this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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Electricians

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How do I turn off power to the whole house? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I need to replace a faulty breaker. Here's a picture of my main breaker box. There's no master switch that I can see that shuts off power to all of the breakers.

Following the line up and out of the box, it runs along the basement ceiling and out through a hole in the foundation.

Let me know if you need to see something else.

Edit. Resolved! I found a master switch on the outside of the house in a panel adjacent to the meter. Weird that anyone can just walk up to my house and turn all of the power off.

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[–] troyunrau 86 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This is really strange that there is no master switch. Are you sure this isn't a sub-panel which is wired into another breaker box somewhere else in the building? I'd go hunting, following the main wire.

There's less than half of the number of breakers on here that I'd expect in a house.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

My house is like that too. No master shutoff anywhere, so I'd have to call the power delivery company out to shut it off at the meter.

[–] troyunrau 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

That would never pass inspection here... Might depend on where you live I guess

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I toured a house that still had TL fuses and cloth-wrapped electrical...No inspection needed in 2025 if it passed in 1940 and was never updated!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That’s normal. It’s meant to be that way. You only have to get up to current code when making major changes, and only for what you’re changing. If you always had to be up to date, no one could afford to maintain a house: you’d be making changes every year.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I was just giving an example that inspections aren't required. A less extreme example would be asbestos tiles/insulation but that's not dangerous unless you damage it

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Lots of houses haven't had an inspection since they were built, and code was almost always more relaxed.

My parents built their house in the 70s, like my dad was a mason and he did all the brick, and any contractors for the rest was friends and family. And in a small county they all knew the inspector too.

I'm sure lots of stuff was overlooked because it was "good enough" and when it was sold 5ish years ago it was "as is" because a ceiling fan on a dimmer wouldn't have passed inspection.

Like it wasn't a lemon, everything was good.

But the buyers couldn't have known for sure because they waived inspection.

Tldr:

Lots of homes in America won't/can't pass inspection, and with the market someone is always willing to roll the dice to buy anyways.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

even if it wat built in 2015 it probably would fail inspection for something today even though that sonething still works like new.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I mean, I helped wire a house at 14 just because my dad thought it would be good to learn, but I'm not a real electrician.

So others probably know more, but to my knowledge that stuff moves slow so not a lot would have changed since 2015...

That being said, new homes are built to meet bare minimum standards and corners are cut everywhere they can be. So it might fail inspection because things are breaking, but not for things that work but have become against code.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

https://www.nahb.org/-/media/NAHB/advocacy/docs/top-priorities/codes/code-adoption/2023-national-electrical-code-significant-changes.pdf there are a few things in there that could hit any house. Gfci to non counter kitchen outlets for example.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you looked at the meter box? Around here there will be a cover you can flip up under the meter head and turn off the breaker you find under it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I recently found out this is code now where I live: you must have a master breaker outside with the meter. While I can understand the benefits from a safety and service point of view, this seems mostly like an invitation for “pranks”.

My electrician had to go through contortions to explain how one approach let him just make the change I needed whereas the other may have seemed cleaner but would require him to redo the service entrance to add an outside main breaker

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ugh. Cost-prohibitive to replace the panel with a main breaker ?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Last I looked it was like $1500

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There is a subpanel that this one feeds. See the 70 amp breaker? That's goes upstairs to another panel there.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m no expert, but that doesn’t look up to code.

[–] Darkassassin07 10 points 2 weeks ago

Was fine when it was put in, but code updated and old installations usually aren't required to upgrade to meet new codes unless you try to change them substantially.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago

I think you’re needing to search for the main breaker. This is looking like a sub panel.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I dont know, but your breaker box has eyes

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Hypnotic eyes!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

Man, that's one nasty looking breaker box! Glad you found the master switch.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

Bucket of water

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

If you can't find a master breaker between this box and the meter, you can just yank the meter to kill power to the house. Be safe, wear insulated gloves etc etc.

[–] Darkassassin07 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Most places I've lived, you're not permitted to remove the meter. You've gotta call in your electrical companies lineman for that. (or face some pretty substantial fines when they find the broken seal)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

If the power company went after everyone who cut those seals, they would employ more lawyers than linemen. Nobody gives a shit if you pull the meter just so long as you don't self-immolate or steal electricity.

The main thing is to make sure there's no load on the panel (turn all appliances or fuses off). Loads can cause dangerous arcing, especially on reconnect.

Rubber gloves under leathers are standard PPE for meter work. Eye protection is non-negotiable. Anybody who's comfortable opening a panel is ready to pull a meter. You don't think the power company hires electricians to pull meters do you?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

This. But contact a local electrician before doing so.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

Lick it.

[–] SplashJackson 5 points 2 weeks ago

Take out big samurai sword and chop thru those cables like it's the Gordian Knot

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The other poster is correct in that the master breaker may be elsewhere. It will be on the path of the two big wires coming put of the top there, wherever it is they go in your house. Probably right on the other side of where the incoming line goes through the wall.

But I actually came here to say I have never once in my life shut off the master to replace a breaker. Remove the hot wire from the dud breaker first and then that circuit is dead. Just don't touch the bus bar in the back of the box and you'll be fine.

If you suspect shenenegans re: things being hot that shouldn't be, you can verify with your multimeter or voltage probe before touching anything.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Osha always talks about how its not the first mistake that kills you, and I think in the case of home electrical, leaving a panel energized while your hands are in it, would count as number 1.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Hands is the mistaje there. Always use one hand only when working on live wires. The hand that you are not loojing at gets into trouple. plus your shoes probably are insulated enough to make shocks annoying but not harmful.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I have never....shut off the master...

I knew two electricians who used to say this kind of stuff.

[–] JoeyHarrington 6 points 2 weeks ago

"knew"

[–] Rentlar 1 points 2 weeks ago

Hopefully they could say other stuff after the day they stopped saying that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Your getting downvoted, but you have to be trying pretty hard to electrocute yourself by swapping a breaker.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

To wit, I haven't managed it yet.

The rub is, it's inevitable you have to mess with the damn thing when the rest of the household is thoroughly active. Interrupting power to every other circuit and appliance in the place is often simply not an option. Especially once the obligatory hardware store trip to get the new breaker -- bringing the old one with you to match it up -- enters the equation.

When you remove the hot wire from the breaker the wiring is by definition dead unless you have transient voltages from elsewhere that should not be there. If you do, you have deeper problems. Plus, you should do so with the breaker in question off anyway (and if you have a dud one, the only reason you knew about it was because it failed open circuit in the first place, so it's already off). The breaker's casing is extremely well insulated, and no part of the operation requires touching anything except insulated wire or the plasic breaker casing itself.

People also thoroughly overestimate the danger as if there are magically somehow different volts inside the panel than out of it. Yes, you can theoretically touch 240v if you manage to grab both bus bars at the same time. Otherwise, the shock you may deliver yourself is literally no different from mis-grabbing a normal plug via touching its prongs while it is partially inserted in an outlet, which is I'm sure something everyone has done at least once in their lives.

You should still know where your home's master breaker is located anyway, of course, in case there is some other catastropic emergency.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

This is your complete breaker box? No RCCB/RCD device? Wow. Here, any electrician would basically be forced by law to take this off the net until it is upgraded to code.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

To turn it off, throw some water in it. No idea, though, how to turn it back on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Weird that anyone can just walk up to my house and turn all of the power off.

That's the horror movie feature. Also, it's safer for murderers to flip a switch than cut a wire. Please think of the murderers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's simply you unplug the one thingy you have at the bottom center of the image, and you're good!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Nothing a good wad of C-4 can’t fix.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 weeks ago

I guess it's the 70 amp one.

That would make the:

  • 15 amps for lighting
  • 20 amps for room sockets
  • 30 amps for washing machine and kitchen appliances
[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 weeks ago

If you don't need to turn the power back on, you can turn off all the power by throwing a gallon or two of water at it.