If you don't care about turning off other breakers, you can find any breaker very quickly by using a strategy that programmers call binary searching. First flip half the breakers in the house. Light off? It's in that half. Light on? In the other. Then take the half it's in and flip half of those. Repeat until you've found the breaker. If you have 40 breakers, flipping them all one by one will take 40 flips. Flipping them in this way will identify it in 6, maximum.
@@thinktank8286 lots of ways, it's very handy! The most common usage is searching for a number in a sorted list. Even if the list is large, you can pull out the middle number and cut it in half repeatedly depending on whether it's greater or less than your target. The number of steps you need is the base 2 logarithm of the list size, much smaller than the size of the list itself. The principle is also used to partition data into "binary" trees (two branches at each node of the tree), where going down either branch cuts the problem in half, recursively
That is an interesting concept, but it’s not accurate to say 6 flips vs 40. You mean 6 “rounds” or groups of breakers operated. For example if you have 40 breakers, in the first round you flip 20, in the second round you flip 10, in the third round you flip 5, etc. So far 20 + 10 + 5 = 35 plus the last few rounds of 1-2 breakers each. Compare this to flipping all one by one. In both cases, you have to flip almost 40 breakers total (maximum if you are unlucky)… Or less if you are lucky. Right?
@@thinktank8286 it's used for searching. Say you have an ordered list of data, say customer names. If you want to find a specific customer, you can use this method to find the customer name dramatically faster than looking through the list sequentially
I know they weren't adults, and they didn't have cell phones to help you identify all the circuits, but the fact that you included your kids is awesome. You're doing parenting correctly and they will have those memories for life. They have a great example of what a dad is supposed to be. Huge props to you (and the kiddos)!
I ran into a breaker for an electric furnace that was off but the circuit was still live. Never assume the circuit is dead until you check with a meter
Moved into a nineteen-fifties’ “starter home” ($US~15k) in ‘78, with a garage-bedroom conversion (obv. by a previous owner/helper) that popped a breaker reliably. Replaced that old Pushmatic breaker, found one that popped on the other phase. They had double-fed that loop from both strings of outlets !
@@adammorgan9304 not true. I've seen a guy get shocked on a circuit while the breaker was off. Not a shared neutral either. We replaced the breaker and the problem went away.
I’ve seen multiple ways that the breaker is off but there’s still power to the device. Yes, there’s always an explanation, but that’s kinda the point. If you check for power before working, then you’re alive and healthy when you’re figuring out how the thing was wired.
Sometimes when I'm being lazy, I simply short the conductors together with pliers or something after turning off the breaker I think is the one. or before... 😮
I labeled every outlet and switch in my house with circuit number, amperage and if it was gfci and or afci. It has been very helpful through the years.
That was not an insulated screwdriver. That is a Klein by the looks of it and says right on them that it will not protect against electric shock. Insulated has a plastic coating over the shank.
they just write that for insurance purposes, the handle is most certainly insulated because i often work on 600 with mine, just gotta know where the spicy parts are and dont touch em
I am a Master Electrician in Toronto .The most hated task is tracking and labeling circuits .It's enough to make you go crazy .I use the Greenlee.Goes up to 600v and great for 347V lighting circuits
@@critters5236 Answer: He knows what not to touch and its not an Industrial environment. Further to that :That level of PPE is not needed in this instance as he is just tracing circuits.
Always include the kiddos They 1st are learning and 2nd they feel important Thus was an awesome video. Back 12 yrs ago my son helped me rewire an 1930 school dormitory and it also had at least 6 sub-panels. What a nightmare trying trace what went where. Again awesome to see thekid helping.
have done this chore many times over the years. One or two helpers, tops. If you are by yourself and don't have fancy tools / testers, just use a long extension cord and a radio turned up so you can hear it from the basement. Start with breakers off and when the radio comes on you go up and see which outlets are working via the long cord. This way you don't have to carry the radio around so much. Leaving light switches on will aid in finding those circuits along the way. Do the big appliances the same way... turn them on one at a time.
A potential tip for narrowing down everything you are testing would be to put a piece of painters tape on every device/outlet that you positively identify that way you remember you can ignore it as you continue to go through the panel.
While it may not be the most efficient way to get that job done those kids are getting life lessons and are learning and spending time with their pops, you can't get much better than that.
Your kids are adorable...the little girl holding the flashlight for her brother was great. Thanks for your channel...Im an Elec. Eng. and do a lot of my own work but learn so much about NEC.
Joel, @20:38 Klein insulated screw drivers are orange as are almost every single one in the market. Also, u seriously have 8 kids? !!!! Ur a brave one 🤣
This honestly was a wonderful video I really enjoy that you got your family involved and testing the lights and Reporting back to you very professional I've learned a lot and honestly thank you for sharing so very much I really appreciate you
Awesome way to include your children in real world family tasks, working together. Also, thanks for video, I am doing this task at my son-in-law's 1920 house this week.
I've done this a few times. I first make a sketch of the floor plan, and note each receptacles location on the plan. While checking, I note the breaker number on the sketch. This ensures, I don't miss any, sometimes there is an odd breaker in the mix that you don't realize.
For my house I created a spreadsheet that lists every single outlet, switch, etc. For example, "Bedroom 2 outlet on west wall", or "Bedroom 2 all outlets", followed by the breaker#. I keep this on the wall next to the panel (along with the basic floorplan from the purchase documents / appraisal). It has been quite useful over the years. Doing the investigation to set up the spreadsheet also helped us identify abandoned circuits (we also live in an old house) which we were able to remove from the panel. The spreadsheet detail also made the panel labeling much easier. Over the years this has saved us a lot of time.
We have the same thing. Our previous owner had identified each breaker. But recently we had an electrician came in to replace a lot of receptacles. We discovered that the original list was wrong. Our living room and master bedroom are connected to one 20amp circuit. Kind of disturbing, but that’s how the house was originally wired. Built in 1981.
Nice work everyone! I know you've done this Joel, at least by accident, but we've resorted to the Blue Flame Test (dead short) IDs and tests breaker! I understand why you chose not to mention it. We had a commercial building with multiple panels sharing circuits (color to color joined illegally in j boxes) all over the damned building. Iding the circuit, BUT, it was still hot at the open breaker, so my advice is to add the step of checking the terminal with the breaker OFF, just to make sure. YOU ROCK BROTHER!!!
Didn't expect to learn much from this video lol but I love that Klein tester with the alligator clips. Usually I go with the non-contact and listen for the sound but that other tester you used would work great for disconnect switched and a lot of situations.
Love the Klein tools I’m a big fan. I have and use the Klein et450, et310, ncvt-6, cl700, et45 and the rt250. Thank you for sharing and encouraging code violations
I need me some crazy lights 😂. I did this to my whole house. Every outlet. Took probably 4 hours. Also labeled the MWBC and gauge used. (There weren’t any handle ties). Put it all in an excel doc and printed it out. Very helpful for finding code violations and working on upgrades
Exactly! Every time I do a panel upgrade, labeling is not only a Code requirement to pass inspection, it also allows me to discover things that are wired to circuits they're not supposed to be wired to. I can use that to sell more work in the future.
electricity and water=fire? interesting. Instead of overloading a breaker and tripping it, the water will combust into fire?......does that makes sense? I love how electricians are "above" doing certain jobs such as cleaning up their mess, labelling their work or previous electricians work.
An excellent and informative video- subscribed. I just picked up a Klein ET450 circuit tracer kit as my home (built in 1978) could sure use some mapping out of the circuits. Nowhere near the complexity of dealing with sub-sub-subpanels as you had there, but definitely a couple of unique configurations to put it mildly. I know of two Edison (multiwire) circuits, one of them in the basement where they originally used the clothes washer receptacle device yoke to split it up... I corrected that fiasco a number of years ago. The other one on the main level is a REAL head-scratcher! A few others are puzzling to say the least.
I did a breaker identification at my house a couple of months ago. I turned on all the lights and all the appliances and ran back a forth looking for what turned off when I shut off each breaker. I did it by myself and boy did I get a workout!
i would avoid having young children doing lots of plugging in and unplugging, especially with those angle cords. it is too easy to get fingers into the space with the prongs while still making contact. i know this can happen because it actually happened to me when i was little. the older kid might be OK.
RE:Phil Howard. I was thinking that, too. I have shocked myself a few times when I got in a hurry or when the plug is small/tight and difficult to get a grip on and I reached a little too much around the back of it.
Man... Just last week, I completed identifying all my circuits, deleted abandoned wiring as far back as my opened walls gave access to (then taped and labelled "ABANDONED"), tidied up wiring within the panel's gutters, then created a detailed (and date-stamped) panel schedule for my 30-space Square D panel in my 60s house. Since I was adding circuits, I decided to snip pieces of Romex insulation to also put labels on the wires at the breaker termination so that there's less guess work to do during servicing. After watching your video today, I feel good about having not missed a step. Thanks for documenting and sharing the master electrician's process! Also, working around 7 sub-panels must be extra time consuming... Glad you got quality help!
When we did this in a complex setup we would use painters tape to tag out the devices/outlets/switches, to avoid retesting. Yeah, it's not fun, but it does help with any later work. Great video.
Great video!! very easy to follow. Question, do they make a tester to trace a circuit that has no power and panel has no label and all breakers are on?
Great video...learn a lot... I'm retired, but good to watch someone explain every detail. I've done this a lot, but without the tracer.. going to get one. I don't do much anymore, but make sure the church I go to keeps going and correct any problems. Ok, now... I noticed the panel your standing in front of you said and showed the neutral and ground together and it was feed from another panel, so that also makes it a sub panel. I ran into this in the church. The building was built in the late 30's. The other panels are the same as yours. Ok, so I'm trying to say is that when you find something like that, do you just leave it the way it is? What can happen which hasn't happened yet or any other time that I know of if it's left the way it is?
That is nice that you can tell whether a breaker has been tripped or manually set off. We do not have that in Europe. But I like more the way we hae here so that the label is next to the breaker so you do not need to match any numbers.
On a whim I bought the circuit tracer at Harbor Freight. Other than the soft button that likes to get bumped ( i fixed it by adding a manual switch ) it does fairly well for somebody on a budget. The only downside other than the switch is that it can occasionally lock out on testing and give a false negative on all circuits, to remedy this just restart the thing and start over. the time saved getting things labeled will certainly make up for an extra 10 seconds running down all the breakers again. I have actually used it on an actual an fuse panel and had great success, on some older breaker types it is a little iffy.
This tool kicks ass! I just did this with my 1970s house While we have no sub panels here to add to complexity, I did have 2 breakers that often toned together... No idea about that! And yes, I did reset the tool each time before toning a new circuit But overall, I love the tool! Thanks for the great video!
When wiring a new home, i always leave a short piece of NM insulation on my branch circuits and label that so I can easily identify the circuit with the cover removed.
A super nerdy way I did this recently was to use an IoTaWatt whole house monitoring system (the kind with the clip-on CT) and walk around the house with a load like a hair drier. Just flip on switches as you go into rooms to see the spike for lights and plug the hair drier into each outlet you want to test. Way fewer trips back to the panel since you can watch the graphs on a cellphone or similar
The Emporia Vue has the capability to monitor 16 individual breakers and is able to plot the current draw as it changes, which shows everything in detail. Comparison with the utility bills matched the kWh charges. It was well worth it for the capability to track things-
I had a new Span panel installed in August 2022 and I've been slowly documenting all of the receptacles so I can have a comprehensive list of outlet/receptacles. The house was built in 1977 and hasn't had a panel upgrade until now.
Hi Joel, I’m enjoying your videos. Just noticed the dryer ducting on the wall. All the ells, I think I count 3 including the one at the back of the dryer, effectively add about 15’ per ell to the overall length of the ductwork. Like the flow of electricity, it adds resistance to the air flow creating lint buildup and blockage. I run a diagonal, smooth aluminum piece from the back of the dryer to the last ell. Just a suggestion.
Nice video. Many great comments below. I label the face of every box, outlet and fixture I work on with the breaker number using a Brother label maker label with white letters on clear tape for dark color plates, and black letters on clear tape for light color plates. Inexpensive, reasonably discrete and easy. Same stuff also used to label cords and cables for AV and IT equipment. Panel labeling is an art to be concise, unambiguous, and terse enough to fit the space in the directory. It can be difficult for catch-all circuits that have lights and receptacles scattered all over the place. A floor plan showing all the devices is a tremendous help both for maintenance and for remodeling. Watch out for multiwire branch circuits where the breakers are missing handle ties. Also never assume, always test, that when you open a disconnect or switch off a breaker that the power is actually off on all hot legs. Don't ask me how I know that.
Just the other day I located the circuit that powered the coal-fired water boiler that hasn't been used in probably 6 or 7 decades. Of course, it was live. And the dishwasher was correctly labeled on one of the equally old fuse boxes ... someone had scratched "Dishwasher" in the outside of the fuse box case. It was easy to see once you're no more than 5 inches away from it. :)
I can only assume that you just moved in, Ive seen your other install videos and these examples look nothing like your work. Great detail for the homeowner!
I picked up the same Klein Circuit Breaker to confirm and label the panel in my house. Albeit my house is a single panel, but I wanted to take out the guess work while I was replacing all the old light switches and receptacles.
Now my serious comment as a fellow Master Electrician and CSHO you should be the example and show wearing Electrically Voltage Rated gloves when opening and exposed to live voltages. Electricity doesn't care who you are and it only takes a second to change your life. Be Safe Steve
💯💞💯 8 kids!!!!!! Wowzer!Wonder!! Great video, as always. Please, one little note of concern, from the viewing angle. Pulling those testers out of the sockets seemed difficult to, especially the young ones. So, wiggling, and getting those fingers close to the prongs, of energized, could prove detrimental to those tiny little fingers and attached bodies. Thank you for all you do
If your service disconnect is on the carriage house, why is this basement panel not wired as a sub panel with gounds and neutrals separate ? I think I saw gounds and neutrals together.
There is a recent recall on those QO panels with a specific date range (194871 - 221343) that are effected. @ 2020-2022. Seeing that surge protector may indicate that panel was installed after Jan. 2020. Schneiders website has further details.
I was helping somebody who is having difficulty seeing and they needed the breakers labeled. The brand new apartment that they moved into was nice enough to print out a sheet identifying what was what however they failed horribly on distinct there's at least two things that registers as hot water heater and more circuits than what I could identify Outlets of and this is only an 12 breaker panel. I was simply able to enlarge what was there but what really needed to happen was re-identification into identifiable names with no ambiguity.
Can I have one of those..... somebody wants a tool upgrade lol. Would be interested to see what professions and interests these kids go into. FYI kitchen circuit should be separate but aren't always.... Also I see that some thought went into age appropriate tool use awesome although the sooner you train them on the proper usages the better knowledge to build upon will be there for later. It's almost like you should teach them the safe way to do something when they're younger mind blown sarcasm.
A time consuming process, but one I recommend to all home owners. I recall doing this without help using a radio and running back and forth to the panel. Inalky buying a Klein circuit finder has been well worth the investment. Even with the circuit finder having a helper is a time saver. I now mark the circuit breaker # inside the receptacle or switch plate even when the panel has been properly labeled. Even with a panel properly labeled I sill use a receptacle or non contact tester to confirm power is off to an outlet before working on it. Learned this the hard way many years ago when working on a receptacle when I found the hard way it had been used as a junction box and had two live conductors. Fortunately just startled and not injured, but learned a valuable lesson.
I identify breakers connected to receptacles with a plug-in radio. I turn it up loud enough to be heard from the panel location. Then I flip breakers in the panel one by one until the radio goes off. I label receptacles with their associated breaker number. When a visible label isn’t desirable I put it behind the wall plate. For labels on the panel I use N-E-S-W plus room ID. A code hint I learned from this video is to label unused breakers with the word “spare.”
I finally broke down a bought a new tracer and it's exactly that klein one, it still has false positives(but that might be the mess wiring in this house I bought) but it's so much better than my ideal one.
I just rebuilt a double-wide manufactured home that had 15A circuits throughout the house except, of course, for the furnace. I ran a new circuit for my outside work and installed a 20A, so that's the only circuit I could use my tablesaw or compressor with.
small note; i've got that same klein circuit tracer and the plug in tester/transmitter is rated for 120v, if it gets 240v, all three lights appear to be on, so if you're tracing a 240v circuit you might want to alligator clip to one line and the neutral instead of both lines when possible. these circuit tracers can act weird occasionally as it is, you don't want to damage it and make it more uncertain
Here's a tip: Start with a floor plan of the house, or office, large enough of a print-out you can mark where each outlet and device is located, and their circuit number. It can also be helpful to indicate which switches go to which devices. With older homes you would be amazed at what is on a circuit: I found out, the hard way while installing shelves, outlets in my room, in the basement, are on the same circuit as the television in the living room, on the other side of the house!
@@ElectricProAcademy More fun? On the same GFCI breaker: most of outside lights, outlets, and pump for the goldfish pond. Every heavy rain event trips this breaker. Also included are two or three outlets in the former garage. When we converted the garage, these outlets were left in place and the new circuit's outlets were filled in around them. Fortunately, these outlets are labeled as being GFCI protected.
I second the floor plan! It can give a lot of insight, and also it's completely unambiguous. I got lucky with my current house- although it was built 30 years ago, the developers had created a brochure with floor plans for the various models, and someone had put it online! I was able to put the drawing into my CAD program, and with a couple of actual measurements, I could scale it to real size and trace over it, verifying actual dimensions as needed. Then I drew all of the circuits and numbered them to match the breaker numbers. It was kind of fun . . . and the information is very useful. Especially now since I am going to install an Emporia Energy Monitor and I need to know what is on each breaker!
@@ElectricProAcademy I still have the piece of romex, and screw, we extracted from the wall. Easy to repair paneling, instead of drywall. Just pull out the nails and we have access. Wall was built before nailing plates were an option.
I thought you said the voltage tester you recommended at the end of the video was a Klien PT310. I can't find that nomenclature in the Klein website product list.
If you don't care about turning off other breakers, you can find any breaker very quickly by using a strategy that programmers call binary searching. First flip half the breakers in the house. Light off? It's in that half. Light on? In the other. Then take the half it's in and flip half of those. Repeat until you've found the breaker.
If you have 40 breakers, flipping them all one by one will take 40 flips. Flipping them in this way will identify it in 6, maximum.
What an interesting practice! I'm curious as to how this is used in the programming world of work.
@@thinktank8286 lots of ways, it's very handy! The most common usage is searching for a number in a sorted list. Even if the list is large, you can pull out the middle number and cut it in half repeatedly depending on whether it's greater or less than your target. The number of steps you need is the base 2 logarithm of the list size, much smaller than the size of the list itself. The principle is also used to partition data into "binary" trees (two branches at each node of the tree), where going down either branch cuts the problem in half, recursively
That is an interesting concept, but it’s not accurate to say 6 flips vs 40. You mean 6 “rounds” or groups of breakers operated.
For example if you have 40 breakers, in the first round you flip 20, in the second round you flip 10, in the third round you flip 5, etc. So far 20 + 10 + 5 = 35 plus the last few rounds of 1-2 breakers each.
Compare this to flipping all one by one. In both cases, you have to flip almost 40 breakers total (maximum if you are unlucky)… Or less if you are lucky. Right?
@@JL-uc7xp that's true, but if you're working alone, that might be the difference between 6 trips back and forth to the panel and 40
@@thinktank8286 it's used for searching. Say you have an ordered list of data, say customer names. If you want to find a specific customer, you can use this method to find the customer name dramatically faster than looking through the list sequentially
I know they weren't adults, and they didn't have cell phones to help you identify all the circuits, but the fact that you included your kids is awesome. You're doing parenting correctly and they will have those memories for life. They have a great example of what a dad is supposed to be. Huge props to you (and the kiddos)!
And thats why you test the circuit after you turn off the breaker.
I ran into a breaker for an electric furnace that was off but the circuit was still live. Never assume the circuit is dead until you check with a meter
So the breaker wasn’t off evidently. Always assume the power is on until you’ve tested otherwise.
Moved into a nineteen-fifties’ “starter home” ($US~15k) in ‘78, with a garage-bedroom conversion (obv. by a previous owner/helper) that popped a breaker reliably. Replaced that old Pushmatic breaker, found one that popped on the other phase. They had double-fed that loop from both strings of outlets !
@@adammorgan9304 not true. I've seen a guy get shocked on a circuit while the breaker was off. Not a shared neutral either. We replaced the breaker and the problem went away.
I’ve seen multiple ways that the breaker is off but there’s still power to the device. Yes, there’s always an explanation, but that’s kinda the point. If you check for power before working, then you’re alive and healthy when you’re figuring out how the thing was wired.
Sometimes when I'm being lazy, I simply short the conductors together with pliers or something after turning off the breaker I think is the one. or before... 😮
I labeled every outlet and switch in my house with circuit number, amperage and if it was gfci and or afci. It has been very helpful through the years.
That was not an insulated screwdriver. That is a Klein by the looks of it and says right on them that it will not protect against electric shock. Insulated has a plastic coating over the shank.
I think he meant a screwdriver with the handle insulates him. Since this video doesn't seem geared for experience wireman.
they just write that for insurance purposes, the handle is most certainly insulated because i often work on 600 with mine, just gotta know where the spicy parts are and dont touch em
I am a Master Electrician in Toronto .The most hated task is tracking and labeling circuits .It's enough to make you go crazy .I use the Greenlee.Goes up to 600v and great for 347V lighting circuits
Not only is this guy a pro electrician, he's a pro dad as well.
This guy is no pro
@@paulkaakee4051 please explain your comment
Look closer he is not a professional and Alive electrical equipment without our Clash equipment no hard hat no gloves no such thing as too safe
@@critters5236 Answer: He knows what not to touch and its not an Industrial environment. Further to that :That level of PPE is not needed in this instance as he is just tracing circuits.
Always include the kiddos They 1st are learning and 2nd they feel important
Thus was an awesome video.
Back 12 yrs ago my son helped me rewire an 1930 school dormitory and it also had at least 6 sub-panels. What a nightmare trying trace what went where. Again awesome to see thekid helping.
It would be best if you remembered that young kids and some adult helpers quickly get bored.
@@outlet6989 I just got bored after purchasing the cool Klein tool after two rooms..it’s a drudgy pain to track this stuff down!
have done this chore many times over the years. One or two helpers, tops. If you are by yourself and don't have fancy tools / testers, just use a long extension cord and a radio turned up so you can hear it from the basement. Start with breakers off and when the radio comes on you go up and see which outlets are working via the long cord. This way you don't have to carry the radio around so much. Leaving light switches on will aid in finding those circuits along the way. Do the big appliances the same way... turn them on one at a time.
Great idea. Ensure the radio plugs into the outlet and doesn't use backup batteries for power.
@@outlet6989 ... not to point out the obvious, but I think you would figure that out while setting up the extension cord.
A potential tip for narrowing down everything you are testing would be to put a piece of painters tape on every device/outlet that you positively identify that way you remember you can ignore it as you continue to go through the panel.
I use this technique too.
Good idea. You can also mark the tape with the circuit number.
@@Doug-gp2qw lol... I do that as well.
While it may not be the most efficient way to get that job done those kids are getting life lessons and are learning and spending time with their pops, you can't get much better than that.
Just bought a Klein ET310 and had to watch the video when I saw this. What a great tool.
Your kids are adorable...the little girl holding the flashlight for her brother was great. Thanks for your channel...Im an Elec. Eng. and do a lot of my own work but learn so much about NEC.
Joel, @20:38 Klein insulated screw drivers are orange as are almost every single one in the market. Also, u seriously have 8 kids? !!!! Ur a brave one 🤣
Yeah, that one isn't insulated that he keeps saying is. Lol
Some very useful tips, Joel. Your 8 little helpers are adorable and I admire your patience.
Yes patience! I struggle with that with my kids lol
That Kline (Klein) tracer is a good tool. I always wear a “head” light style flashlight when performing these jobs. Keeps the hands free.
i have had one for about a year now and have found that many times the unit gives false reading.... not sure why it does it
It's spelled Klein.
@@hankkline7300 I guess I’m dyslexic or Spellcheck got the better of me
What a great video!! Well presented and TONS of info made understandable by you!! Thanks!!
This honestly was a wonderful video I really enjoy that you got your family involved and testing the lights and Reporting back to you very professional I've learned a lot and honestly thank you for sharing so very much I really appreciate you
Timely video. I have this project scheduled for my niece's house soon. Great video!
awesome video bro. densely packed with important info.
Great video, Thanks for making it.
I have seen homes with 1 or more sump Pumps that use larger breakers as well.
Great video, I learned a ton. Thanks!
Great video! That's how to get it done, bring the kids with!! It's always a good exercise to do it by yourself.
Great video keep them coming!
Broadcast facilities we use stick on numbers on each end of wire any wire …. and excel spreadsheet
Wire number - origin - destination - function
Awesome way to include your children in real world family tasks, working together. Also, thanks for video, I am doing this task at my son-in-law's 1920 house this week.
I've done this a few times. I first make a sketch of the floor plan, and note each receptacles location on the plan. While checking, I note the breaker number on the sketch. This ensures, I don't miss any, sometimes there is an odd breaker in the mix that you don't realize.
You guys are thinking of everything way to go!
Great video. Thank you for sharing.
Great video for the average homeowner. Ordered one of the circuit testers.
THANKS!!!
Much respect Joel you have great children busy household and busy workplace ❤ as always thinking Joel with nice tips.
Thank you. Really instructive video. Congratulation on your large family. May God bless you all.
For my house I created a spreadsheet that lists every single outlet, switch, etc. For example, "Bedroom 2 outlet on west wall", or "Bedroom 2 all outlets", followed by the breaker#. I keep this on the wall next to the panel (along with the basic floorplan from the purchase documents / appraisal). It has been quite useful over the years. Doing the investigation to set up the spreadsheet also helped us identify abandoned circuits (we also live in an old house) which we were able to remove from the panel. The spreadsheet detail also made the panel labeling much easier. Over the years this has saved us a lot of time.
We have the same thing. Our previous owner had identified each breaker. But recently we had an electrician came in to replace a lot of receptacles. We discovered that the original list was wrong. Our living room and master bedroom are connected to one 20amp circuit. Kind of disturbing, but that’s how the house was originally wired. Built in 1981.
Then you can line the litter box with it.
Seemed like your kids really loved doing this with you. Awesome!
Loved your little helpers ... I bet that was Mama Bear manning the camera ... Great little vid and I'm a Klein addict too 😂😅🤣 Thx for posting ...
The best video I've seen all day 🙌
Nice work everyone! I know you've done this Joel, at least by accident, but we've resorted to the Blue Flame Test (dead short) IDs and tests breaker! I understand why you chose not to mention it. We had a commercial building with multiple panels sharing circuits (color to color joined illegally in j boxes) all over the damned building. Iding the circuit, BUT, it was still hot at the open breaker, so my advice is to add the step of checking the terminal with the breaker OFF, just to make sure. YOU ROCK BROTHER!!!
Didn't expect to learn much from this video lol but I love that Klein tester with the alligator clips. Usually I go with the non-contact and listen for the sound but that other tester you used would work great for disconnect switched and a lot of situations.
Nice Time with the kids, thanks for explaining
Love the Klein tools I’m a big fan. I have and use the Klein et450, et310, ncvt-6, cl700, et45 and the rt250. Thank you for sharing and encouraging code violations
do yall do any 3 phase panels? i dont get to see much of that. great videos! i watch them all lol
I need me some crazy lights 😂. I did this to my whole house. Every outlet. Took probably 4 hours. Also labeled the MWBC and gauge used. (There weren’t any handle ties). Put it all in an excel doc and printed it out. Very helpful for finding code violations and working on upgrades
Exactly! Every time I do a panel upgrade, labeling is not only a Code requirement to pass inspection, it also allows me to discover things that are wired to circuits they're not supposed to be wired to. I can use that to sell more work in the future.
electricity and water=fire? interesting. Instead of overloading a breaker and tripping it, the water will combust into fire?......does that makes sense? I love how electricians are "above" doing certain jobs such as cleaning up their mess, labelling their work or previous electricians work.
Thank you for your information
An excellent and informative video- subscribed.
I just picked up a Klein ET450 circuit tracer kit as my home (built in 1978) could sure use some mapping out of the circuits. Nowhere near the complexity of dealing with sub-sub-subpanels as you had there, but definitely a couple of unique configurations to put it mildly. I know of two Edison (multiwire) circuits, one of them in the basement where they originally used the clothes washer receptacle device yoke to split it up... I corrected that fiasco a number of years ago. The other one on the main level is a REAL head-scratcher! A few others are puzzling to say the least.
Enjoying your channel
Excellent video!
I just ordered a Klein circuit tracer.
I recently got that Klein circuit tracer kit and love it to pieces.
@snok: Put it back together and get to work.
I have that same LCD-equipped outlet tester. It's dope!
You Got A Great Electrical Video & Family Time As Well....
Helpful video; lovely family.
Oh also! I used to plug in a boom box to ID outlets by myself from different rooms. Great show sparky.
I did a breaker identification at my house a couple of months ago. I turned on all the lights and all the appliances and ran back a forth looking for what turned off when I shut off each breaker. I did it by myself and boy did I get a workout!
Great video just came across your site. I should have had more than 2 girls. But now I could call on the grand and greats.
Great Crew!
i would avoid having young children doing lots of plugging in and unplugging, especially with those angle cords. it is too easy to get fingers into the space with the prongs while still making contact. i know this can happen because it actually happened to me when i was little. the older kid might be OK.
RE:Phil Howard. I was thinking that, too. I have shocked myself a few times when I got in a hurry or when the plug is small/tight and difficult to get a grip on and I reached a little too much around the back of it.
Man... Just last week, I completed identifying all my circuits, deleted abandoned wiring as far back as my opened walls gave access to (then taped and labelled "ABANDONED"), tidied up wiring within the panel's gutters, then created a detailed (and date-stamped) panel schedule for my 30-space Square D panel in my 60s house. Since I was adding circuits, I decided to snip pieces of Romex insulation to also put labels on the wires at the breaker termination so that there's less guess work to do during servicing.
After watching your video today, I feel good about having not missed a step. Thanks for documenting and sharing the master electrician's process!
Also, working around 7 sub-panels must be extra time consuming... Glad you got quality help!
When we did this in a complex setup we would use painters tape to tag out the devices/outlets/switches, to avoid retesting. Yeah, it's not fun, but it does help with any later work. Great video.
You are the coolest dad, and you have been blessed with a beautiful family!
Cheers brother!
ron:)
Great video!! very easy to follow. Question, do they make a tester to trace a circuit that has no power and panel has no label and all breakers are on?
Great video 👍
Nice video! Kind of surprised to see you work in your ring. I tried that once too many times.....
Great video...learn a lot... I'm retired, but good to watch someone explain every detail. I've done this a lot, but without the tracer.. going to get one. I don't do much anymore, but make sure the church I go to keeps going and correct any problems. Ok, now... I noticed the panel your standing in front of you said and showed the neutral and ground together and it was feed from another panel, so that also makes it a sub panel. I ran into this in the church. The building was built in the late 30's. The other panels are the same as yours. Ok, so I'm trying to say is that when you find something like that, do you just leave it the way it is? What can happen which hasn't happened yet or any other time that I know of if it's left the way it is?
That is nice that you can tell whether a breaker has been tripped or manually set off. We do not have that in Europe. But I like more the way we hae here so that the label is next to the breaker so you do not need to match any numbers.
On a whim I bought the circuit tracer at Harbor Freight. Other than the soft button that likes to get bumped ( i fixed it by adding a manual switch ) it does fairly well for somebody on a budget. The only downside other than the switch is that it can occasionally lock out on testing and give a false negative on all circuits, to remedy this just restart the thing and start over. the time saved getting things labeled will certainly make up for an extra 10 seconds running down all the breakers again.
I have actually used it on an actual an fuse panel and had great success, on some older breaker types it is a little iffy.
This tool kicks ass!
I just did this with my 1970s house
While we have no sub panels here to add to complexity, I did have 2 breakers that often toned together... No idea about that!
And yes, I did reset the tool each time before toning a new circuit
But overall, I love the tool!
Thanks for the great video!
Cool man. Does this Klein remote tester test only on dead/turned off circuits or it can test also while circuit is still live?
When wiring a new home, i always leave a short piece of NM insulation on my branch circuits and label that so I can easily identify the circuit with the cover removed.
A super nerdy way I did this recently was to use an IoTaWatt whole house monitoring system (the kind with the clip-on CT) and walk around the house with a load like a hair drier. Just flip on switches as you go into rooms to see the spike for lights and plug the hair drier into each outlet you want to test. Way fewer trips back to the panel since you can watch the graphs on a cellphone or similar
The Emporia Vue has the capability to monitor 16 individual breakers and is able to plot the current draw as it changes, which shows everything in detail. Comparison with the utility bills matched the kWh charges. It was well worth it for the capability to track things-
I had a new Span panel installed in August 2022 and I've been slowly documenting all of the receptacles so I can have a comprehensive list of outlet/receptacles. The house was built in 1977 and hasn't had a panel upgrade until now.
I bought that exact same tool to identify circuits. Its awesome
I might need to reconsider my career as you make electrical work fun.
Hi Joel, I’m enjoying your videos. Just noticed the dryer ducting on the wall. All the ells, I think I count 3 including the one at the back of the dryer, effectively add about 15’ per ell to the overall length of the ductwork. Like the flow of electricity, it adds resistance to the air flow creating lint buildup and blockage. I run a diagonal, smooth aluminum piece from the back of the dryer to the last ell. Just a suggestion.
Nice video. Many great comments below.
I label the face of every box, outlet and fixture I work on with the breaker number using a Brother label maker label with white letters on clear tape for dark color plates, and black letters on clear tape for light color plates. Inexpensive, reasonably discrete and easy. Same stuff also used to label cords and cables for AV and IT equipment.
Panel labeling is an art to be concise, unambiguous, and terse enough to fit the space in the directory. It can be difficult for catch-all circuits that have lights and receptacles scattered all over the place. A floor plan showing all the devices is a tremendous help both for maintenance and for remodeling.
Watch out for multiwire branch circuits where the breakers are missing handle ties. Also never assume, always test, that when you open a disconnect or switch off a breaker that the power is actually off on all hot legs. Don't ask me how I know that.
Just the other day I located the circuit that powered the coal-fired water boiler that hasn't been used in probably 6 or 7 decades. Of course, it was live. And the dishwasher was correctly labeled on one of the equally old fuse boxes ... someone had scratched "Dishwasher" in the outside of the fuse box case. It was easy to see once you're no more than 5 inches away from it. :)
Order pizza and call in the posse! Love it!
I can only assume that you just moved in, Ive seen your other install videos and these examples look nothing like your work. Great detail for the homeowner!
I picked up the same Klein Circuit Breaker to confirm and label the panel in my house. Albeit my house is a single panel, but I wanted to take out the guess work while I was replacing all the old light switches and receptacles.
Now my serious comment as a fellow Master Electrician and CSHO you should be the example and show wearing Electrically Voltage Rated gloves when opening and exposed to live voltages. Electricity doesn't care who you are and it only takes a second to change your life. Be Safe Steve
Proper PPE is essential when removing the cover from a live electrical panel.
Thank you !!!!
Nice video boss
💯💞💯 8 kids!!!!!! Wowzer!Wonder!!
Great video, as always. Please, one little note of concern, from the viewing angle. Pulling those testers out of the sockets seemed difficult to, especially the young ones. So, wiggling, and getting those fingers close to the prongs, of energized, could prove detrimental to those tiny little fingers and attached bodies.
Thank you for all you do
That circuit tester is definitely on my wish list. Love how you got the kids involved, never too young to start learning.
Nice video, but the fact that you have 9 children is mind blowing, congrats on your success and blessings
If your service disconnect is on the carriage house, why is this basement panel not wired as a sub panel with gounds and neutrals separate ? I think I saw gounds and neutrals together.
There is a recent recall on those QO panels with a specific date range (194871 - 221343) that are effected. @ 2020-2022. Seeing that surge protector may indicate that panel was installed after Jan. 2020. Schneiders website has further details.
I believe this was only for plug on neutral planels and the panel in this video does not appear to be that type.
@@montgomeryfortenberry Ya. You're correct. 🤦♂️
@@gwilliams1001 lol no need to facepalm maybe your comment will let somebody else know they need to check their panel to prevent a serious issue
I was helping somebody who is having difficulty seeing and they needed the breakers labeled. The brand new apartment that they moved into was nice enough to print out a sheet identifying what was what however they failed horribly on distinct there's at least two things that registers as hot water heater and more circuits than what I could identify Outlets of and this is only an 12 breaker panel.
I was simply able to enlarge what was there but what really needed to happen was re-identification into identifiable names with no ambiguity.
Can I have one of those..... somebody wants a tool upgrade lol. Would be interested to see what professions and interests these kids go into. FYI kitchen circuit should be separate but aren't always....
Also I see that some thought went into age appropriate tool use awesome although the sooner you train them on the proper usages the better knowledge to build upon will be there for later. It's almost like you should teach them the safe way to do something when they're younger mind blown sarcasm.
Lol, sounds like you got a few electricians on board.
A time consuming process, but one I recommend to all home owners. I recall doing this without help using a radio and running back and forth to the panel. Inalky buying a Klein circuit finder has been well worth the investment. Even with the circuit finder having a helper is a time saver. I now mark the circuit breaker # inside the receptacle or switch plate even when the panel has been properly labeled. Even with a panel properly labeled I sill use a receptacle or non contact tester to confirm power is off to an outlet before working on it. Learned this the hard way many years ago when working on a receptacle when I found the hard way it had been used as a junction box and had two live conductors. Fortunately just startled and not injured, but learned a valuable lesson.
I identify breakers connected to receptacles with a plug-in radio. I turn it up loud enough to be heard from the panel location. Then I flip breakers in the panel one by one until the radio goes off. I label receptacles with their associated breaker number. When a visible label isn’t desirable I put it behind the wall plate. For labels on the panel I use N-E-S-W plus room ID.
A code hint I learned from this video is to label unused breakers with the word “spare.”
I finally broke down a bought a new tracer and it's exactly that klein one, it still has false positives(but that might be the mess wiring in this house I bought) but it's so much better than my ideal one.
Good video, thanks. So, that Klein remote tester can test only on turned off/dead circuits or it can also test while circuit is still live?
Gracias.
I just rebuilt a double-wide manufactured home that had 15A circuits throughout the house except, of course, for the furnace. I ran a new circuit for my outside work and installed a 20A, so that's the only circuit I could use my tablesaw or compressor with.
small note; i've got that same klein circuit tracer and the plug in tester/transmitter is rated for 120v, if it gets 240v, all three lights appear to be on, so if you're tracing a 240v circuit you might want to alligator clip to one line and the neutral instead of both lines when possible. these circuit tracers can act weird occasionally as it is, you don't want to damage it and make it more uncertain
Just had to do this in my new house. Used the exact tool too. Made the job easier, but i still wanted to torch the place when i was done.
Here's a tip: Start with a floor plan of the house, or office, large enough of a print-out you can mark where each outlet and device is located, and their circuit number. It can also be helpful to indicate which switches go to which devices. With older homes you would be amazed at what is on a circuit: I found out, the hard way while installing shelves, outlets in my room, in the basement, are on the same circuit as the television in the living room, on the other side of the house!
😵 Mercy!
@@ElectricProAcademy More fun? On the same GFCI breaker: most of outside lights, outlets, and pump for the goldfish pond. Every heavy rain event trips this breaker.
Also included are two or three outlets in the former garage. When we converted the garage, these outlets were left in place and the new circuit's outlets were filled in around them. Fortunately, these outlets are labeled as being GFCI protected.
I second the floor plan! It can give a lot of insight, and also it's completely unambiguous. I got lucky with my current house- although it was built 30 years ago, the developers had created a brochure with floor plans for the various models, and someone had put it online! I was able to put the drawing into my CAD program, and with a couple of actual measurements, I could scale it to real size and trace over it, verifying actual dimensions as needed. Then I drew all of the circuits and numbered them to match the breaker numbers. It was kind of fun . . . and the information is very useful. Especially now since I am going to install an Emporia Energy Monitor and I need to know what is on each breaker!
@@ElectricProAcademy I still have the piece of romex, and screw, we extracted from the wall. Easy to repair paneling, instead of drywall. Just pull out the nails and we have access. Wall was built before nailing plates were an option.
I thought you said the voltage tester you recommended at the end of the video was a Klien PT310. I can't find that nomenclature in the Klein website product list.
Hey Rooster, busted thru with you and 751 Bakersfield ❗️