Circuit breakers are used to protect your home from overloaded circuits.  If you have too many electrical devices plugged into too little circuitry, your circuit breaker will automatically trip and turn that entire section of circuit off.  Otherwise, the wiring in your walls has a high possibility of overheating and setting fire to your entire house.  Usually, you can just turn the circuit breaker back on, but make sure you unplug all your electrical appliances from the outlet before you do so, as overloading circuits are extremely dangerous.  Circuit breakers usually trip when the wires are dangerously hot, but if it’s turning off too often, or even worse, not turning on when it’s supposed to, you’ll need to replace it.  When you replace your circuit breaker, make sure your replacement circuit breaker is of the exact same model as the original, as replacing it with a different model could be have dangerous results.  Read on for more information on how to replace a circuit breaker fuse.

1.   Turn off the main circuit breaker and also all the branch circuit breakers.  Check for voltage on the circuit breakers to make sure that they’re definitely turned off, never assume.

2.   Take off the panel cover to get access to the branch breaker.  Do not attempt to take the cover off the main breaker or try to replace it.

3.   Disconnect the wire from the breaker you want to replace and carefully take out the broken breaker.  Note how it’s attached.

4.   Put in the new circuit breaker and attach the wire.

5.   Check that none of the other breakers and wires are loose.

6.   Turn the main circuit breaker back on, and then test the other breakers one by one.

Messing with electricity can be very dangerous, and if you’re having problems, it’s highly recommended to find a professional to fix your circuit breaker problems rather than put yourself in extreme danger.  Use TalkLocal to find a reliable electrician right now at no additional charge!

This entry was updated on Monday, June 8th, 2015 at 12:15 pm. This entry was originally posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Electricians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.