How to Map House Circuit Breakers

[@mostlikelywedoitservices6926]

If doing by yourself. Couple ways. Long extension cord plugged into outlet now other end near panel with light attached. Another one hook radio or a vacuum to outlet for noise. Flip breakers till light or noise turns off.

[@vvsmixing]

after a good bit searching this was the perfect video and explanation I needed. thank you

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

Thanks! I'm glad it was useful.

[@nohabs]

I'm doing this now, i made my own map with room for labeling, thanks for confirming im doing it correctly

[@George-jl8bv]

Excellent video. Informative and well thought-out. I actually will use this as I had an outlet in the kitchen quit working and my circuit breaker is mislabeled. Thanks for timely video.

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

Thanks for watching - and taking the time to comment.

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

Glad it helped.

[@Cyberdactyl]

Going around and testing sockets with someone at the breaker flipping a breaker. Genius.

[@mango4064]

Simple n ez to follow HOW TO. Thanks

[@anonymousperson4363]

Plug in a radio or use a bulb adapter instead of buying special equipment.

[@Ironhead80]

Hello. Just a quick question and you may have addressed this and I just missed it? After you confirmed circuit #1 & #2 were not the correct ones, did your partner turn those back on before moving to next circuit? Otherwise when you kept checking outlets, don't you risk mis-identifying those outlets with #3? They possibly could be #1 or #2 if not turned back on. Thanks.

[@reefhound]

An outlet not powered doesn't mean it's on the circuit that's off. It might just be defective. You need to first verify that everything works when all breakers are on.

[@MrPuddinJones]

confirmed my fear that this was a gritty process! lol gonna be fun figuring this one out on my own! just takes time! thanks for the upload!

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

Good luck!

[@fayewren5865]

I bought a house in 2016 and my braker don't have nothing saying where things are in the house. I got to get this taking of. Is it expensive to have a electrician to come out and do it?

[@reasonitout9087]

Step 1: Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy 100 Not Automatic night lights and KEEP THE RECEIPT. Step 2 : return home and plug a light into every outlet your house including the outlets for the unplugged refrigerator and freezer. Step 3: make a sketch of the outlet layout and assign numbers to each outlet and switch . Make a drawing later.... but if you get this much done you are 100% better off. Step 4: Turn on every wall switch in the house including the garbage disposal (put garage door remote in your pocket). Step: 5 Turn every breaker off Step 6 get a cold beer. Step 7 Turn 1st breaker on and do a walk through the house with your clip board. log all the active circuits in the house on your notebook. Step 8: return all the lights to the store. Step 9 get another beer. I think this is the most time efficient and least frustrating system. Two people can do this in 1/2 the time... 4 people in about 15 minutes. Give them beer. Thanks for your video , it caused me to think about using your method but adding some out of the box (breaker box :-) thinking.

[@FreeAmerican-mm2my]

A radio or a lamp with an extension cord are great to identify.

[@johnharris1846]

great info, thanks!

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

Thanks!

[@vlanza1999]

Question... when a circuit trips, is the switch itself suppose to move to the off position by itself? Also, I think my panel is all screwed up, I don't see the main shut off above just a series of switches below.

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

The light switch will not move. The light just won't turn on. It is the breaker that might/will move. Sometimes you have to look closely to see that it isn't in the fully open position. Turning it off and then on again helps to check it. If you don't have a main shut off on the panel, look elsewhere. Start by following the main electrical line coming from the street. If you can't find one, it's time to talk to a certified electrician. Good luck.

[@bethwall]

Our electric went down yesterday and when it all came back on the water heater no longer was hot....because we moved into a house not knowing the panel is not labeled we can't find the one for the water heater and turning off the main breaker and back on did not work, so now it is about taking the water heater panel off to reset it..we don't want to get electrocuted...........and no men around to help us, no money for someone to come out

[@docferringer]

I'm sure after a month you have already found an answer, but for anyone else with a similar issue, this is how you reset a breaker for a large appliance like a dryer, water heater, etc. 1) Open your electrical panel's door by pulling on the metal ring or sliding the latch. If you cannot figure out how to open your electrical panel, STOP and contact a licensed electrician. Under no circumstances should you try to remove screws or force your way into the panel, because you will die. 2) Locate the main breakers. They will be the large breakers set aside from the others, usually at the top or bottom of the panel. If you don't have power to your entire house, try resetting these breakers by flipping them on or off again. If you still don't have power, contact your local power company and report an outage. 3) Look for other large breakers. Are they labeled? If so, find the one labeled for your appliance and turn it off and on. See if it works now. NOTE: Many appliances (including your air conditioner) may wait up to 15 minutes before they turn back on. This is intentional and it prevents power spikes or brownouts from damaging your appliances. 4) If you don't see a breaker for your appliance, check the other breakers and see if the switches are halfway on or off (tripped). Flip the breaker off and back on again to reset it, then wait 15 minutes. 5) If there are no obviously tripped breakers then you will have to guess. Turn off all of the large breakers in your panel (except your main breakers), then turn them on again one by one. Wait 15 minutes. 6) One more breaker check. Look for small breakers--their switches specifically--and see if any of them are joined together with a little bar. Those are two breakers acting as one large breaker. Flip each set of breakers off and on again and wait 15 minutes. 7) You have ruled out all of the large breakers at this point so you must be dealing with an appliance that uses 120 volts like a washing machine or microwave. You will have to flip each breaker in the panel off and on again until you find the right one. 8) Still no dice? CALL AN ELECTRICIAN. At this point, since you don't know which breaker goes to your appliance and you haven't had any luck locating it, you really should contact an electrician. Either the appliance was damaged in the power outage or it has an internal breaker that was tripped. In OP's case, an electric water heater has a breaker hidden behind a metal panel that can be reset, BUT I don't recommend doing this without switching off its breaker in your main panel. A water heater is (high voltage + water = DANGER). I have had a breaker explode in my own water heater and it dented the metal cover plate, so if you have any reservations about trying any of the steps above, DO NOT DO IT. Many electricians and repairmen will come out and give you a no cost estimate, so if it's something as easy as a breaker they may not even charge you for it. Still, paying a hundred bucks is cheap compared to risking your health.

[@chaplainand1]

Thank you

[@belisarius1]

How much is that thing?

[@wigwam3270]

The background music is too loud otherwise a great vid.

[@paceengineering7034]

Purchase a $39 circuit breaker tracer, and this would be a faster process.

[@mostlikelywedoitservices6926]

Not as easy as you think. I own two different units and they are wrong a lot. They can be real time waste.

[@lunchplateboy]

“As we yell to each other.” Yep, that’s where this video becomes useless. If this is the method for finding circuits then I’m not wasting my time.

[@ralph5450]

Instead of yelling use your cell phone.

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

LOL Especially as you move further from the panel.

[@Ironhead80]

He mentions it in the captions early on.

[@yeatonnet]

Music is distracting and pointless

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

Yeah. I've learned not to add music background. Thanks for feedback.

[@houseandgardenhacks2935]

I know. This was early on in my learning process. I tried to remove the music, but would required starting the movie over.

[@robertcook5451]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but I like the music! Nice video@@houseandgardenhacks2935

[@frontcentermusician]

Except for the annoying music. It was an informative video.

[@buzzard777]

The queer equal sign in your kitchen ruined the entire video.

[@dadabranding3537]

Meh

[@ryanshanahan625]

5 minutes in and he’s still yapping about bullshit. Just get to it.