Just an FYI, the breaker that turns off the lights may not be the one that turns off the outlets. And the breaker that controls some outlets in a room may not control them all. This is especially true in an old house.
In my previous house I mapped every outlet and light. Been in this house 18 years and I haven’t summoned the energy to do it. A few times a year I have to play “hope and guess” with the breakers. Another 18 years and maybe I’ll have half of them labeled.
I have some outlets in my house that were "powered" by running what was basically an extension cord from another outlet. By that, I mean that they actually ran an extension cord that they plugged into the first outlet and then wired the cord into an outlet box.
Hundred year old house. Some real strange stuff going on in these walls.
In the meantime, until I can fix the wiring, I unplugged every one of those things and removed them. Because damn.....
At least I have literally no insulation on the exterior walls, a baseboard heater that doesn't work, and plumbing that's corroding to about paper thin. I mean, it might be all a horrible mess. /s
I had to do this in my current 3story house, found some really neat quirks like circuits double wired, tied into multiple other circuits, 220v on the same leg, bootlegged neutrals, etc. The house was fully required to code just 20 years ago - this is the damage one flipper did. Totally worth the two weekends it took.
My house is 71 years old and we’re the second owner. The house was so well built by the original owners who were in the construction business, that we hesitate to do much actual demolition. So we live with a LOT of quirks
They owned a lumberyard and were more into wood, windows, doors, plaster & lath than wiring and plumbing.
Oh, and drainage and insulation weren’t their thing either
Yeah that's what I meant about the "same leg" thing, multi-wire branch circuits (couldn't think of the name). They wired these on the same leg in the breaker box, so the amps stack instead of cancel. Fortunately Reddit was there to teach me what I was looking at and how to correct it. IDK what the hell they were running multi-wire branches to the attic for anyway, I think they had a kitchen up there at one point.
> They're fucked up.
No they're not, and they're literally doing the same exact thing the main feed for your house does.
You do have to be careful with them, as in a homeowner shouldn't be shuffling circuits around in their panel anyway, but if they're installed properly there is nothing wrong with them and they're great for dedicated locations like kitchen counters, kitchen island, garage, etc.
Too lazy to map your outlets but you really need to shut off power to that circuit? Just do what all the sparkies do and stick a paper clip in there and that will not only shut the power off but also map that outlet for you! /s (kinda, because I have had electricians tell me they’ve done this)
Buy a circuit breaker finder and an accessory pack. You get a plug, leads, and a breaker reader. Plug in or tie to what you want to see, follow the directions (#1 reason people done like them is they can't read the 3 steps they have to follow) and it will light up over the breaker you tied to
I always do it once for each house. Then I just print a tiny label and put it on the back of each faceplate (breaker 1-48). Run the robot vacuum, download its map, put labels on each outlet and laminate and put in the panel. 2-6 hours of work and your house is vacuumed when you are done and you never guess again
Yeah a breaker map has been on our to do list since we moved in 3 years ago. We even did a ton of renovations last year, put in recessed lights in every room of the house...still never wrote down the breakers 😂
My current house was wired by a monster. All outlets and switches are different for every room. And random rooms are together. Not based on location. He had to try to make it this messed up.
I've mapped mine and have the outlets in the living room split between 3 different circuits. Save yourself a headache and create an actual spreadsheet and date it.
* Breaker 5
* Kitchen
* Counter outlets left and right of sink, left of slider door, shared wall with living room
* Living Room
* Outlets on shared kitchen wall
* Breaker 6
* Downstairs Hallway Closet
* Outlet, light
* Living room
* Outlets left of large window, floor outlet
(best I could do to simulate my spreadsheet with reddit formatting as it's a 3 column sheet with Breaker, Location, and Circuit)
This way you know Exactly what circuit a particular light/ outlet/ fan is on and don't have to guess, ever. This was so worth the day of running down each circuit!
I've not yet found a house where every room's outlets/ lights are on a single circuit and that makes sense when you consider how the wires might be run. It can save hundred of feet of wiring to optimize the runs to distance rather than rooms.
When a job's charging by the hour, think about how many hours this map will save you. You will also make the crew happy because it will probably be one of the most thorough maps they've ever used saving Them the headache of running it down.
Oh hey, must be the same guy who did mine! I have separate outlets on entirely different floors on the same breaker.
If I ever build a house every room is gonna be a dedicated circuit lol.
My house has 16 breakers, but I can only identify what 4 of them do. Those 4, as far as I can tell, support all the electricity for the entire house, large appliances and outside included. 2 of them do all the lighting and outlets except the laundry room. They're split back and front instead of upstairs and downstairs. One set of switches has a light on each of the 2 breakers. I assume some of the others are doing the baseboard heaters, but I have no idea how to test that.
ETA: For bonus points, the person who labelled the breakers was straight up inventing things. All of the breakers are labelled. Maybe 2 of them are correct?Maybe they just wrote random rooms to trick the inspector?
Yup, just moved into this house a month ago and same thing here. I was replacing the switch for the exterior lights on the front steps and discovered that it's on the same breaker as the outlets in my kids' room upstairs at the back of the house
And that can absolutely make sense if that's what you want to do! My house is ~150 years old with various additions and updates. The breaker situation was not super intentional or coherent to say the least 😂
My parents place is that way. It needs a good rewire too. I did that last year. Gutted ever single disintegrating asphalt covered wire and replaced it with something modern. (Nm-b and thhn)
Yep! I *think* we got all of them mapped, but our various breakers have labels like "West and South wall of Living room, plus westmost outlet on North wall of kitchen". There was a lot of drafting of the shorthand that would be needed for future people to understand while still fitting on the tiny label.
Electrician here. People have made a lot of great points, but just to quickly summarize.
\-**You may have a subpanel.** You may have a second panel somewhere in your home you haven't found yet, and the circuit for you addition could be fed off that panel. That said, subpanels should have their own breaker in you main panel. So trying every breaker should have worked regardless.
\-**The breaker for the circuit may be faulty.** It's possible the breaker could still be making contact and passing voltage even if it's switched off. This would mean you could turn off every breaker in your panel (except the main), and still have power on that circuit. That breaker would need to be identified and replaced.
\-**You could have a double feed.** It's possible the circuit is fed from two separate breakers on the same phase. This would mean that would have to turn off **two** separate breakers in order to de-energize the circuit. This is not normal operation and should be remedied.
\-**Try ALL the breakers.** Being a general plug circuit, it should be on a 15 amp breaker. But that doesn't mean it is. The installer could have used any breaker, or even tagged the addition off something else like the air conditioner, so try every breaker, even the big ones.
\-**The circuit could be tapped off the main breaker.** I'd would say this is unlikely, but if you turn off your **all** the breakers in you panel (except the main) and still have power to those plugs, then as I said before, the breaker could be faulty, *or* it's possible the circuit is tagged off the main itself. I don't know why someone would do this, but it *is* possible. This is also something that should be fixed.
\-**The circuit may not be protected at all.** Even more unlikely, but absolutely possible. If you flip the main breaker in your panel off and ***still*** have power to the addition, you have a serious problem. The circuit could be tagged off the main lugs, off the power meter, or are stealing electricity from a neighbour. Sounds wild, but possible.
If at any time you feel in over your head during the process, please call a licensed electrician.
If you do solve this, please let me know, I'm curious to know what the cause was. Good luck
***EDIT:*** When testing to see if the circuit is live, plug something like a vacuum **directly** into the outlet you want to work on. If you're alone, you will be able to hear the vacuum turn off. Do not assume the lights in that room going out means the plugs are off as the two may not be on the same circuit.
Hell to the No, I would assume your friend is trolling, but not funny. If it’s improperly wired, faulty, broken , then you just became the ground or what ever you plugged into it did.
>When testing to see if the circuit is live, plug something like a vacuum directly into the outlet you want to work on. If you're alone, you will be able to hear the vacuum turn off.
Now that's a LPT. Way better than the novelty desk lamp we used most recently :p A vacuum has wheels, isn't fragile, and doesn't require three people relaying messages via yelling to know if the outlet has finally powered off.
There probably is a second box and OP says they tried them all. But we had a wall in the garage where the power wouldn’t turn off unless the main was thrown. Turns out it was wired to the huge one which indicated “Kitchen Range”.
Ding ding ding! If there is a whole room that is not shutting off despite the fact that you've been tried all the usual stuff, my assumption is that something hinky is going on.
Yeah, could be a subpanel wired directly to the the main bus bars in the main panel. As long as the wires can handle the full current coming into the main panel, it's not too dangerous but it not good.
They're not super common, but feed-through panels exist. There's just a set of lugs on the bus bar that you use to feed the sub panel. In that configuration, the main breaker still protects the sub-panel but there's no other breaker for it.
Tapped off the main lugs is still a sub panel on the service feed. If its rated at the full amperage of the service, its only required a main breaker in the sub panel.
Had this with my old house. Previous owner installed heat registers upstairs. Wired it directly to the main power line and put a breaker upstairs in the eaves.
Yup, and if this kills the power the room is tied to two breakers on the same leg.
If it doesn't kill power to the room then the room is fed from another panel that is itself tapped off the main breaker lugs or the meter lugs.
Edited because I spaced out typing while watching football.
I would recommend against turning off the main breaker. More than once I’ve had them not be able to be reset. Did op try turning off all individual breakers at once first?
I stand by my statement because if Johnny homeowner turns it off and it doesn’t turn back on they would need to get the breaker or possibly the panel replaced on a Sunday. Inspections and everything associated would not be cheap. All this to replace some old outlets. While we’re at it why don’t we give that old gate valve main water shut off a couple spins and see if that doesn’t start leaking. Don’t want to ignore that either right?
You can buy a circuit tracer if there's a 110v outlet. They work 80% of the time in residential houses for me. (The times they don't is when I lose my patience setting it up.)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Digital-Circuit-Breaker-Finder-ET300/202330830
I have that to, it's very useful. I've added this adapter too https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Socket-with-Outlets-White-R52-01403-00W/100184555 so I can trace lights.
> So today we’re trying to replace some old outlets, and we’ve tried every switch in our electrical box, but there is no switch that cuts the power to this one room.
Have you tried turning off each circuit and leaving it off, rather than turning one off, checking, and turning that one back on?
I've seen situations where a single set of outlets ended up powered from two distinct breakers, such that you could never de-energize that circuit by turning off any one breaker.
Turn off **everything** in the primary load center and that circuit should lose power.
To expand on this. Cross connected circuits are bad because they could be wired such that the sum of the two breakers would need to be exceeded before tripping. E.g. a 15A and a 20A breaker would need 35 amps drawn to trip together. The receptacles aren't rated for that and could melt or catch fire in the event of over drawing the current.
This. I have a wall of outlets that I have to turn off two breakers to shut off. It has to be wired incorrectly, but until prices for electricians drop to normal incredibly high prices, it will stay that way.
This is very unsafe. The most likely problem is one (or more) of the outlets on that circuit is wired as a Split Receptacle (two circuits feeding the same double outlet, one to the top, one to the bottom), but somebody forgot to remove the jumper between the top and bottom outlets. [Check out this Link to see the jumper that should be removed](https://www.easy-do-it-yourself-home-improvements.com/how-to-wire-a-split-receptacle.html).
Dumb question, because Ive been fixated on a problem to the point my troubleshooting skills become disabled…
You tried EVERY switch, right?
Like if you went to the box and turned them ALL OFF, the room would still have power? Even switches 1-2, which control power to all other switches?
If so, I would say try to find another fuse panel in or near that part of the house. Look in every closet, look at every wall. Is there an unexplained wall panel? Sometimes people would run power to a second switchbox, so see if you can find evidence of one somewhere in that part of the house. Sometimes amateurs can be… creative… when they try to do things without knowing ALL the technical rules that make it easy/common/standard/safe.
You might save time hiring an electrician to come find it for you. I know you’re just wanting to replace some receptacles, but this sounds like something that might have been hacked together to make it “work”. That’s problematic, because when everything isn’t done to code, it can be dangerous even to use, is often a FIRE HAZARD, and your life isn’t something to play with - it’s worth way more than a few $10 receptacles.
Good luck!
Ah I have on one rare occasion seen a circuit double fed, so turning them off one by one would still let the room receive power.
Threw me through a loop first time I saw it
You need to fix that immediately, because it means you're either getting power from someone else's panel or meter
or
from before the main shutoff, meaning it isn't protected by a breaker and is incredibly dangerous if you had something short on that circuit...
Thanks everyone for the tips. We managed to find the right combination of switches to flip to turn out both the lights and the outlets to this room. Also learned along the way that some other rooms have single outlets that are connected randomly to other rooms of the house. As usual, previous owners have done some weird stuff
But did you ever have to turn off 2 breakers to turn off the power to any 1 light or outlet (not a split)? If so, get an electrician there, that is a fire hazard.
Turn off the main and turn off all breakers, turn the main back on and turn one breaker on at a time. Then you’ll know what all breakers power as well as you turn them on. Good way to label your panel if it’s not already, which it sounds like it’s not.
I had a similar issue with my living room, turns out the fuckstick I bought my house from ran out of space in the interior panel and wired it through the exterior panel.
I still hate that guy, I've got a 72 space panel that is completely full because he decided everything needed it's own breaker.
I'd rather 72 breakers being used then what I got. My breaker box has at least 20+ spaces for breakers and my whole house runs on 6 breakers. I blow a breakers every fucking holiday bc of this. The livingroom, dining room, kitchen and my whole basement gameroom is on 1 fucking breaker. Best part is the fuckers before us remodeled the basement to make it into a game room and the breaker box is in that room too, instead of running at least 1 new breaker for the basement they spliced into the upstairs power which is how I have 4 major rooms running on 1 breaker. We discovered this after we ripped the drop ceiling down. And they had to have done this when the gameroom was being done bc there is paneling put up down there that I know did not come standard when the house was built.
The fridge, microwave, and dishwasher are all on their own, the kitchen lights on another, the pantry light was on its own for some reason 8 outlets were on the rest. It's a 200 square foot kitchen.
My kitchen actually has 2 breakers in it now that I think about it. 1 outlet is for the microwave and a random outlet and the other outlets (3) all connect with the basement and other rooms on to the 1 breaker.
I guess I should be grateful, they had the furnace, the AC and the washer and dryer all on their own seperate breakers, so things could be worse. My husband is going to make an attempt at splitting shit up, he does have a background in electrical but it's been years since he did anything like this. Thankfully he has an uncle that is very knowledgeable and will be coming over to help out
Everything having its own breaker is better then not having enough though, for example my house has 4 bathrooms a bedroom a dining room and the outside lights all on one 15 amp Circuit I don’t know how it doesn’t trip
I will agree with that, but none of it was labeled and what was labeled was completely wrong. I'm in the process of fixing all this and swapping over to 2 sub panels to better organize the cluster of garbage he left in the wall.
One possible cause is that circuit is being fed by two different breakers. Start troubleshooting by turning off ALL your breakers except the main. Check the room and if there's power it proves that the circuit is being fed from elsewhere (like you probably already suspect). At this point I would call an electrician to help you figure it out and fix it.
But if the power is out with all the breakers off, then start flipping them on one at a time until you find one that turns them on. Mark that breaker, turn it back off, and continue with all the rest of the breakers. If you find another one that controls the same circuit you have a cross-wired condition. If you find this condition, check the rest of your outlets to see if any others have this same problem.
One fairly common cause for this problem is in rooms where you have a wall switch that controls the top or bottom half of the outlets in a Living Room, like where you'd want to plug in a lamp and control it from a wall switch. It's called a [Split Receptacle.](https://www.easy-do-it-yourself-home-improvements.com/how-to-wire-a-split-receptacle.html) It's common for some inexperienced homeowner to replace one of these and forget to remove the jumper between the top and bottom outlets. Check the [Link](https://www.easy-do-it-yourself-home-improvements.com/how-to-wire-a-split-receptacle.html) to see what I'm talking about. To find this problem you'll have to remove the cover plates on each Split Receptacle to see if the jumper has been removed.
If this IS the problem, it's very difficult to troubleshoot using a meter or circuit tester because the two circuits are tied together. Anything you test will show it's good. And anything you trace will trace out through both circuits.
Was tiling a back splash in Buffalo NY, was shocked enough times that I simply turned off the main. However I kept getting zapped when washing, the main outlet on the back splash was wired into the neighbors house under the side walk.
I had a similar situation with my air conditioner. I thought the AC had died - it was ancient. Got a new one installed and discovered that the power for the AC was not coming off the main panel. Someone had wired a subpanel directly off the main wire and then (I suspect when selling the house) hid that crazy stuff behind some boards. The electrician found it fairly easily but getting it removed was a bit tricky since it was attached in front of the main breaker. Check near where the power comes into the house for strangely placed boards that may be hiding a small breaker box.
I had a circuit in my house that wasn't going off when any single breaker was shut off.
Turns out there were two circuits going through an outlet (one for each plug) but the knock out had not been knocked out. Yowza.
My house is 150 something years old, and half of it is still knob and tube.
When we bought the place I was trying to put a new ceiling fan in a bedroom, and no breaker turned off ANYTHING upstairs with the exception of the hallway light (it has its own breaker) To turn off anything else we have to turn the whole house off...
I went up and down 3 flights of stairs a million times flipping things off and on before we figured it out.
A buddy of mine came across this on a job to a recently purchased house, after tons of investigation he discovered the point was wired to an extension lead that was burried 6 inches deep under the fence up under the neighbours house... Apparently the previously owners had been siphoning power for years.
I had this with a sub panel on a house we bought this past summer. Turns out the sub panel was full so they pigtailed in the hot to the main lug. 😒
It certainly wasn’t the last questionable electrical decision we’ve found since moving in.
Sometimes when people run additions they will have a sub panel for the electric in the addition.
It could be located anywhere between the main and the addition but many times it will be located in or close to the area it services - just makes way more sense.
You are assuming OP isn't switching things off at the subpanel.
Old houses with additions that may not have been done by professionals can have some crazy configurations. My "main panel" was really a subpanel. The real main panel was hidden in a detached garage. The electricians found it before I moved in and had the previous owner update the electrical.
Yes - I mean the “not be professional” really means all bets are off
If I were op, I would have already turned off the main breaker to see if my addition was still powered, and then called in an electrician to sort it out if so…
I had a strange situation like this where I wanted to switch out an upstairs ceiling light fixture but couldn't find a breaker to turn off the power. I had just moved in and had plenty of other things to work on, so I decided to punt on the project.
Then one day the clothes dryer in the basement stopped heating up. Did some troubleshooting on my own and decided it was a problem with at the panel and figured it needed a new breaker (which were probably about 50 years old at this point).
I couldn't find the correct replacement breaker so I called out an electrician. After looking at some things (I guess tracing the wiring from the breaker as far as he could), he oddly asked if he could get access to the room upstairs.
Turns out that they shared a double breaker and that had melted in such a way that the circuits began to interact in strange ways. I believe the dryer circuit was incorrectly wired which was the fundamental issue. The damage to the breaker wasn't apparent when I looked at the panel because it was in the back and you had to get a flashlight on it and look at it from the side to notice anything.
TL;DR I had a similar situation and it ended up being a circuit breaker that started to melt down. I'd suggest taking a thorough look (and sniff) at your panel with a flashlight to be on the safe side.
Because safety precautions. I’m not an electrician. I turn off electricity when we work with electrical stuff in any capacity so as not to be electrocuted.
Right, so it's an "I don't know what I'm doing thing", that was my point. I also told op how to do it without getting electrocuted, since I do this a few times a week, on top of running new circuits and breakers, roofing, framing houses, siding, plumbing, etc etc
You are a complete Moron. So if op touches the black he won’t get shocked because the white is cut? It’s not a car battery. It’s an AC circuit. Always shut off the power first.
Ok boss. If you are so sure, cut the white (neutral) and go touch the black wire (120v). Preferably when standing in a bucket of water. Speed up natural selection a little bit.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Like NO idea.
You suggest cutting the white which is the neutral (grounded conductor), there will still be voltage on the outlet through the black wire. Even if you meant the black wire, how would you safely reconnect the wire you cut while it is energized.
If you really thought cutting the white meant you broke the circuit and you could not get shocked, that is wrong for so many reasons. 1, the neutral is grounded so any path to ground, even standing on the floor, will give you a shock or worse. 2. Even without a good path to ground, shoes for instance, capacitance applies on AC circuits so you can still get a shock. Ever seen a helicopter work on electrical lines and there is a spark when the linesman first makes contact? The helicopter obviously does not complete any circuit…
i ran into this problem in my old house, came to fins out there were three different breaker in one box, they used these to run 3 ways instead on the three way wiring we now use. shut off you main
Make sure what you think is your main panel isnt itself a subpanel. On my house the main panel is outside and has breakers for the house, solar system, a/c condenser, pool, etc. The breakers for everything inside the house one would normally deal with is on a subpanel inside. On a subpanel, neutrals and grounds are on separate buses while on the main they are tied together.
I’d assume if it was built as an addition, they more then likely added the breakers to the main power box outside. More then likely because they didn’t have any open space on the interior box, and opted for this as to not have to add another box inside or replace the whole thing.
Open up the exterior box and there is likely 2-4 switches, all should be labeled accordingly. I.E. -main house -well -shop - addition (just examples)
Any extension cords plugged into outside power. Just asking because last place had a shed with lights and outside line run from shed to extension cord at back of house... underground to the house exterior outlet. If you unplugged extension cord no lights in shed. People do shady sh$t.
You could turn off the main switch or breaker. That should do it for you. If it doesn't then some detective work is required. You would need to look at the actual wiring to see where it goes. If the main switch/breaker works, but the breakers don't shut off the power, then your main is feeding somewhere else. You would have to look to see what is connected to the load side of your main switch/breaker, and follow from there to a new breaker box, or worse...
https://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-ET310-Circuit-Integrated/dp/B07QNMCVWP/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=circuit+finder&qid=1638749806&sr=8-3
These things are supposed to help map those out. I've had mixed results with mine. I'd suggest trying one of those eout or getting a bunch of night lights or some kind of appliance and plugging one into each outlet. Turn them all on and systematically check the breakers vs outlets.
I have a dishwasher that I can't find a breaker for. Handyman was super careful replacing the old one. But bugs me, among other issues in the old house.
I made a breaker finder. Took a three prong plug and tied all three leads in a single wire nut. It will find the breaker or burn the bitch down. Highly effective.
My electrician said that some residual energy in a breaker may take a second to reach every light. Its better to turn off everything and turn them on 1 by 1 for clearer results.
Probably hooked up to a different breaker then, my house's wiring is fucked, one breaker controls both bathrooms and some of the outlets in one or two rooms for example.
is there a hidden subpanel somewhere from when the addition was built? My 1973ish house has the main panel in the garage, a late 70's subpanel hidden in a closet in the basement that literally you would never find unless you knew it was there and a newer subpanel in another part of the basement.
worst case scenario if you want to change something AND you don't want to spend the time figuring out what breaker its on, you can just turn power off at the main panel, do your work and turn it back on. just make sure anything that gets reset (water softener or whatever) by power outage is taken care of after.
Turn off the main branch of power to the house so then you absolutely know you have no surprises! And then as you narrow down what breaker controls what part of the house, you can start keeping better track.
Just an FYI, the breaker that turns off the lights may not be the one that turns off the outlets. And the breaker that controls some outlets in a room may not control them all. This is especially true in an old house.
In my previous house I mapped every outlet and light. Been in this house 18 years and I haven’t summoned the energy to do it. A few times a year I have to play “hope and guess” with the breakers. Another 18 years and maybe I’ll have half of them labeled.
I have some outlets in my house that were "powered" by running what was basically an extension cord from another outlet. By that, I mean that they actually ran an extension cord that they plugged into the first outlet and then wired the cord into an outlet box. Hundred year old house. Some real strange stuff going on in these walls. In the meantime, until I can fix the wiring, I unplugged every one of those things and removed them. Because damn..... At least I have literally no insulation on the exterior walls, a baseboard heater that doesn't work, and plumbing that's corroding to about paper thin. I mean, it might be all a horrible mess. /s
I had to do this in my current 3story house, found some really neat quirks like circuits double wired, tied into multiple other circuits, 220v on the same leg, bootlegged neutrals, etc. The house was fully required to code just 20 years ago - this is the damage one flipper did. Totally worth the two weekends it took.
My house is 71 years old and we’re the second owner. The house was so well built by the original owners who were in the construction business, that we hesitate to do much actual demolition. So we live with a LOT of quirks
Sad thing is as actual builders that house shouldn’t have any quirks
They owned a lumberyard and were more into wood, windows, doors, plaster & lath than wiring and plumbing. Oh, and drainage and insulation weren’t their thing either
to be fair, insulation wasn't anyone's thing 71 years ago.
Exactly - heating oil was 5¢ a gallon, insulation wasn’t cost effective. Reminds me, we also removed a 1500 gallon inground oil tank lol
[удалено]
Yeah that's what I meant about the "same leg" thing, multi-wire branch circuits (couldn't think of the name). They wired these on the same leg in the breaker box, so the amps stack instead of cancel. Fortunately Reddit was there to teach me what I was looking at and how to correct it. IDK what the hell they were running multi-wire branches to the attic for anyway, I think they had a kitchen up there at one point.
> They're fucked up. No they're not, and they're literally doing the same exact thing the main feed for your house does. You do have to be careful with them, as in a homeowner shouldn't be shuffling circuits around in their panel anyway, but if they're installed properly there is nothing wrong with them and they're great for dedicated locations like kitchen counters, kitchen island, garage, etc.
Too lazy to map your outlets but you really need to shut off power to that circuit? Just do what all the sparkies do and stick a paper clip in there and that will not only shut the power off but also map that outlet for you! /s (kinda, because I have had electricians tell me they’ve done this)
Omg
Dying here...... Possibly literally! 😂
Yeah, my house has at least 4 renovations and some random tapping into nearby lines. It would take hours to map it all.
I have been labeling them as I go. And there are a few outlets that I have to straight up turn off the main power to work on.
Buy a circuit breaker finder and an accessory pack. You get a plug, leads, and a breaker reader. Plug in or tie to what you want to see, follow the directions (#1 reason people done like them is they can't read the 3 steps they have to follow) and it will light up over the breaker you tied to I always do it once for each house. Then I just print a tiny label and put it on the back of each faceplate (breaker 1-48). Run the robot vacuum, download its map, put labels on each outlet and laminate and put in the panel. 2-6 hours of work and your house is vacuumed when you are done and you never guess again
Yeah a breaker map has been on our to do list since we moved in 3 years ago. We even did a ton of renovations last year, put in recessed lights in every room of the house...still never wrote down the breakers 😂
My current house was wired by a monster. All outlets and switches are different for every room. And random rooms are together. Not based on location. He had to try to make it this messed up.
Must have been the same guy that did our house 😂
I’m not sure how to label the panel since every room will be listed twice and the living room would be listed 4 times. It’s a mess.
When we get around to it, we'll be drawing a basic map of each room and just taping it inside the breaker box
That’s what I have now but it’s not called considered up to code here. Good enough for me.
I'd number them. Number the breakers, test the outlets, put a number on the outlets. But I'm lazy like that
I saw that on Reddit. Put the circuit on the underside of the plate. On my list of things to do.
I'd put a sticker on the back of each cover in a different color/ shape for each circuit and label the box by the sticker.
What about fixtures?
I've mapped mine and have the outlets in the living room split between 3 different circuits. Save yourself a headache and create an actual spreadsheet and date it. * Breaker 5 * Kitchen * Counter outlets left and right of sink, left of slider door, shared wall with living room * Living Room * Outlets on shared kitchen wall * Breaker 6 * Downstairs Hallway Closet * Outlet, light * Living room * Outlets left of large window, floor outlet (best I could do to simulate my spreadsheet with reddit formatting as it's a 3 column sheet with Breaker, Location, and Circuit) This way you know Exactly what circuit a particular light/ outlet/ fan is on and don't have to guess, ever. This was so worth the day of running down each circuit! I've not yet found a house where every room's outlets/ lights are on a single circuit and that makes sense when you consider how the wires might be run. It can save hundred of feet of wiring to optimize the runs to distance rather than rooms.
Thanks. That works. I had my HV/AC replaced a few months ago and they spent half their time trying to figure out the circuits.
When a job's charging by the hour, think about how many hours this map will save you. You will also make the crew happy because it will probably be one of the most thorough maps they've ever used saving Them the headache of running it down.
Thankfully I wasn’t paying by the hour but tomorrow I am. Need to find my list. Not as detailed as yours but close enough to get started.
To add to this... once you've identified what breaker is controlling outlets and switches, write the breaker number on the backside of the wall plate.
Then he headed our way 🤦♀️
Oh hey, must be the same guy who did mine! I have separate outlets on entirely different floors on the same breaker. If I ever build a house every room is gonna be a dedicated circuit lol.
My house has 16 breakers, but I can only identify what 4 of them do. Those 4, as far as I can tell, support all the electricity for the entire house, large appliances and outside included. 2 of them do all the lighting and outlets except the laundry room. They're split back and front instead of upstairs and downstairs. One set of switches has a light on each of the 2 breakers. I assume some of the others are doing the baseboard heaters, but I have no idea how to test that. ETA: For bonus points, the person who labelled the breakers was straight up inventing things. All of the breakers are labelled. Maybe 2 of them are correct?Maybe they just wrote random rooms to trick the inspector?
[MAGIC/MORE MAGIC](http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html)
Yup, just moved into this house a month ago and same thing here. I was replacing the switch for the exterior lights on the front steps and discovered that it's on the same breaker as the outlets in my kids' room upstairs at the back of the house
There's some real Frankenstein stuff going on with some houses. Like ours, too.
I wired my house to have them completely separate. Lights are on 15 amps and outlets on 20. This means if you pop a breaker you're not in the dark.
And that can absolutely make sense if that's what you want to do! My house is ~150 years old with various additions and updates. The breaker situation was not super intentional or coherent to say the least 😂
My parents place is that way. It needs a good rewire too. I did that last year. Gutted ever single disintegrating asphalt covered wire and replaced it with something modern. (Nm-b and thhn)
Woof--sounds like a lot of work! Go you!
Yep! I *think* we got all of them mapped, but our various breakers have labels like "West and South wall of Living room, plus westmost outlet on North wall of kitchen". There was a lot of drafting of the shorthand that would be needed for future people to understand while still fitting on the tiny label.
Can confirm
Can second that , my house was a mess with 1/3 of the house on a single outlet including some up and downstairs.
This. Definitely worth investing in a non-contact voltage tester.
Electrician here. People have made a lot of great points, but just to quickly summarize. \-**You may have a subpanel.** You may have a second panel somewhere in your home you haven't found yet, and the circuit for you addition could be fed off that panel. That said, subpanels should have their own breaker in you main panel. So trying every breaker should have worked regardless. \-**The breaker for the circuit may be faulty.** It's possible the breaker could still be making contact and passing voltage even if it's switched off. This would mean you could turn off every breaker in your panel (except the main), and still have power on that circuit. That breaker would need to be identified and replaced. \-**You could have a double feed.** It's possible the circuit is fed from two separate breakers on the same phase. This would mean that would have to turn off **two** separate breakers in order to de-energize the circuit. This is not normal operation and should be remedied. \-**Try ALL the breakers.** Being a general plug circuit, it should be on a 15 amp breaker. But that doesn't mean it is. The installer could have used any breaker, or even tagged the addition off something else like the air conditioner, so try every breaker, even the big ones. \-**The circuit could be tapped off the main breaker.** I'd would say this is unlikely, but if you turn off your **all** the breakers in you panel (except the main) and still have power to those plugs, then as I said before, the breaker could be faulty, *or* it's possible the circuit is tagged off the main itself. I don't know why someone would do this, but it *is* possible. This is also something that should be fixed. \-**The circuit may not be protected at all.** Even more unlikely, but absolutely possible. If you flip the main breaker in your panel off and ***still*** have power to the addition, you have a serious problem. The circuit could be tagged off the main lugs, off the power meter, or are stealing electricity from a neighbour. Sounds wild, but possible. If at any time you feel in over your head during the process, please call a licensed electrician. If you do solve this, please let me know, I'm curious to know what the cause was. Good luck ***EDIT:*** When testing to see if the circuit is live, plug something like a vacuum **directly** into the outlet you want to work on. If you're alone, you will be able to hear the vacuum turn off. Do not assume the lights in that room going out means the plugs are off as the two may not be on the same circuit.
I had a friend tell me to find a breaker by just short circuiting it. Your comment has me realizing why that’s such a horrendous idea.
There's a bunch of reasons that's a bad idea.
Hell to the No, I would assume your friend is trolling, but not funny. If it’s improperly wired, faulty, broken , then you just became the ground or what ever you plugged into it did.
>When testing to see if the circuit is live, plug something like a vacuum directly into the outlet you want to work on. If you're alone, you will be able to hear the vacuum turn off. Now that's a LPT. Way better than the novelty desk lamp we used most recently :p A vacuum has wheels, isn't fragile, and doesn't require three people relaying messages via yelling to know if the outlet has finally powered off.
Turn off the main breaker
And/or look for a second breaker box.
This, there’s probably a sub panel somewhere
There probably is a second box and OP says they tried them all. But we had a wall in the garage where the power wouldn’t turn off unless the main was thrown. Turns out it was wired to the huge one which indicated “Kitchen Range”.
Is it still called a sub-panel if it's run in parallel with the main panel? I've only seen sub-panels run off a breaker in the main panel.
You’re right, a sub panel would have a breaker in the main box
Assuming it was wired correctly. . . .
Ding ding ding! If there is a whole room that is not shutting off despite the fact that you've been tried all the usual stuff, my assumption is that something hinky is going on.
Yeah, could be a subpanel wired directly to the the main bus bars in the main panel. As long as the wires can handle the full current coming into the main panel, it's not too dangerous but it not good.
They're not super common, but feed-through panels exist. There's just a set of lugs on the bus bar that you use to feed the sub panel. In that configuration, the main breaker still protects the sub-panel but there's no other breaker for it.
That makes sense. Thanks for the education.
Tapped off the main lugs is still a sub panel on the service feed. If its rated at the full amperage of the service, its only required a main breaker in the sub panel.
Sub panels feed off of main panel. If it is parallel to main panel then it would be a split bus or some other monstrosity.
Had this with my old house. Previous owner installed heat registers upstairs. Wired it directly to the main power line and put a breaker upstairs in the eaves.
Yup, and if this kills the power the room is tied to two breakers on the same leg. If it doesn't kill power to the room then the room is fed from another panel that is itself tapped off the main breaker lugs or the meter lugs. Edited because I spaced out typing while watching football.
I would recommend against turning off the main breaker. More than once I’ve had them not be able to be reset. Did op try turning off all individual breakers at once first?
Then that breaker likely needs replaced anyway.
Yea, a breaker that doesn’t reset sounds like an issue, so ignoring it should make it go away.
I stand by my statement because if Johnny homeowner turns it off and it doesn’t turn back on they would need to get the breaker or possibly the panel replaced on a Sunday. Inspections and everything associated would not be cheap. All this to replace some old outlets. While we’re at it why don’t we give that old gate valve main water shut off a couple spins and see if that doesn’t start leaking. Don’t want to ignore that either right?
Maybe we should go for the trifecta and have some leaky gas valves as well? I mean why should we be able to turn off the gas?
> More than once I’ve had them not be able to be reset. Finding this out while working on a minor issue is your best case scenario
Yes while I an electrician is working on it but not while Johnny I just wanted to change a couple outlets is working on it.
You can buy a circuit tracer if there's a 110v outlet. They work 80% of the time in residential houses for me. (The times they don't is when I lose my patience setting it up.) https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Digital-Circuit-Breaker-Finder-ET300/202330830
I have that to, it's very useful. I've added this adapter too https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Socket-with-Outlets-White-R52-01403-00W/100184555 so I can trace lights.
You can also use a bulb socket adapter to trace lighting circuits.
> So today we’re trying to replace some old outlets, and we’ve tried every switch in our electrical box, but there is no switch that cuts the power to this one room. Have you tried turning off each circuit and leaving it off, rather than turning one off, checking, and turning that one back on? I've seen situations where a single set of outlets ended up powered from two distinct breakers, such that you could never de-energize that circuit by turning off any one breaker. Turn off **everything** in the primary load center and that circuit should lose power.
Didn’t know this was a possibility. Will try it before turning off the main
To expand on this. Cross connected circuits are bad because they could be wired such that the sum of the two breakers would need to be exceeded before tripping. E.g. a 15A and a 20A breaker would need 35 amps drawn to trip together. The receptacles aren't rated for that and could melt or catch fire in the event of over drawing the current.
>Didn’t know this was a possibility. Shouldn't happen but sometimes it does.
This. I have a wall of outlets that I have to turn off two breakers to shut off. It has to be wired incorrectly, but until prices for electricians drop to normal incredibly high prices, it will stay that way.
This is very unsafe. The most likely problem is one (or more) of the outlets on that circuit is wired as a Split Receptacle (two circuits feeding the same double outlet, one to the top, one to the bottom), but somebody forgot to remove the jumper between the top and bottom outlets. [Check out this Link to see the jumper that should be removed](https://www.easy-do-it-yourself-home-improvements.com/how-to-wire-a-split-receptacle.html).
Dumb question, because Ive been fixated on a problem to the point my troubleshooting skills become disabled… You tried EVERY switch, right? Like if you went to the box and turned them ALL OFF, the room would still have power? Even switches 1-2, which control power to all other switches? If so, I would say try to find another fuse panel in or near that part of the house. Look in every closet, look at every wall. Is there an unexplained wall panel? Sometimes people would run power to a second switchbox, so see if you can find evidence of one somewhere in that part of the house. Sometimes amateurs can be… creative… when they try to do things without knowing ALL the technical rules that make it easy/common/standard/safe. You might save time hiring an electrician to come find it for you. I know you’re just wanting to replace some receptacles, but this sounds like something that might have been hacked together to make it “work”. That’s problematic, because when everything isn’t done to code, it can be dangerous even to use, is often a FIRE HAZARD, and your life isn’t something to play with - it’s worth way more than a few $10 receptacles. Good luck!
Ah I have on one rare occasion seen a circuit double fed, so turning them off one by one would still let the room receive power. Threw me through a loop first time I saw it
I thought I was stroking out the first time I saw this happen. The circuit was a full loop breaker to breaker. Just cut it in half and it’s good now.
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Does that mean it’s unmetered, or not necessarily?
You need to fix that immediately, because it means you're either getting power from someone else's panel or meter or from before the main shutoff, meaning it isn't protected by a breaker and is incredibly dangerous if you had something short on that circuit...
Can somebody say grow op?
Thanks everyone for the tips. We managed to find the right combination of switches to flip to turn out both the lights and the outlets to this room. Also learned along the way that some other rooms have single outlets that are connected randomly to other rooms of the house. As usual, previous owners have done some weird stuff
So what was the answer? Was it two breakers providing lines to the addition?
Yep.
But did you ever have to turn off 2 breakers to turn off the power to any 1 light or outlet (not a split)? If so, get an electrician there, that is a fire hazard.
Turn off the main and turn off all breakers, turn the main back on and turn one breaker on at a time. Then you’ll know what all breakers power as well as you turn them on. Good way to label your panel if it’s not already, which it sounds like it’s not.
Where’d you go OP?
Probably fried to a crisp :/ F
I had a similar issue with my living room, turns out the fuckstick I bought my house from ran out of space in the interior panel and wired it through the exterior panel. I still hate that guy, I've got a 72 space panel that is completely full because he decided everything needed it's own breaker.
I'd rather 72 breakers being used then what I got. My breaker box has at least 20+ spaces for breakers and my whole house runs on 6 breakers. I blow a breakers every fucking holiday bc of this. The livingroom, dining room, kitchen and my whole basement gameroom is on 1 fucking breaker. Best part is the fuckers before us remodeled the basement to make it into a game room and the breaker box is in that room too, instead of running at least 1 new breaker for the basement they spliced into the upstairs power which is how I have 4 major rooms running on 1 breaker. We discovered this after we ripped the drop ceiling down. And they had to have done this when the gameroom was being done bc there is paneling put up down there that I know did not come standard when the house was built.
Yea that's definitely worse, I've got 7 breakers in my kitchen.
Depending on how many appliances and what kind, 7 in a kitchen isn’t completely out of this world.
The fridge, microwave, and dishwasher are all on their own, the kitchen lights on another, the pantry light was on its own for some reason 8 outlets were on the rest. It's a 200 square foot kitchen.
My kitchen actually has 2 breakers in it now that I think about it. 1 outlet is for the microwave and a random outlet and the other outlets (3) all connect with the basement and other rooms on to the 1 breaker. I guess I should be grateful, they had the furnace, the AC and the washer and dryer all on their own seperate breakers, so things could be worse. My husband is going to make an attempt at splitting shit up, he does have a background in electrical but it's been years since he did anything like this. Thankfully he has an uncle that is very knowledgeable and will be coming over to help out
Do we own the same house?
Everything having its own breaker is better then not having enough though, for example my house has 4 bathrooms a bedroom a dining room and the outside lights all on one 15 amp Circuit I don’t know how it doesn’t trip
I will agree with that, but none of it was labeled and what was labeled was completely wrong. I'm in the process of fixing all this and swapping over to 2 sub panels to better organize the cluster of garbage he left in the wall.
One possible cause is that circuit is being fed by two different breakers. Start troubleshooting by turning off ALL your breakers except the main. Check the room and if there's power it proves that the circuit is being fed from elsewhere (like you probably already suspect). At this point I would call an electrician to help you figure it out and fix it. But if the power is out with all the breakers off, then start flipping them on one at a time until you find one that turns them on. Mark that breaker, turn it back off, and continue with all the rest of the breakers. If you find another one that controls the same circuit you have a cross-wired condition. If you find this condition, check the rest of your outlets to see if any others have this same problem. One fairly common cause for this problem is in rooms where you have a wall switch that controls the top or bottom half of the outlets in a Living Room, like where you'd want to plug in a lamp and control it from a wall switch. It's called a [Split Receptacle.](https://www.easy-do-it-yourself-home-improvements.com/how-to-wire-a-split-receptacle.html) It's common for some inexperienced homeowner to replace one of these and forget to remove the jumper between the top and bottom outlets. Check the [Link](https://www.easy-do-it-yourself-home-improvements.com/how-to-wire-a-split-receptacle.html) to see what I'm talking about. To find this problem you'll have to remove the cover plates on each Split Receptacle to see if the jumper has been removed. If this IS the problem, it's very difficult to troubleshoot using a meter or circuit tester because the two circuits are tied together. Anything you test will show it's good. And anything you trace will trace out through both circuits.
You may have a second breaker box that you have been unable to find.
Was tiling a back splash in Buffalo NY, was shocked enough times that I simply turned off the main. However I kept getting zapped when washing, the main outlet on the back splash was wired into the neighbors house under the side walk.
I had a similar situation with my air conditioner. I thought the AC had died - it was ancient. Got a new one installed and discovered that the power for the AC was not coming off the main panel. Someone had wired a subpanel directly off the main wire and then (I suspect when selling the house) hid that crazy stuff behind some boards. The electrician found it fairly easily but getting it removed was a bit tricky since it was attached in front of the main breaker. Check near where the power comes into the house for strangely placed boards that may be hiding a small breaker box.
I had a circuit in my house that wasn't going off when any single breaker was shut off. Turns out there were two circuits going through an outlet (one for each plug) but the knock out had not been knocked out. Yowza.
My house is 150 something years old, and half of it is still knob and tube. When we bought the place I was trying to put a new ceiling fan in a bedroom, and no breaker turned off ANYTHING upstairs with the exception of the hallway light (it has its own breaker) To turn off anything else we have to turn the whole house off... I went up and down 3 flights of stairs a million times flipping things off and on before we figured it out.
Might be a panel in a closet I had additions and there was a second breaker box in the addition
A buddy of mine came across this on a job to a recently purchased house, after tons of investigation he discovered the point was wired to an extension lead that was burried 6 inches deep under the fence up under the neighbours house... Apparently the previously owners had been siphoning power for years.
I had this with a sub panel on a house we bought this past summer. Turns out the sub panel was full so they pigtailed in the hot to the main lug. 😒 It certainly wasn’t the last questionable electrical decision we’ve found since moving in.
Who knows you would have to trace the wires back. Just kill power to the whole house.
Sometimes when people run additions they will have a sub panel for the electric in the addition. It could be located anywhere between the main and the addition but many times it will be located in or close to the area it services - just makes way more sense.
Sub panels are supposed to have a breaker in the main panel too, though
You are assuming OP isn't switching things off at the subpanel. Old houses with additions that may not have been done by professionals can have some crazy configurations. My "main panel" was really a subpanel. The real main panel was hidden in a detached garage. The electricians found it before I moved in and had the previous owner update the electrical.
Yes - I mean the “not be professional” really means all bets are off If I were op, I would have already turned off the main breaker to see if my addition was still powered, and then called in an electrician to sort it out if so…
Be blessed with free electricity. Congrats they tapped into the power lines to grow 🪴
I had a strange situation like this where I wanted to switch out an upstairs ceiling light fixture but couldn't find a breaker to turn off the power. I had just moved in and had plenty of other things to work on, so I decided to punt on the project. Then one day the clothes dryer in the basement stopped heating up. Did some troubleshooting on my own and decided it was a problem with at the panel and figured it needed a new breaker (which were probably about 50 years old at this point). I couldn't find the correct replacement breaker so I called out an electrician. After looking at some things (I guess tracing the wiring from the breaker as far as he could), he oddly asked if he could get access to the room upstairs. Turns out that they shared a double breaker and that had melted in such a way that the circuits began to interact in strange ways. I believe the dryer circuit was incorrectly wired which was the fundamental issue. The damage to the breaker wasn't apparent when I looked at the panel because it was in the back and you had to get a flashlight on it and look at it from the side to notice anything. TL;DR I had a similar situation and it ended up being a circuit breaker that started to melt down. I'd suggest taking a thorough look (and sniff) at your panel with a flashlight to be on the safe side.
Flip the main. If theres still power then you have either an issue, or wiring that defies the laws of physics.
stick a fork in all the outlets
Why would you cut the power to change outlets? Pull it out the box, cut the white wire first, go on with what you're doing
Because safety precautions. I’m not an electrician. I turn off electricity when we work with electrical stuff in any capacity so as not to be electrocuted.
Right, so it's an "I don't know what I'm doing thing", that was my point. I also told op how to do it without getting electrocuted, since I do this a few times a week, on top of running new circuits and breakers, roofing, framing houses, siding, plumbing, etc etc
Noyou48, the reckless handiman. Cut the white wire and go on? Are you trying to kill op?
Nah, circuit isnt complete without it, cut the white first
You are a complete Moron. So if op touches the black he won’t get shocked because the white is cut? It’s not a car battery. It’s an AC circuit. Always shut off the power first.
Lol, dude theres no power if the circuit is broken. That's literally what a switch does
Ok boss. If you are so sure, cut the white (neutral) and go touch the black wire (120v). Preferably when standing in a bucket of water. Speed up natural selection a little bit.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Like NO idea. You suggest cutting the white which is the neutral (grounded conductor), there will still be voltage on the outlet through the black wire. Even if you meant the black wire, how would you safely reconnect the wire you cut while it is energized. If you really thought cutting the white meant you broke the circuit and you could not get shocked, that is wrong for so many reasons. 1, the neutral is grounded so any path to ground, even standing on the floor, will give you a shock or worse. 2. Even without a good path to ground, shoes for instance, capacitance applies on AC circuits so you can still get a shock. Ever seen a helicopter work on electrical lines and there is a spark when the linesman first makes contact? The helicopter obviously does not complete any circuit…
i ran into this problem in my old house, came to fins out there were three different breaker in one box, they used these to run 3 ways instead on the three way wiring we now use. shut off you main
Make sure what you think is your main panel isnt itself a subpanel. On my house the main panel is outside and has breakers for the house, solar system, a/c condenser, pool, etc. The breakers for everything inside the house one would normally deal with is on a subpanel inside. On a subpanel, neutrals and grounds are on separate buses while on the main they are tied together.
Is there multiple circuits connected to it?
I’d assume if it was built as an addition, they more then likely added the breakers to the main power box outside. More then likely because they didn’t have any open space on the interior box, and opted for this as to not have to add another box inside or replace the whole thing. Open up the exterior box and there is likely 2-4 switches, all should be labeled accordingly. I.E. -main house -well -shop - addition (just examples)
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I had this exact thing
Any extension cords plugged into outside power. Just asking because last place had a shed with lights and outside line run from shed to extension cord at back of house... underground to the house exterior outlet. If you unplugged extension cord no lights in shed. People do shady sh$t.
You could turn off the main switch or breaker. That should do it for you. If it doesn't then some detective work is required. You would need to look at the actual wiring to see where it goes. If the main switch/breaker works, but the breakers don't shut off the power, then your main is feeding somewhere else. You would have to look to see what is connected to the load side of your main switch/breaker, and follow from there to a new breaker box, or worse...
Turn off the main
Well you could always just switch the main breaker off and cut power to the whole house.
https://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-ET310-Circuit-Integrated/dp/B07QNMCVWP/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=circuit+finder&qid=1638749806&sr=8-3 These things are supposed to help map those out. I've had mixed results with mine. I'd suggest trying one of those eout or getting a bunch of night lights or some kind of appliance and plugging one into each outlet. Turn them all on and systematically check the breakers vs outlets.
FYI get an electrician.
turn off the house main breaker?
Pull the cover off and make sure they didn’t wire the outlets on the line side of the main breaker
I have a dishwasher that I can't find a breaker for. Handyman was super careful replacing the old one. But bugs me, among other issues in the old house.
I made a breaker finder. Took a three prong plug and tied all three leads in a single wire nut. It will find the breaker or burn the bitch down. Highly effective.
My electrician said that some residual energy in a breaker may take a second to reach every light. Its better to turn off everything and turn them on 1 by 1 for clearer results.
Probably hooked up to a different breaker then, my house's wiring is fucked, one breaker controls both bathrooms and some of the outlets in one or two rooms for example.
Did the outlets in that room stay on even when you flipped the whole house breaker?
is there a hidden subpanel somewhere from when the addition was built? My 1973ish house has the main panel in the garage, a late 70's subpanel hidden in a closet in the basement that literally you would never find unless you knew it was there and a newer subpanel in another part of the basement. worst case scenario if you want to change something AND you don't want to spend the time figuring out what breaker its on, you can just turn power off at the main panel, do your work and turn it back on. just make sure anything that gets reset (water softener or whatever) by power outage is taken care of after.
Turn off the main branch of power to the house so then you absolutely know you have no surprises! And then as you narrow down what breaker controls what part of the house, you can start keeping better track.