- Turn off the main breaker at the top of the breaker box. Make sure that it is off (if any electrical fixture in your house is still on, the power is not off). Remove the cover from the circuit box by unscrewing the four screws at the corners.
- The breakers are lined up in vertical rows stacked on top of one another, with one side gripping a vertical central rod and the other side attached to a black or red wire. Grasp the wire-side of the breaker that is being removed and pull it out (you may have to pry it with a screwdriver). It will unsnap and swing out like a door on the central rod, with the wire still attached. Grab it with both hands and pull the whole thing toward you to disconnect it from the rod.
- The circuit breaker will have at least one wire attached (sometimes two). Wires are attached under a mounting screw. Loosen the screw to release the wire or wires. Pull the wires back away from the box.
- If you are going to replace the breaker with a new one, do it while the power is off. Do everything in reverse of what you did before: Screw the wire into the breaker, set the front of the breaker onto the vertical rod in the box, then snap the breaker down into place. Affix the box cover and turn the power back on. (If you are not going to replace the breaker and are just eliminating the whole circuit, then trace the wire back to the cable it came from, then follow the other two wires, white and copper, from that cable to the box, where they should mounded with screws away from the circuits. Unscrew them to pull the cable completely free of the box.)
