Circuit Breaker
A resettable safety switch that cuts power automatically when a circuit draws more current than its wiring can safely carry, or when it detects a fault.
Each breaker is matched to the wire it protects: 15-amp breakers on 14-gauge wire, 20-amp on 12-gauge, and so on. When current exceeds the rating long enough to matter, the breaker trips and opens the circuit before the wire in your walls overheats. Modern breakers also come in specialized versions: GFCI breakers watch for current leaking to ground, AFCI breakers listen for the signature of arcing connections.
A breaker that trips is doing its job; the question is why. Occasional trips from a known overload (two heaters, one circuit) are a usage problem. A breaker that trips repeatedly, will not reset, feels hot, or trips the moment it resets points at a real fault and deserves a professional diagnosis. Replacing a breaker with a bigger one to "stop the tripping" removes the protection, not the problem.
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- Electrical Panel (Breaker Box) : The gray metal box where utility power enters your home and splits into individual protected circuits.
- Main Breaker : The single large breaker at the top of your panel that can disconnect the entire house, and whose rating (100, 150, 200 amps) defines your service size.
- Subpanel : A secondary breaker panel fed from the main panel, used to add circuit capacity or put breakers closer to where the power is used: garages, shops, additions, ADUs.
- Bus Bar : The rigid metal bars inside a panel that distribute power to the breakers.