Understanding Electrical Panel Labels – Electrical panel labeling is important for four major reasons: 1. it is an electrical code requirement 2. for safety. 3. identify overloaded circuits and 4. easily identify circuit breakers for DIY or renovation projects
We built our house in 2005 and have done more than a few updates over the years. Some of them required me to turn off the circuit breaker in whatever room I was working.
Understanding Electrical Panel Labels
Pretty typical of the time. The wiring is neatly organized and the electrician/s kindly put up charts of what each circuit breaker is designed for.
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But you’ll notice that the diagram doesn’t match the circuit breakers. You will also notice that the circuit breakers themselves are not numbered to match the diagram.
Such a silly thing, but one that has always bothered me. I’ve tried counting the breaks to the number of lines in the graphs, but it still doesn’t work.
), but I was pushed to my limits by flipping each circuit breaker on and off to find what I needed. It was time to stop wasting time…
I challenged my daughter by turning on all the lights upstairs and then having her run/walk from room to room to say what went off with each switch. We talked on the phone and he just said “bedroom” or whatever every time he heard me flip another circuit breaker.
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I thought it was actually hilarious and he laughed. I made a game of it, told him to run from room to room and he laughed when I yelled “run, run, run!”
There are 34 circuit breakers. He ran over 1,300 steps going back and forth from room to room. ?
Once we got the upstairs done, he played a hand in figuring out the main floor, including the tech.
Many electricians recommend labeling your electrical panel for safety reasons. If your oven should catch fire (
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) if the circuit breaker is clearly marked, you can save precious minutes in turning off the power to this equipment.
If you find that circuit breakers trip frequently, a labeled electrical panel will help you identify how many elements are in one circuit so you can stop overloading it and/or isolate the circuit.
Labeling an electrical panel may seem like a “work project,” but it’s actually quite important. Not only will it save you time when you’re doing work in your home and you need to turn off the power, but it will help you easily find shorted circuit breakers and help you in an emergency.
Chloe wasn’t interested in helping after the main floor, but most are labeled and easy to find now.
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It took me almost 18 years to do this job, but now that it’s done, I can save time for any future DIY projects.
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Participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide sites with the opportunity to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com or Amazon.ca. The information provided in this blog post is based on our knowledge. 30+ years of experience in the electrical field. However, if you have questions about your home’s electrical system, contact the Electrical Safety Board at 1-877-372-7233. They are the last electricity board in Ontario and have the knowledge, skills and ability to advise you according to the laws they created.
Labeling our electrical panels is not a job we think about. Most of us don’t even realize that we
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Do it or even know how to do it right! But it’s an important job for any homeowner and should be a priority. We provide you with a step-by-step guide to electrical panel labeling with all the relevant details you need to know about your electrical system.
The MOST important reason to label an electrical panel is for your safety and that of your family. In an emergency, if you need to turn off the power to a device or plug, you need to know which circuit is running it. Seconds can count, and in an emergency, now is not the time to start figuring out which circuit breaker or fuse to turn off.
I had a scary experience over 20 years ago that made me a staunch advocate of labeling your panel. I had just bought my first house and was planning Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family in my new home. About an hour after putting the turkey in the oven, I saw flames inside the oven door. Turning off the oven did not solve the problem. I ran to the electrical panel to turn off the power to the stove, but the panel was never labeled. I didn’t work at Multi Trade Building Services back then and I didn’t know one end of an electrical panel from the other. I finally figured out which circuit breaker controlled the oven and was able to turn off the power, but not before losing precious minutes. Because of the lost time, my stove and kitchen were much more damaged!
Another reason to tag an electrical panel is to identify if any of your circuits are overloaded. If you’ve ever blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers with a hair dryer and heater running at the same time, or a toaster oven and coffee maker running together, you probably have overloaded circuits. More on that later in this blog.
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We are often asked for quotes on higher amperage electrical panels. When we ask why they want to get a 200 amp panel when a 100 amp panel should be enough right now, the most common response we get is that their circuits keep blowing and they are tired of it. However, getting a higher amperage panel will not solve the problem. This is an overloaded circuit problem, which means that the circuits must be separated. To learn more about this, read our post My fuses are blowing! Should I get a new electrical panel?
Another big benefit of panel labeling is knowing how many units you have on each circuit. Whenever you are doing renovations and need additional electrical equipment, such as lights or outlets, your contractor needs to know which circuits still have room to add them. By offering very comprehensive panel marking, you save them time and money by not having to pay them to mark the panel for you.
The simplest reason to label an electrical panel is that it is a requirement of the Ontario Electrical Code. The Electrical Safety Board establishes clear rules and policies to ensure the safety of the public. One of these rules is to label your electrical panel appropriately.
First, you need to understand that this is a two person job and will take anywhere from 1.5 to 4 hours depending on the size of your home. Ask a friend, family member or neighbor to help you and then you can get their electrical panel in return.
Labeling Your Electrical Panel: How To Do It And Why You Should
The first step is to determine where your electrical panel is located if you are not already aware of it. Most electrical panels are in the basement and are located near the front of the house. If you see an electric meter and pipe attached to the outside of your house, your panel is on the other side of that meter. Electrical panels can also be found in garages. If you have a sub panel, you can also find an auxiliary panel in your workshop or shed. They should also be labeled.
Items to test: All lights, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter or GFCI (bathroom outlet), exhaust fan, underfloor heat, towel rails, and whirlpool or air jet tubs. To test the tubs, fill them past the nozzles and turn them on. When they turn off, they are controlled by the circuit.
Turn on the exhaust fan and if it turns off, you’ve found the circuit. A GFCI can be tested the same way you would test other receptacles in the house. When testing, make sure you are testing the GFCI function. Press the socket button to turn it off and then another button to reset it. If it is not working properly, consider replacing it with a new one.
If you have a complete list of all the electrical devices in your home and which circuit controls each one, we recommend that you write down the list in diagram form. To see a sample panel label diagram that we actually did for our client, click here. In this sample, we even marked on the diagram which circuits had flaws or issues that needed to be addressed. You can see that too