Hello,
Thank you for stopping to read my post.
I am trying to help my grandmother locate the breaker for a 250v outlet as she needs a new dryer in her house and is switching from gas to electric.
If the picture came through correctly, would anyone here have any suggestions on which of these might be connected to said outlet?
From what I could find online so far, it’s supposedly one of the breakers with two switches attached together. I’m just not sure which, as the outlet itself says 50amps and none of these specifically list that number on (what I assume) is the amp amount marked on the switches. All the electrical at this house is so disorganized no one knows what’s what right now (which I am definitely going to hire an electrician to remedy soon). And I also don’t have anything to plug into the outlet to simply switch things on/off and see if power gets cut to it and she needs a dryer sooner than we’ll be able to hire said electrician.
I’m hoping to test the outlet before getting her a dryer, as it just hasn’t been use for almost 2 decades, which I read requires switching off the breaker for the outlet prior to connecting a multimeter but I’m limited on what I’m familiar with electrically, and money is extremely limited so trying to save her money by doing what I can before getting an electrician called in for anything significant.
Any advice, suggestions, or direction are greatly appreciated.
Either way, thank you again for taking the time.
Do you have a multi meter or a non contact voltage tester? Something like a Klein Tools NCVT1P is $20 on Amazon and also at any local hardware store / Home Depot / Walmart. You’re guaranteed to use it in the future.
Test it with a known working outlet, then once you know how to use it, hold it at the outlet you are looking for while someone else flips breakers until you find the right one. Shouting used to be necessary but these days everyone has a cell phone so use it like a walkie talkie.
I just had a new water heater installed and the plumber used one despite my knowing which was the 250v breaker. Wiring can be weird and done wrong ( but still working.) .
Thank you for your suggestion. I have an uncle with a multimeter but he wasn’t sure about testing a 250v outlet, and the guide I found instructed to start testing by flipping off the circuit breaker, so I started looking for that. But I’ll be looking into this Non-Contact tool. I really appreciate the advice.