Andy asks:
On another thread, a poster mentioned numbering the electrical outlets to match the circuit breakers in the panel. While that sounds like a good idea to me, I can't figure out how to do this and have the outlets still look acceptable. Has anyone here done this in a manner that their wives think looks good ?
Andy in Eureka, Texas
Get some graph paper, and make a floorplan of your house- doesn't have to be exactly to scale, just close enough to tell what the rooms are . Mark all your outlets and light fixtures on the diagram. Next to each outlet and fixture, put the number of the breaker that controls it. Note that few houses are 1 room per breaker, and power strings often jump around the house. Attach the diagram to the wall next to the service panel.
I need to do that for this place, but living alone, it would be a major pain, even with a signal tracer. Lots of trips up and down the stairs. With 2 people and a pair of walkie-talkies, no big deal.
-- aem sends...
You could make a diagram to put on the wall by the panel; that's what we have. If you wife is fussy, she can duplicate it in cross stitch and frame it.
You can write on the other side of the cover plate. Be careful not to over tighten those screws if you have plastic plates.
I just make a rough sketch of each room showing all the outlets and fixtures, and label them with the breaker number. I hang the sketch by the breaker box.
You can number each box by writing on the inside of the cover plate, but then you have to remove the plate to look at the number. Better than guess and check, though.
A secondary advantage of the sketch is that it can give you hints about how the wiring runs were made, by seeing what things are on the same circuit and thinking about how one would run wire between them.
HTH,
Paul F.
Sharpie pen. ON THE outlet itself behind the cover. Been doing it for years.
s
How many circuit breakers to you have?
Assign a letter of the alphabet to each breaker and then write or scratch a smaller letter on the bottom edge of each receptacle cover at a spot that is least noticeable? Scratching or engraving would be least intrusive, I would think.
"aemeijers" wrote .
Snicker, forgive me for being simple but we did this a bit differently. I took the cover plates off and put the label on the inside with a permanent marker then put the plates back on. Unless you pull a grunch of them off at once and mix them up, it works fine.
"Phisherman" wrote
;-) Great minds think alike. Just posted the same thing.
I did a quick paper layout of my place, on typing paper. Went through the house, checking sockets. Put the paper next to the panel box.
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