Overland Park Electrician | Label you’re Electric Panel
This content was written for Erbert Electric
As an Overland Park Electrician we know how frustrating it is to work on electrical equipment when the electrical panel is not properly labeled. Your electrical panel, also known as a breaker box, service panel, or fuse box is the heartbeat of your home. If you’re a DIY’er a non labeled electrical panel can be frustrating when you are trying to complete a task such as changing a switch or an outlet. Hopefully with this article, you will take a few minutes and label your breakers and save you some valuable time in the future.
The best tools to use for this task are an outlet plug tester, available at your local home improvement store and a portable radio. Sometimes the help of an assistant will make this task easier. The radio should be tuned to your favorite local station and turned up loud enough to hear it from any room in the house. You can start by finding an electrical outlet and plugging the radio in. When you go to your electrical panel make sure you can hear the radio. Now start at the top with the first breaker and switch them off then back on one by one until the power to the radio is cut. Now leave this breaker off and return to the room and use your outlet tester to see if each of the outlets in the room are off. Write down your results after numbering each breaker to match that of your list. Repeat this step for each room in the house.
The lights, if on separate breakers than your outlets, can be marked faster with the help of a partner. Click each breaker off and back on until you see lights go off noting which rooms are controlled by each circuit breaker. Soon you will have a comprehensive list of which breaker controls each outlet or light.
Larger Appliances
Keep in mind that appliances such as dishwasher, disposal, water heater, Air conditioner, dryer or electric range may need to be started and switched off to identify which breaker they are on. The larger electric appliances will normally be on a larger 2 pole style breaker. Once all your spaces have been labeled on a note pad you can summarize your findings and transfer them on to your electrical panel. If you’re handy with computers, a program such Microsoft office xcell can make a nice neat label that can be stuck directly to the door of your electric panel.
As an electrician in Overland Park, we can always help you with this task. Erbert Electric is a full service electrician serving Johnson County and the surrounding Kansas City Metro area. We have an electrical contracting business in Overland Park and would love nothing more than to help you with your electrical needs. We are residential and commercial electricians. We are fully licensed, insured and vetted for your protection. If you need electrical work done in Overland Park, please giver Erbert Electric a call at (913) 738-4843 or fill out our request for a free estimate by visiting www.erbertelectric.com.