How to Reset a Circuit Breaker

Circuit breakers are safety mechanisms designed to prevent your home from catching fire from over-loaded circuits. If you look at your circuit breakers, you will notice a numerical rating on each one. Most home circuit breakers are rated for either 15 amps or 20 amps. That means, when the amperage being drawn on that breaker exceeds its rating it will trip or shut itself off in order to prevent damage to the circuit. Exceeding a circuit breaker's rating can result in its wires heating up to the point of the insulation actually melting off. When this occurs and the breaker does not trip the way it is meant to--a fire is a common result. Here are steps to resetting circuit breakers.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. A circuit can trip for a number of reasons. A vacuum could increase the amperage on the circuit to cause it to trip, a faulty piece of equipment can also be at fault or the breaker itself may be going bad. Either way, whenever a circuit breaker trips, you are going to have to reset it. The first thing you have to do is determine which breaker tripped.

2. Some circuit panel breakers make it easy for you to know which one is tripped. For instance, Square D brand circuit breakers have a tiny window that is normally black, but when it is tripped the window is orange, indicating that it is tripped. Other brands like GE, are a little more difficult to determine. The best way is to look for the circuit breaker that looks a little out of order with the others. The toggle will be positioned slightly to the middle of the breaker's body and not solidly locked facing the inside of the panel. If you touch the toggle, it should feel spongy; like it is not fully set. This is the breaker that is tripped.

3. To reset the breaker, first toggle the breaker all the way OFF. Then, simply toggle it back on again. If the breaker immediately trips again, then you have a "dead short" and this will require you to either find and repair it or call a professional electrician, but this cannot be left unrepaired.

4. If you reset the breaker and it holds, then be careful what components you add to that circuit in the future. If the same circuit winds up tripping again in the near future, then either something is causing the amperage to spike or the breaker may be going bad. Either way, you will want to call a professional, licensed electrician.