Utilities get calls about power outages that turn out to be a tripped breaker in the house (EWEB). With each breaker labeled, you find the right one in seconds.
Where is the breaker panel?
Often in the garage, or on the other side of the wall from the electric meter (EWEB).
Touch the panel only if it is dry, cool and quiet. Never stand in water to reach it (PPL Electric). Hot, wet, buzzing, sparking or smelling: keep everyone back. Get everyone out. Call 911.
How do you find what each breaker turns off?
It takes two people. One stays at the panel and switches the breakers off one at a time. The other walks the house and says what lost power (This Old House). Write it down for each breaker, then switch it back on.
Working alone, a circuit finder does it: its sender plugs into an outlet, and its receiver finds the breaker at the panel (This Old House).
What do you write for each breaker?
What it turns off, in plain, specific words. Skip vague ones like “miscellaneous”, and keep a copy on your phone too (This Old House).
What does a tripped breaker look like?
It sits at OFF, or in the middle between ON and OFF (EWEB).
- OnAll the way to ON
- TrippedIn the middle
- OffAll the way to OFF
Sources (3)
- Know your electric panel, Eugene Water & Electric Board: where the panel usually is, what a tripped breaker looks like, how to reset it, and when to call an electrician.
- How to label a circuit breaker, This Old House: mapping the breakers with two people or a circuit finder, and what to write.
- Staying safe around electricity during flooding, PPL Electric: touching the panel only when the area is dry.