How do I blow the fuse?

[Pagan]

It might just burn down your house, or seriously damage your wiring. Best not to short circuit anything.

To find a circuit the cheap and easy way, find a friend, plug a light in the socket, and have your friend tell you when it goes on (or off) when you flip the breakers or pull the fuses, one at a time of course.

No light, or it's a 220v circuit, you can do the same thing, but instead use a tester, which can be bought for about $10 at Sears. It's the size of a thick pen, and there are no contacts. You simply hold it close to the socket, and when there's power running to it, it lights up and beeps. This is also a good tool to verify a circuit is dead before fiddling with it, in case you need to replace a switch or a socket in the future.

If this is an old house, and/or you don't know exactly what you are doing, I strongly recommend you find an experienced electrician to do your electrical work. It is depressingly easy to get thrown across the room or killed.

Pagan

[Phil Munro]

And of course note that a STOVE probably has a 40 to 60 amp breaker which would a rarity in your panel. Most of the breakers will be 15 or 20 amps. --Phil

[Tim Fischer]

Most of the existing replies seem to be ignoring/ignorant of the fact that the OP is talking about a STOVE with #6 wires. There's no way to plug in a light, radio, etc. etc or even use a Radio Shack circuit tracer without more work and risk than the OP should take, if he's asking this question.

Simple answer: As someone else pointed out, it will be a large, double-pole breaker. You can immediately rule out all the single-pole breakers. Then, follow the following steps:

1) Turn off Main 2) Separate the wires, making sure you have two exposed bare ends (but not touching!) 3) Turn on main, and with a neon tester (cheap $3 gizmo available anywhere) confirm there is power on the wires. This will also ensure you're using the tester properly (If no power now -- STOP, you're either doing something wrong, or the wire is disconnected from the panel. 4) Now, turn off all double-pole breakers. Confirm there is NOT power at the wires. (If there is STOP). 5) Now, turn on each double-pole breaker one by one until the tester lights up. That's your breaker.

Works best with 2 people within hollering distance (or cell phones/etc) but can be done with one person if you don't mind many trips back and forth to the panel.

This is the cheapest safe method to do the job. It's very safe if you follow the above exactly and never touch the wires unless you've confirmed they are dead with the tester (even then, avoid touching them).

-Tim

[Duane Bozarth]

Ok if there's only one pair... :)

[G Henslee]

Doug Kanter suggests doing so with both lips wrapped around it.

[Luke]

But takes the fun out of seeing the OP's next post:

"How do I put out an electrical fire?"

;-)

[Pagan]

Damn good idea!

Pagan

[Walter R.]

I want to identify a circuit breaker for a disconnected stove in my main panel (looks like # 6 red and black wires). This is a large house and the main panel is a maze of wires and breakers (200 A service).

How can I tell which breaker controls this particular circuit? Can I just turn off the main switch, short-circuit the wires, and turn the main on again? Will this damage the Main breaker?

Thanks for your help

[Philip Lewis]

Also something that i didn't know was code legal until recently. I used to think that all wires in a junction box had to be on the same (or tied) circuit. I've since been told that that is not the case. (not that i've witnessed an example, other than in sub/main panels... but it's good to keep this in mind.) I'd be interested in where this rule might be excepted/limited/stated (if it is explicitly stated) if anyone with a NEC book is feeling generous.

So make sure to check *all* wires in that junction box. before working with them.

Also good to lock out the main panel, or at least put up a note... in case someone else is around that might flip the breaker back on (or re-insert the fuse).

[Nick Hull]

I wouldn't short circuit anything. You could plug a light bulb in to check the circuit, 2 bulbs for 220.

Easier is to go to Radio shack or Home Depot and buy a circuit tracer. Plug the transmitter module into the circuit and the reciever will show you which wire and which breaker correspond.

[PipeDown]

Cheaper than a signal tracer is a multimeter. simply set its dial for AC volts and toutch the wires to measure the voltage. Turn off a breaker and see if the voltage went to 0V. If it did, you turned off the right one.

Alternatively to a voltmeter, there are non contact voltage probes (probably also at RS but many other places too) and you just wave it near a wire and if it buzzes the wire is live.

Both the probe or the meter can be bought for less than $20 and sometimes much less.

[Joseph Meehan]

Or if you don't have a friend, use a radio turned up loud. BTW either way always turn it back on to verify it, then off again. I was once depending on this idea and had the light bulb burn out at the wrong time. It was interesting and it taught me to always double check.

[Jeff Wisnia]

If it was a 120 volt circuit I'd just plug a radio into it with the volume cranked up so I could hear it go quiet when I flipped the correct breaker.

But, since it's a stove circuit, you'd have to jury rig an outlet between one of the hot leads and ground or neutral, and giving advice like that to someone who asked the question the way he did isn't wise.

Jeff

[Doug Miller]

Ummm... why not take the cover off the panel, and see which breaker those #6 red and black wires go to?

[Doug Miller]

Even if there are more than one, it certainly narrows down the possibilities.

[PipeDown]

ABC rated fire extinguisher (dry chemical) of course.

Good thing it is not a gas stove and he is looking for a valve using similar techniques

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

i don't think this will be too bad but turn on one burner on the stove on to and have some one watch the light at the knob to see it go out when you flip all the double breakers to see which one it is. go slowly and when you get the one that goes to the stove the burner on light will go out and that is the breaker.

Now you do know it will be a double breaker and not a single breaker that cuts it off.

TURTLE

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Hmmm, No labels listing which braker is for which circuit? I don't understand. Every single house I have built/lived had clearly marked label on the panel. Tony

[Stormin Mormon]

Milligan can tell you how to blow just about anything you wish.

[Stormin Mormon]

Look for a breaker that is the width of two breakers. And has a number "50" twice on the wide handle. That's the most likely one.

Of course, you could take the front of the panel off and look for the large red and black wires.....

Caution! don't reach into the panel for any reason unless you're 100% sure what you're doing.

Incidentally, what's the project? Why do you need to know which breaker? Are you wiring something else, or unwiring, or what?