How-to guide
How to Map Your Circuit Breaker Directory
Label every breaker in your panel in one afternoon so you know what to shut off in an emergency.
YOU NEED: a helper, a phone, and a lamp or a plug-in radio.
- Number every breaker top to bottom on a sheet of paper before you switch anything.
- Turn one breaker off. Walk the house with your helper and note every outlet, light and appliance that went dead.
- Write it on the sheet, then turn that breaker back on and move to the next.
- Type it up and tape it inside the door. A legible directory is worth real money during an emergency, and it is required on new panel work.
Do this once and you will know which breaker kills the kitchen before you need to know it at midnight with water coming through a ceiling. Reset any clocks afterwards, and be careful cutting power to anything with a computer in it.
Note anything odd: a breaker that kills rooms on opposite ends of the house, one that controls nothing you can find, or outlets that stay live with everything off. Those are worth a call.