Steps to Safely Turning Off the Power In Your Home

If you are replacing a light fixture inside of your home or are doing some other type of electrical work on your circuit you will need to turn off your home's power to the area you are working on in order to remain safe. You will also need to run the power off if you have an electrical outlet that is sparking.

When you turn the power off in your home the one thing you will need to have is some spare fuses.

Here are some steps you should follow when turn off the power in your home.

∗ The first thing you need to do is to locate either the circuit breaker or fuse box in your home.

∗ Open the cover of the box and find either the breaker or fuse on the circuit that you want to kill the power to. (Generally circuit breakers are somewhat small and usually have horizontal switches inside).

∗ You have to be sure that the fuses in the box are labeled for the areas of the house they give power to. For example, the kitchen and bathroom fuses. If these areas are not labeled you will have to identify the right circuit. You can do this by turning the breakers off and you can also remove the fuses, one at a time, to check what plugs or lights in your home lose power. (If they are not labeled and you do this it is a good idea to label them so you will not have to do this in the future).

∗ Switch the circuit breaker from the “on” position to the “off” one.

∗ After you have completed your work turn the electricity in your home on by reversing the process.

TIPS

∗ You should replace fuses that are blown with brand new ones that have the same amperage.

∗ In order to turn off all the power in your home open the breaker box and then find the main fuse or breaker that will generally be near the top of the box. It will be a slightly larger breaker fuse, having a higher amperage, than the ones that protect the branch circuits.

Safety Tips

∗ When you either turn off the breakers or remove the fuses you should only use one hand. Make sure you keep the rest of body, as well as your face, turned away from the box. Try to keep your body a safe distance from the box, as this will lessen the chance of you being injured in case the breaker explodes.

∗ If you work with any type of electrical system it is potentially dangerous. If you are not totally sure that you can do it safely you should call a professional electrician.