Whether you’re renting a home or you own one, it’s essential that you know how to manage the house’s electrical system.
Fuses can blow, areas of the house might need power for a time, or you could need to shut down power for concern of fire or other safety hazards. Whatever the situation, it’s essential that you know how to turn off your electrical panel safely.
We’re going to go over how to do this so that you aren’t at risk of harming yourself the next time you need to go into that old electrical panel.
How to Turn off Your Electrical Panel Safely
The setup of an electrical panel is pretty simple in practice. Your electrical service sends energy from the grid to your panel, sometimes called a fuse box or breaker box, which then distributes that power to the various outlets of your home.
Because the box is the central point of power in your home, it has various switches that allow you to turn different segments on and off. While the process is simple, it can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why it’s important to brush up on your knowledge with different boxes and new homes.
Shutting Power from Particular Circuits
Your breaker box should have various fuse switches labeled. Unless you’re in a new home, it’s likely that the previous owners labeled or eventually figured out the different pathways through trial and error.
If there aren’t labels, you will need to go through the various switches and label them yourself. You’ll find that there’s an organization to the switches that moves logically throughout the house.
Once labels are in place, you’ll be good to switch circuits on and off as you please. When you shut a circuit off, however, make sure to double check that it has actually gone off.
You can do this by flipping the lights in that area or checking appliances that are plugged into the relevant sockets.
Shutting the Breaker Off
Various circuits have no connection to the incoming power to your home. Shutting off each circuit won’t eliminate power running to the breaker itself.
That means that your electrical lines are still carrying high amounts of power and remain dangerous. If you’re trying to shut all power from your home, you’ll need to speak to the electrical company.
To turn off all of the power coming from the breaker at once, though, is a possibility in cases where you need to quickly cut energy. Your breaker should have a large lever or switch labeled “on” and “off.” It will stand apart from the rest of the switches.
Have More Questions?
Trying to turn off your electrical panel safely is essential for homeowners and renters. It’s likely that doing that is the most complicated you will get with the electricity in your home.
That’s for a good reason, too, seeing as you can electrocute yourself if you aren’t careful with power lines. Visit our site to learn more about your home’s electrical system and how to handle it safely.
