Home electrical fires account for an estimated 44,800 fires each year, almost 450 deaths, and 1,250 injuries, and $1.3 billion in property damage.According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): Why do you want these circuit breakers and fuses to work? Quite simply, they prevent your house from burning down. In plain terms, when the circuit breaker is “tripped” or the fuse is “blown”, it’s your houses’ way of saying ‘Too much! Too much!” Circuit breakers and fuses interrupt or “break” the power flow if the electrical current in your home spikes to unsafe levels. What’s the purpose of these fuses and circuit breakers? Quite simply, fire prevention and safety. So for my friends who deal with the challenges of owning an old house, you might still have fuses.īut if the electric has been updated or you own a newer house you likely have a circuit breakers. Historically, fuses existed in homes before circuit breakers. Fuses are rows of round knobs and screw-in fuses (like.Circuit breakers are rows of switches with toggle levers.When you open the panel you will see either a series of circuit breakers OR fuses. In other words, every single electrical fixture, switch and plug in your house is connected to a circuit or fuse that runs to your electrical panel (also known as electrical service panel, service panel, fuse box, and circuit breaker panel).Īs a side note if you want to dive deeper into how electricity works inside your home, check out this posts on How a Home Electrical System Works or The Circuit Detective. Think of it as the distribution point where the main electrical wire comes into your home and then splits off into the various wires that service the various rooms of your house.

The electrical panel in your home connects the external wire or wires coming in from the street to the internal wires within your home. So grab a partner, get it done and go do something else more much fun. But it was necessary.Īnd this post outlines (in my humble homeowner opinion) the fastest, easiest way to label a home electrical panel. Let’s face it, like washing windows and cleaning kitchen cabinets, taking 1-2 hours to label an electric service panel was not exactly the time of my life. And it wasn’t that bad! Not as boring as tedious as I expected….

I convinced my family to help out and we finally went through the process of properly labeling the circuit breakers in our house.

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