How To Wire A Circuit Breaker Box

Electricity is one of the most dangerous parts of construction.

How to wire a circuit breaker box. With all circuit wires connected the circuit breaker can be snapped into place into its panel slot. Twelve gauge wire suits 15 to 20 amp breakers. Locate the service disconnect or main circuit breaker in the panel and set it to the off position. The breakers are installed in a panel so that contact is made with one of two hot bus bars running down the middle of the box.

If you don t see a circuit breaker labeled service disconnect or main in the panel it is likely in another. Lock the new circuit breaker into an open slot by slipping the side with the attached hot wire under the tab beside the hot bus bar. Grounding in the maze of wires that inhabits your breaker box there s one more to be. In a 120 240 volt circuit connect the red hot wire to the second circuit breaker terminal.

Opening the main circuit breaker panel box and adding a circuit is actually pretty easy. Inside the covering you ll find a copper wire the ground wire a white covered wire the neutral wire a black wire the hot wire and a red wire another hot wire. This circuit breaker is likely to have the largest amp value and will be located either at the top or bottom of the panel. This diagram illustrates some of the most common circuits found in a typical 200 amp circuit breaker service panel box.

Turn off the power supply to the electrical panel. 8 gauge wire goes with 40 or 60 amp two pole breakers. On afci or gfci breakers this circuit wire will be attached to the terminal marked load power or black finally for afci or gfci breakers attach the breaker s coiled white pigtail wire to the neutral bus bar in the panel. A new project requires a licensed electrician to pass city inspections.

Push the other side in toward the bus bar until it snaps into place flush with the other breakers in the panel. It should run till the end of 240 volt receptacle inside breaker box. Now simply insert the eight by three cable to outlet of generator you want to plug it in. You only have to connect three wires to add a circuit and each circuit wire is color coded.

Circuit breaker panel box wiring diagram. Now the wire for ground needs to run through similar bar. After inserting ground wire to the end of 240 volt receptacle tightly screw it there. In the sub panel box the neutral and ground wires will connect the same as they do in the main breaker box but the red and black wires will connect to the hot bar instead of.