On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 14:34:51 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , DK wrote:

I'd like to know if there is an easier way to trace which circuit
breaker control which outlets.

Easier than what? :-)

The two easiest ways I can think of a
(1) Buy a circuit tracer, about $35 at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's a two-part
device; one plugs into an outlet and places a radio-frequency signal on the
circuit, and the other is used to detect that signal at the breaker box (it
beeps when it's over the correct breaker).

How well do tracers work if one of the two wires feeding the outlet is
an open connection? Is the fact that two parts to the connection are
only a millmeter away enough for it to work.

Also, is there an easy way to know when a GFI outlet or breaker trips,
if it did so because of an overload or because of a ground fault?

(After reading everyone else's problems here with dead circuits, I
thought I had one myself. By the bathroom sink. I reset the GFI
breaker and it didnt' seem to help. I tried other outlets I thought
were on the GFI and some worked and some didn't. I reset it again and
it worked this time.)



(2) Plug a radio into an outlet, and turn it up loud. Go to the breaker panel
and start turning off breakers. When the radio goes off, you got the right
one.