Your Home's Service Panel

The item that connects your home’s wiring and outside power lines is your service panel.

What should I do?
If your power is intermittently cutting out. Check your service panel to determine which outlets are on each circuit, and mark the breakers or fuses. There are usually several outlets on the same circuit.

I have a circuit breaker panel

  • Unplug appliances that are affected by the tripped circuit breaker.
  • Switch the one that’s been tripped to the “off” position and then switch it back to the “on” position to reset.
  • This should restore power.
  • If it trips again, contact a licensed electrician.

I have fuses

  • Unplug appliances that are affected by the blown fuse.
  • Switch off power at the main switch.
  • Replace the fuse that has a melted metal strip with a new fuse of the same rating. Never use anything other than a fuse of the same ampere rating as the original when replacing a fuse.
  • This should restore power.

Never overload electric circuits beyond its stated capacity

If an overloaded circuit was the cause of the power interruption, move appliances on this circuit to an outlet on a different circuit. If the cause was faulty home wiring, consult a licensed electrician.

The National Electric Code requires that your service panel be grounded to your home’s water piping. If this wire is missing or its connection is corroded or broken, contact a licensed electrician for repairs.

Last Updated: 08/20/2008