Blog Post

Wiring a Breaker Box - Electrical Panels 101

Stewart Electric • Mar 23, 2022

An electrical panel or a circuit breaker box works as a chamber for your home’s main breaker, wires, and other single circuit breakers. It is similar to a seamless system of breakers and wires that controls the flow of electricity in your home. However, its mechanisms are always tied to the specific purposes of the individual components. The breaker box or the service panel functions as a central relay point as it obtains power from the street and feeds it to different electrical outlets and hard-wired appliances throughout your residence. 


Listed below are some of the critical wires and switches that comprise your breaker box.

Double pole service disconnect

Typically, the most significant switch placed at the top of the breaker box is the “main” or double pole service disconnect. Each wire in this electricity system carries 120 volts. Therefore, the electrical current in your house can easily break if you ever position the switch in an off position.

Hot bus bars

When passing through the main breaker, each of the two hot wires from the utility company passes into its bus. However, this bus looks like a regular metal bar from an amateur’s eye. Here, one bus streams vertically along the left side of the panel while the other one courses towards the right side.

Neutral bus

The third metal bar (the neutral bus) receives the electrical current after it departs from the breaker box. It then flows throughout your home.

Circuit breakers

The circuit breakers bestride the hot bus bars and trips automatically to suspend the electrical current if it receives an overload. Circuit breakers also serve as the origin points for the wiring that runs into different parts of your home. 

Hence, each circuit comprises two hot electrical wires feeding into the breaker and a neutral wire that connects to a neutral bus. Together these three wires exit the breaker box to perform the functions for their designated circuit.

There are two main types of breakers:

  • Single pole: This comprises one switch and manages 120 volts (either 15 to 20 amps).
  • Double pole: Double pole manages 240 volts with amperage ratings from 15 to 70 and looks like two switches joined together.

Grounding

Amongst the maze of wires that inhabits your circuit breaker box, grounding wires are one of the critical ones. It is a bare copper wire that connects the neutral bus to a metal water pipe or a metal rod that is buried deep underneath the ground. Thus, this grounding helps in preventing current from traveling via frayed wires to the metal surfaces that it wasn’t intended to reach otherwise.

About‌ ‌us‌

Look no further than Stewart Electric if‌ ‌you‌ need a reputed ‌commercial electrician ‌to‌ ‌replace‌ ‌your damaged ‌electrical‌ ‌wiring‌ system in‌ the ‌Central‌ ‌Arkansas‌ region. We provide multiple ‌services‌, including ‌maintenance,‌ ‌repair,‌ ‌installation,‌ ‌and ‌emergency‌.‌ We ‌are‌ ‌a licensed‌ ‌electrical company striving to perform high-quality ‌services‌ ‌to‌ comply with ‌your‌ ‌electrical‌ ‌necessities.‌ ‌Contact‌ ‌us‌ ‌at‌ ‌(501)‌ ‌833-8764‌ ‌or‌ ‌email us at ‌customerservice@stewartelectricar.com to know more.‌

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