FrozenNorth wrote:
On 2016-01-20 10:34 AM, trader_4 wrote:
On Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 10:28:30 AM UTC-5, TimR wrote:
On Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 8:12:36 AM UTC-5, Micky wrote:
If he's going to do this he should turn off all the power to the
breaker box by flipping the main breaker at the top, and use a
flashlight to see. Or at the verrry least he should keep one hand in
his pocket, literally, so he can't touch things with two hands and get
killed, literally.

First turn off the breaker in question.

Then when the breaker is off, unscrew the screw that holds the wire at
the end of the breaker that's not in the middle of the box. Probably
don't have to unscrew it all the way. You don't want the screw

The OP doesn't know anything about a panel and you've left out an
important step that will confuse him.

After you've turned off the main breaker, you can't see the screws or
the wires. There is a safety shield in place. That must be removed,
carefully.


Removing that steel cover is what makes me the most nervous because
as you say, there is still the incoming live feeds at the top. Watching
that Holmes show from Canada, I noticed that their panels had a separate
cover for that area, so that if you turned off the main and remove the
other cover for the breakers, no chance of hitting anything live. I
wonder, is that just a Canadian thing or do some or all new panels here
have that too? Required by Canadian code thing?

I am in Canada, my breaker panel was new just after we bought this house
in 97, installed by an electrician, and passed inspection, it does not
have a separate cover for where the live wires enter it. So I can say
that was note code then, though it may be now.

What does label on the breaker say? Bedroom 1, kitchen, kitchen counter
top, exterior front outlet, garage, etc.? They have to be specific. If
not you disconnect the hot wire from the breaker and measure to check if
there is short downstream(load side) I assume you know all the basic
safety measures while working on the electricity. It can be as simple as
bad circuit breaker....