the electrical panel, flipping breaker after breaker.

Personally, I’m petrified of electric, But my husband isn’t. But first you need to know which breaker coordinates with that outlet. If you have the know-how or motivation to do light work on the electrical system on your house, the first thing you must do is cut the power to that outlet. And then sit in complete darkness until the electrician shows. Because you know this will happen in the night.
#Electrical control panel labels professional#
Otherwise, you have to turn off power to the ENTIRE house while you wait for a professional electrician to come and investigate. If you suspect an electrical hazard, don’t you want to know exactly where your panel is in order to quickly react in an emergency?Īnd if the electrical issue is specific to just one outlet, don’t you want to know which breaker it corresponds to? That way you can just shut off that breaker or fuse. Or if you smell something fishy in your home, you might have a burning electrical component. Or if there is a power outage, it helps to know where your circuit breaker or fuse box is beforehand so you aren’t searching in the dark.

Taking a little time to understand where the electrical wires are distributed throughout your house will pay off plenty with convenience and might help you out in an emergency.ĭuring any kind of emergency, such as a flood or fire, you might need to quickly get to the electric panel and turn off the power. Why should you care about where your electrical panel is located? And why do you want the fuses or circuit breakers properly labeled? Two simple reasons: Emergencies and Electrical Work 1. Why Find and Label a Home Electrical Panel? Electrical malfunctions are the 3rd leading cause of home structure fires.Īs an aside, if you want to learn more about Fire Safety, you might want to check out these posts on Reasons to Check Your Fire Extinguishers and 5 Best Resources to to Prepare a Family Fire Escape.Home electrical fires account for an estimated 44,800 fires each year, almost 450 deaths, and 1,250 injuries, and $1.3 billion in property damage.According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): Why do you want these circuit breakers and fuses to work? Quite simply, they prevent your house from burning down. In plain terms, when the circuit breaker is “tripped” or the fuse is “blown”, it’s your houses’ way of saying ‘Too much! Too much!” Circuit breakers and fuses interrupt or “break” the power flow if the electrical current in your home spikes to unsafe levels. What’s the purpose of these fuses and circuit breakers? Quite simply, fire prevention and safety. So for my friends who deal with the challenges of owning an old house, you might still have fuses.īut if the electric has been updated or you own a newer house you likely have a circuit breakers. Historically, fuses existed in homes before circuit breakers. Fuses are rows of round knobs and screw-in fuses (like.Circuit breakers are rows of switches with toggle levers.
#Electrical control panel labels series#
When you open the panel you will see either a series of circuit breakers OR fuses.

In other words, every single electrical fixture, switch and plug in your house is connected to a circuit or fuse that runs to your electrical panel (also known as electrical service panel, service panel, fuse box, and circuit breaker panel).Īs a side note if you want to dive deeper into how electricity works inside your home, check out this posts on How a Home Electrical System Works or The Circuit Detective. Think of it as the distribution point where the main electrical wire comes into your home and then splits off into the various wires that service the various rooms of your house. The electrical panel in your home connects the external wire or wires coming in from the street to the internal wires within your home. So grab a partner, get it done and go do something else more much fun. But it was necessary.Īnd this post outlines (in my humble homeowner opinion) the fastest, easiest way to label a home electrical panel.
#Electrical control panel labels windows#
Let’s face it, like washing windows and cleaning kitchen cabinets, taking 1-2 hours to label an electric service panel was not exactly the time of my life. And it wasn’t that bad! Not as boring as tedious as I expected…. I convinced my family to help out and we finally went through the process of properly labeling the circuit breakers in our house.
