When you first move into your new home, there are many new things that you’re going to have to learn about. One household component that brings a lot of tension to homeowners is their electrical panel box. This tension tends to be rooted in fear of not knowing how it works. Fortunately, we’re going to help reveal its main components and explain how they work so that you can be more comfortable utilizing your very own electrical panel box.
Main Switch
When you first open the access panel for your electrical box, you’ll notice that there’s a large switch at the top of it. This is where power comes in from the power lines outside to power your house. If you ever need to shut off all the power supplied to your home, you should turn the main switch to the off position. For the most part, you won’t need to deal with the main power switch, as your electrician is going to be the only one who will ever turn it off.
Circuit Breakers
Below the main power switch, you’ll find at least two rows of switches. Each individual unit is referred to as a circuit breaker. It controls one unique circuit inside of your home. There should be a label next to each circuit indicating what it controls. For example, it may say that it controls your dryer or your upstairs bathroom lights. Each active circuit breaker in your house should be adequately labeled for everyone’s safety.
Tripped Breaker
Each circuit breaker has three different positions that it can be turned to. These include on, off, and tripped. While on and off positions are pretty much self-explanatory, we do need to discuss what a tripped position means.
One of the most common reasons that one of your circuit breakers will move to the tripped position is that you’re trying to obtain too much power out of it. For example, let’s say that you plug in multiple power strips to various outlets that are all connected to one circuit. Then, you proceed to plug in multiple appliances on each power strip. This can overload the circuit and cause it to trip.
When a circuit breaker trips, it will kill the power to that entire circuit. When you go down to your panel box and locate the circuit breaker labeled for that location of your home, you’ll notice that the breaker itself is in between the on and off positions. It will sit in its tripped position, which will require you to turn off the circuit breaker completely and back on again to get the circuit back up and running.
Your home’s electrical panel box is the lifeblood of your entire house. By understanding its main components, you can better ensure that you know how to operate it safely. If you’re having trouble with your panel box, be sure to contact Paxton Electric for panel repair/replacement in Rochester, MN.
