When it comes to your electrical system most people know the importance that it holds. We use electricity in all aspects of our life. You want to have lights in the house, temperature controlled air, clean clothes, WiFi, a way to charge your phone, hot and cold foods whenever you like and more. If you have an electrical system that is not working properly it can be very problematic. We want to have a comfortable way of life and that means the electricity needs to work. Each house is outfitted with an electrical system that is wired in from the street and brought in the house through a breaker box or breaker panel. This is the start of all the wires and areas of the house that use electricity. Every outlet, switch and fixture can be traced back to the breaker box. The great thing about the box is that it is a safety defense as well as a way to track problems that you might be having. Peterkin Electric outlines what you need to know about your breaker panel.
Location of Electrical Panel
The first thing you need to know is where the breaker panel is in your home. You do need to have some access to this panel so that when you call out an electrician they can do the work that usually starts at this spot. Each can be different but the majority of homes have the breaker panel in one of two different places. Some of them are located in the garage of the house on one of the walls and usually about five feet from the ground. The other option is that it is on the side of the house on the exterior of the home. This box likely has an area that you can place a lock to secure it from others getting into it.
How Do I Know Which Breaker Powers?
When you locate your breaker panel and you open the door you will see a bunch of individual breakers. They can be different sizes and depending on the size of the house you will see a certain number of breakers. This can seem like something that makes no sense but a breaker panel is actually very organized and well thought out. You can tell what each breaker does by using the key that is often a sticker on the inside of the door. You want to stay away from switching any of them on and off for safety reasons and leaving the work to a professional.
How to Fix a Breaker that Keeps Tripping
When you have a breaker that trips you want to make sure that you know why it has tripped. The majority of the time it has tripped because of a surge that could have caused damage to your electrical system. The tripping is what will prevent electricity from going to that area of the house. You don’t want to switch it back on and go about your business. You want to find out what caused it to happen in the first place and the best way to do that is to call a licensed electrician.
Electrical Breaker Panel Repairs in Laguna Woods, Santa Ana, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Lake Forest & Orange County, California
Peterkin Electric can come out to your home and make repairs to your electrical system. Call us today!