There may be times you need to turn your power on or off. You could have a flood or a gas leak. A lightning strike may have tripped your main breaker. Or you could just be doing some DIY home improvement.

If you just need to turn off one branch for DIY work, you can just flip the respective breaker to the off position. Be sure to always use a non-contact voltage detector or a voltmeter to ensure the power is really off. I have a pair of wire cutters to remind me what happens when cutting a live wire. Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt. I will never forget again.

If you need to completely shut off your power or reset your main breaker, there are a couple steps to follow.

  1. Shut off individual circuit breakers, one at a time.
  2. Shut off the main breaker.

The main breaker is often the largest breaker in your panel. It should be labeled as the main. In some homes the main breaker may be located elsewhere inside or outside your home.

Unlike gas, you can turn your main breaker back on by yourself. Just do the steps in reverse.

  1. Turn on the main breaker.
  2. Turn on individual circuit breakers, one at a time.

The reason to turn power on gradually is to avoid a sudden power demand. You’ve probably seen the lights flicker when you turn on a vacuum. This is due to the sudden demand to start the motor. Once spinning the demand goes down some. Turning on the main breaker with the individual breakers on could cause a sudden demand big enough to trip your main breaker.