More Watts To You

In the last post we gave you Rule One, label your circuits, and Rule Two, read the labels on your appliances and calculate your loads, limiting them to 1500 watts for safety and to avoid tripped breakers. In fact, kitchen circuits can handle a bit more (1800 watts, if they're wired correctly for 20 amps), but it's best to stay in the safe zone.

Rule Three is: be familiar with your "occasional" loads, and be wise about using them. Occasional loads are things you use only when you decide to: blow dryers, vacuum cleaners, bathroom space heaters, fax/copy machines and power tools all qualify. And before you plug in that saw or heater, think---- what circuit is this, and what else is on right now? If you've never heard a breaker moan when it picks up a big load (I am NOT making this up), believe me, they feel it when they operate near max capacity.

Rule Four is: Throw blown fuses away. Throw them away! I go into too many basements and find a row of dead ones lining a shelf or sill, "waiting to be healed," as Garrison Keillor says. If you want a reminder to get more, put one into your pocket or purse. You won't be down there again until you blow another fuse. You need to take note of three things about a fuse: amperage (15, 20, 25, 30), base thread size (the part that screws into the panel; there are two sizes, large and small), and response time (time delay, simple fast-blow; the home store staff can help you with this).

Rule Five, and last, is: Learn to reset a breaker. The little handle falls back either to the opposite position when it trips (most breakers point to the centerline of the panel when they're on, a few [Federal Pacific, Westinghouse] point outward), or sits in the middle. Learn this before you're in trouble. Push the handle all the way into the "off" position, wait a second in case it's still hot from tripping, then push back toward the "on" position. Gently. Don't use a tool of any kind. Better to break a ten dollar nail than to snap a breaker handle or get a tool involved in the live parts inside. Easy does it, as the AA saying goes. If the breaker won't move to firm finger pressure, come back in a minute. If it's still stuck, it's been damaged and you'll need a licensed person to replace it. Here's a link to a good how-to site.

If anything about this process scares you, don't touch the panel. If anything looks broken, if the cover falls off, if you smell anything funny, if you feel any heat coming off it, back out and pick up the phone. Don't get hurt proving you're tough and self-reliant. There are panels I won't touch, and I'm the pro. Until next time, keep a good flashlight handy, and send along your questions before wading in.