CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Needing to reset a circuit breaker in a hotel room is as easy as picking up the phone, but what happens when you’re home or someplace where there’s no one to call?

Resetting a Circuit Breaker
A circuit breaker is designed to turn off, or “trip,” the electricity when there’s a short or overload in the circuit. If this happens, you will need to reset the circuit breaker. If all the steps below have been taken and your breaker keeps tripping, get on the horn with an electrician.

Tools

  • Flashlight
  1. Turn off and unplug whatever electrical items you were using before the lights went out.
  2. Open your service panel (see “Safety Musts” below) and see which breaker switch—also called a toggle—is in the “off” position (some breakers trip to a middle or neutral position, rather than completely off). The tripped toggle will be the one in a different position from the others.
  3. Flip that toggle all the way to the “off” position, then flip it to the “on” position.
  4. Now go back and, one by one, plug in and turn on whatever electrical items you were using before the breaker tripped. If it trips again, you have overloaded the circuit and need to plug some of those items into a different circuit branch. Another possible cause for tripping a breaker may be that one of your electrical items is short-circuiting or overheating. Check each element for damaged or hot cords, smoke residue or a burning odor.