How to Troubleshoot and Split the Electrical Circuit

Troubleshooting an Electric Circuit

• 1

  Unplug each appliance plugged into each outlet that belongs to the circuit breaker that tripped. Open the electrical panel, then locate the circuit breaker controlling the circuit that you wish to troubleshoot. Reset the breaker by flipping the circuit breaker switch to its "Off" position, then flipping the switch back to its "On" position.

• 2

  Look at the circuit breaker switch to see if it trips again after resetting the breaker. If the circuit breaker does not trip, there is a very good chance that one of the appliances you unplugged has a problem and has caused the circuit breaker to trip earlier. Have each appliance checked to determine which one caused the problem.

• 3

  Call an electrician if the circuit breaker has tripped after you have unplugged all appliances and reset the breaker. A circuit breaker that trips without any appliances plugged into the circuit is indicative of a short circuit, or a more serious problem along the wiring.

How to Split an Electric Circuit with a Sub-Panel

• 4

  Turn off the main circuit breaker inside the electrical panel, then unscrew the electrical panel cover with a screwdriver. Plug a double pole circuit breaker into an empty slot in the panel board.

• 5

  Screw the sub-panel onto a wall with a screwdriver, then punch the knockouts on top and along both sides of the sub-panel, with diagonal pliers. Screw a cable clamp onto each knockout.

• 6

  Run the black, red, white and green/bare sub-feeder wires from inside the main electrical panel along walls and ceilings into the sub-panel, using cable staples to attach the cables onto surfaces. Strip off 3/4 inch of insulation from the tip of each wire inside both panels, using a wire stripper.

• 7

  Plug the wires inside the main panel in the following order: red and black power wires to each terminal on the double pole circuit breaker, white wire to the neutral buss bar and green/bare wire to the grounding bar.

• 8

  Plug the wires inside the sub-panel in the following order: black and red power wires to each terminal lug on the hot buss bar, white wire to the neutral buss bar and green wire to the ground buss bar. Plug the main and auxiliary circuit breakers into their corresponding slots in the sub-panel. Disconnect the neutral and ground bars from each other by unscrewing the metal tie bar binding both.

• 9

  Run each set of black, white and green/bare wires from each outlet into the sub-panel via a knockout on either side of the panel. Plug each black wire (hot) to its corresponding circuit breaker, plug each white wire to the neutral buss bar and plug each green/bare wire into the grounding bar inside the sub-panel. Contact your local area electrical inspector to have the sub-panel installation inspected and approved.