Your electrical panel is an electrical safety device that shuts off an electrical circuit when it is drawing too much current and can cause a fire or electric shock. Many people only think about looking at their dashboard when one of their electrical circuits goes dead. However, the savvy tenant or homeowner will have thought ahead and labeled the circuits in the panel box, so it’s clear which breaker or fuse controls which circuits in your residence.

When you have located your electrical panel, open it up and see if it contains any fuses or circuit breakers. Most modern residences use circuit breakers, but some older homes may still have fuses in place. If power has gone out to one of your electrical circuits, here is a small electrical repair you can do to restore it:

Use a fuse box:

When a fuse “blows,” the current in its circuit has become great enough to melt a thin strip of metal inside it. When this happens, of course, power cannot be restored until the fuse has been replaced with a new one. Always use a new fuse that has the same rating as the one you are replacing. Using a 20 amp fuse to replace a 15 amp fuse is very dangerous as it would allow too high a current to exist before blowing.

Before replacing the fuse, be sure to turn off all electrical devices on your circuit, particularly those that you suspect may have caused the fuse to blow. And also, for your safety, throw away the main breaker in the fuse box, just to make sure you don’t get an electric shock when putting the new one in.

Using a switch box:

When too much current is passed through a circuit breaker, it “trips” and stops the flow of current. The circuit breaker switch goes to a neutral position between ON and OFF. To restore power, all you have to do is turn the breaker off and then back on, but DON’T DO THAT YET! First, turn off all appliances on the circuit.

restoring the current:

Turn the power back on, either by pulling the main switch or the circuit breaker switch to the on position. If the fuse blows or the breaker clicks right away, you have a serious wiring problem somewhere in the electrical circuit. Call an electrician immediately!

If everything seems fine, turn on the appliances on the circuit one by one. If one of them burns out the circuit again, it’s drawing too high a current. There could be a short circuit in the appliance and it will need to be repaired or replaced. Or when you turned it on, you might have added too much load to what was already on. In that case, consider having an electrical repairman install a new circuit breaker with a higher rating.

If things are fine at the electrical panel, but an outlet still doesn’t have power, turn on your breaker if it does. If it is not connected, you will need to check your wiring or call an electrical technician to do it for you.