How do you find the circuit breaker switch that controls an outlet?

Answer 1

There are fancy testers that can be purchased that do just that. They are not very cost effective for anyone other than electricians that would use one every day, though. The poor man's method is simply to plug a lamp into the outlet and have someone watch it while you slowly turn off the breakers, one by one. Have your helper call out when the lamp goes out. Easy! Just make sure there are no critical appliances that would be harmed by being turned off, since you may happen to turn off anything in the house. If you happen to turn off the breaker supplying your wife's computer after she has spent an hour typing a report, you will see what I mean! You can also mentally eliminate some breakers without having to turn them off. If you are looking only for a standard receptacle circuit, you can eliminate all 2-pole breakers, since they feed 240 volt appliances, such as the stove, rooftop air conditioner, and electric water heater. Also, in the US, receptacles are almost always on a 15 or 20 amp breaker - start with those. The only time you will see a 120V recep. circuit that is more than 20A is when it feeds a specialized load - such as a large room AC, or an air compressor, or something like that.

Answer 2

A couple of clues are, if the handle seems loose or wobbly. If the breaker trips when you don't think it is fully loaded or trips when it hasn't before with the same load on it. If it is hot to the touch, not warm but hot. Any of these conditions means that it is time to get it replaced.

Answer 3

No. A circuit breaker is a switch, but a switch is not necessarily a circuit breaker. A "circuit breaker" is a device that will open the circuit when more current than it is designed for flows through the circuit. This is an automatic function, and does not require manual manipulation (such as a person physically moving an on/off switch). Resetting is often a manual function.

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If taken in the context of a switch opening a circuit or making a break in the circuit then the question, Is a switch a circuit breaker, then the answer would be, yes, as the switch does break the circuit.

Answer 4

All circuits including those with switches will have a breaker protecting the circuit. To find, turn on the light controlled by the switch and then turn off breakers one-by-one until light goes out.

Answer 5

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A circuit breaker can be tested by overloading it. If it is a 15 amp breaker that you are suspicious of, it can be loaded quite easily. You will need a total load of 2000 watts. This test is not applicable to kitchen counter receptacles as they are split receptacles and can handle 1800 watts on both the top and bottom of the duplex receptacle. Make sure you have two appliances for the test. A kettle and a toaster will do very nicely. Plug them both into the same receptacle. After about 30 to 45 seconds the breaker should trip if it is working properly. If the breaker has not tripped after one minute disconnect the appliances from the receptacle. This breaker should be changed out. Remember the higher the breaker amperage the higher the trip wattage on the circuit will be. To check any breakers higher that 15 amps, be safe and get an electrician to do it for you.

Answer 6

A faulty circuit breaker will either have a tendency to trip when it shouldn't or not trip when it should. The first is irritating. The second can be fatal.

Detecting a faulty circuit breaker requires specialist equipment that is not available to the average householder. If there is any doubt about the performance of a circuit breaker, the simplest course of action is to replace the breaker with a new, equivalent.

Note that in some jurisdictions, you need to be properly qualified, licensed and have a permit to replace installed electrical equipment. If you have any doubts about doing the job, leave it to a properly qualified professional who can undertake the job legally and safely.

Answer 7

To identify which circuit breaker controls an outlet, plug in a lamp or device and then switch off the breakers one by one until the device turns off. Once the device is off, you've located the correct circuit breaker for that outlet. Alternatively, you can use a circuit breaker finder tool that can help you locate the specific breaker efficiently.

Answer 8

If a certain circuit or area of you home has no electric but the rest does, it's a good indication that a breaker has tripped