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bob_cville

Tracing Electrical Circuits

bob_cville
17 years ago

Greetings all,

I'm in the process of a total kitchen remodel. I know that any new electrical work must be done according to the code in effect at the time the work is done.

Last night when I was trying to turn off the circuit breaker for the old refrigerator outlet, I had to go through nearly every breaker in the panel (starting of course with the one labeled REF, which didn't turn it off) Eventually upon flipping the breaker labeled DISPOSAL, the old refrigerator outlet went dead. Additionally one countertop outlet and one nearby outlet in the living room also went dead at the same time. (However the DISPOSAL still ran).

Although I could easily move and reroute the existing refrigerator outlet the two feet necessary to put it in the correct location, the fact that other things share the circuit is pretty clearly a code violation.

So my basic questions are:

1) Is it "to code" reroute an existing wire to install a new outlet, as long as the new outlet follows the code in all respects. ie. correct size breaker, correct gauge wire, correct number and types of devices on resulting circuit.

2) Given that the labeling on my breaker box is incorrect, how do I go about determining what is controlled and protected by each breaker. Is there a better (faster) way than: turn off a breaker, traverse entire house testing each light and each outlet, turn that breaker back on, turn off next breaker, rinse and repeat

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Bob

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