What your electric panel actually does
Most parts of your home are so obviously easy to understand: the washing machine washes your clothes. The dishwasher does your dishes. The sink gives you water. The oven gets hot. The smoke detector is supposed to warn you about fires, but generally just beeps at you when you’re trying to cook.
The answer is actually simple — and understanding it can give you a better idea of how your home works. But, of course, there’s no default owners’ manual for a home that teaches you what you need to know about a breaker, so most people’s experience is something like this:
These experiences may have taught you that the breaker is important, which is true. This essay is going to teach you what it actually does, how it works, and what all the numbers on it mean. Because it is, fortunately, a lot less complicated than it sounds.
Think of your breaker as a router: it takes the electricity from your utility and distributes it in usable quantities throughout your home.
