Saturday, February 19, 2011

Electrical Panel

By Drew Simon


Are you curious about the functions of an electrical panel? This write-up will quickly answer several of your questions. For those who have at any time encountered a thunderstorm or any other significant electrical situation, then you've most likely experienced a power failure and required a look at the electrical panel within your property to switch the power back on. The electrical service panel is what distributes currents of energy to all the numerous areas and components of the residence. For those who have not familiarized your self with it (or even observed exactly where it is found) then it could be a great time to do so. Having the capacity to locate the appropriate circuit breaker in an crisis (for turning power off and on) may be incredibly crucial for your protection.

The electric panel is typically situated in basements, backrooms along with other 'tucked away' locations of the home. As soon as you open the panel's door, you'll have access to all the circuit breakers or fuses that power the house. Generally, there will likely be 1 panel for the complete home, but if there had been developments to the home or renovating (for example putting in a brand new kitchen); there might be extra sub-panels for these also. Simply because all the circuit breakers are situated in this single location, this panel might also be described as the 'breaker box'. Inside the breaker box, the circuit breakers are generally stacked, each has a master switch that's labeled 'on' and 'off' and regulates the electricity for that breaker. There's a specific volume of electricity that may go thru every breaker, so if there's a short or an overload (including when lightning happens) it will cause the breaker to trip and safeguard the circuit by cutting the power.

Besides all the breakers for the individual circuits inside your house, there's also a principal breaker handling the electricity entering your house. Like the individual circuit breakers, it could be either 'on' or 'off.' If it's not found inside the breaker panel, it might be found in a independent panel board in another place within the property. In specific houses, you might also find a fuse box with screw-in fuses as an alternative to circuit breakers, however the idea is generally the very same.

To access the primary breaker, which you'll should do in the event you are going to add or repair a circuit, you'll want to take the electric panel cover off. This can generally be quickly achieved having a screw driver as electrical panel covers are typically held in location with four screws, 1 in each and every corner. You'll be able to effortlessly identify the primary breaker due to the fact it has two thick black wires feeding into it from the electrical meter and is produced of two circuit breaker handles place together.

The principal circuit breaker also identifies the amperage capacity (exactly how many electrically charged particles stream past a given position on the circuit breaker every second) of the electrical panel as well as will probably have a quantity printed on it specifying the quantity of amps. A 100 amp electrical panel board will be the lowest permitted by code these days, but 200 amp and also 400 amp panels are also offered. Probably the most widespread is 150 amps.

While we all hope to stay away from natural disasters, shorts, or any other type of potentially poor or harmful predicament, that predicament can only be made a whole lot worse, by not being in a position to turn the electricity back on if you require it. As such, it really is often excellent to take the time to discover, and fully grasp your electrical panel and electrical subpanel make certain you change any defective breakers as quickly as feasible.




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