Main Power Panel

The main service panel is usually a gray metal box located somewhere along the inside surface of an exterior wall.

Main power panel.

The electrician now bends the two black service wires for easy connection to the main breaker. The main breaker or main fuse does not shut off the power to the incoming service lines from the utility or the connections where those lines meet the main breaker or fuse inside the service panel. It holds separate circuit breakers from the main breaker panel. However some systems include a separate disconnect switch between the meter and the panel.

It will control all the power entering the home and connects to both hot bus bars running down vertically through the panel. This type of electrical panel requires a separate disconnect. Power comes into the house from a service drop connects to the service lugs within the service panel and is split into separate circuits throughout the house. Homes built between 1950 and 1965 may have these 60 ampere fuse boxes often with four fuses.

In most contemporary systems this device is a circuit breaker or simply breaker. The main breaker is used to turn power to all the branch circuits on or off at the same time. In the event of a fire the separate disconnect at a meter lets firefighters cut the power without entering the buidling. A sub panel is a smaller electrical panel that services a specific area of the home.

A distribution board also known as panelboard breaker panel or electric panel is a component of an electricity supply system that divides an electrical power feed into subsidiary circuits while providing a protective fuse or circuit breaker for each circuit in a common enclosure normally a main switch and in recent boards one or more residual current devices rcd or residual current. The main panel also includes some type of mechanical device for disconnecting the house s electrical circuits from the incoming power. In most panels the main breaker is a large 240 volt circuit breaker that is located at the top of the panel. When it comes to your main electrical panels the year your house was built will typically determine the number of amps electricity it receives.

Power comes from the utility service lines flows through the electrical meter on the outside of your house and continues into the service panel. The electrical service panel provides 100 200 or more amps of power to a home.