Are your Circuit Breakers labeled?

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Moderator Post (s) for this thread: > breakers by DanO on 04/16/2005 > Troubleshooting by doug seibert on 04/16/2005

If your CB's are not Identified, you need to identify what CB feeds what Lights, Outlets, Appliances etc..

1. Turn on all your lights downstairs and upstairs, in the garage, closits and any where else that you have a circuit.
2. Label your CB's on the left side of the power panel L1, L2, L3, etc and the right side R1, R2, R3 etc.
3. Post people all over the house. Trip L1 breaker. What went out? Make a list and write down what is attached to that breaker.
Do the same for all the rest of the breakers.
4. There may be one for which you can't find where it goes. It could be a convenience outlet that has nothing plugged into it.
5. There is another possibility, you may have outlets or lights connected to a GFCI. In this case search for a convenience outlet that has a reset button and press the reset button. (I lost my convenience outlets in the garage and found that the GFCI in the bathroom had to be reset.)
6. Buy a voltage neon light tester, Less than $5.00. This is a neon light with two leads. Stick one lead into a convenience outlet prong and one in the other. If the tester lights, then you have voltage at that point. If the tester doesn't light, stick one test lead into the round ground hole and the other lead into a prong hole then the other. One should light, the hot plug. If you find that you don't have voltage at an outlet, Figure out the path back to the power panel. You may find other outlets along the way that don't have voltage.
7. Call an electrician...
Good luck... Jasper


Jasper Castillo