![]() Main Safety Features of a Circuit Breaker Panel The safety mechanism of the circuit breaker panel guards your home and its residents against all the hazards of improper grounding, short-circuits, voltage fluctuations, faulty wiring, and damaged insulation. The circuit breaker panel supplies power but is also designed with safety features that protect the wiring and avoid electrical shocks and fire due to overloading or heat build-up. ![]() This leaves you and your family susceptible to electric hazards from your home appliances, HVAC system, and the electronic equipment and electric shocks, burns and fires can do serious damage to life and property. The electricity that flows from your utility company’s line passes through the meter and into the main circuit breaker panel. Why is the Circuit Breaker Box Important for Home Safety? So as a homeowner, you would only need to access the main circuit breaker panel when the power trips or when performing repairs or replacements. These small switches are called breakers and their function is to ensure electrical safety. The circuit breaker box also houses other smaller sub-switches that connect with specific areas of your house. The main circuit breaker panel is essentially a big switch that safely distributes the supply of power to your house. Here’s everything a homeowner needs to know about the circuit breaker panel/electrical breaker box: How Does Circuit Breaker Box Work? Knowing what it is, why it’s important, and how it works may help you with troubleshooting home electrical issues and avoid dangerous situations. (Note: sub-panels don't always have main breakers they may have lugs only, which allow the feeder wires to be connected.) Because the subpanel is fed by the main panel, you do not add the subpanel's amp rating to the household total use the main panel's amperage only.Every homeowner must be familiar with the operation and the features of the circuit breaker panel/electrical breaker box that sits in the utility room and supplies power to the house. If your home has a subpanel, there will be a double-pole breaker in the main panel that has the same amp rating as the main breaker in the subpanel. They have their own main breaker, which is fed by the main panel. Subpanels are typically 60 to 100 amps and often have branch circuits serving a specific area of the house, such as a kitchen. A subpanel can also serve as a convenient satellite panel for a detached garage or workshop that may be far away from the main panel. Subpanels are commonly installed to accommodate the many new circuits and breakers added as part of a home addition or large remodel. If you have a 400 amp service, you will have two 200 amp main panels and each will have a 200 amp main breaker.Īn electrical subpanel is a secondary service panel that is fed by the home's main service panel. The amp rating on this main circuit breaker identifies your electrical service size. Turning this main breaker to the off position shuts off power to the entire house and all the branch circuits. It is a double-pole breaker, connected to both 120-volt service wires to power both hot bus bars running down through the panel. The main circuit breaker dictates how much power is available to your entire house. ![]() The main circuit breaker may be bolted in place, or it may be a snap-in breaker similar to those serving branch circuits. In rare instances, the main circuit breaker may be mounted at the bottom of the service panel. This is the main circuit breaker, and its amperage rating will be something like 60, 100, 150, or 200 amps. The amperage of these individual breakers will be between 15 and 50 amps, usually.Īt the top or bottom end of the two rows of branch circuit breakers, there will be a central circuit breaker that controls the power to the entire panel. These individual, or branch, circuit breakers are numbered, and they control individual branch circuits running through your home. Inside the panel, you will see two rows of individual circuit breakers with small toggle levers. Make sure the floor near the main service panel is dry, then open the metal door on the service panel. Read the Main Circuit Breaker or Fuse Block.The Spruce Home Improvement Review Board. ![]()
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