Need help with circut breaker/changing a fuse.

Question

We blew a fuse, installing a new light post. How do we find what fuse was blown when it is not labled. It is an outdoor outlet that was blown. Any help would be greatly appreciated. And how do we change it?

Answer 1

This question makes me think you may need to call an electrician.

But if you want to diy you will need a multi-meter so you can measure volts and ohms.

Before pulling a fuse check for voltage, when no voltage check for ohms.  If no ohms, also called resistance, that is the blown fuse.

Be careful and good luck!

Answer 2

If you start replacing fuses with new ones, of the same value, you will find the one causing the problem. You should have spares anyway. The replacements will be cheaper than calling for service.

Answer 3

Do you have fuses or breakers?

  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-diff...

Information on the proceedure

http://www.afb.org/seniorsite.asp?Sectio...

Good luck and make sur you know what your doing  

Answer 4

Turn on the lights in the house...in all rooms.  Have someone stay in the living area while you unscrew each fuse.  When the light goes out, have the person in the living area let you know which light went out.  If no light goes out, try putting a new fuse in and see if your light post comes on.  That may be the bad fuse.  Get a label and mark which area or room the light went out in, and tape it next to the fuse.  Keep doing that, and eventually your light post light will come on.  Mark that one too.  If you do this, in the future, you'll know which fuse to change when one blows.   If its a circuit breaker, do the same as above, but you don't have to unscrew it.  Just flip the switch the opposite way, wait for a couple of seconds, and flip it back.  It makes it much easier in the future if you mark the breakers or fuses with labels.

Good luck and I hope this helped.

Answer 5

What you can do is flip each switch and label them as you go...if you have a circut breaker that is easy to flip the switch,  As for replacing a fuse..I do nto know how to do it.  The only bad thing is you will have to reset the time on everything,

Hope I helped even if just a tiny bit

Answer 6

If they are indeed fuses, you can look into them (most residential fuses have a little window) and see if they're blown.

Breakers, if that's what you mean by "fuse" generally will indicate they are tripped by the toggle lever being loose, so try gently pushing on each one as though you were going to turn it off - a tripped one should allow the lever to move further towards "OFF" than an untripped one.

When you say it is an outdoor outlet that was "blown", are you sure it's not a GFI (ground fault interrupter) outlet?   If it is, that may be what needs to be reset.   If a GFI keeps tripping on an outdoor installation, it indicates either a short-circuit or a leakage path to ground, so re-check your wiring.