How to Wire an Electrical Outlet Under the Kitchen Sink: Shutoff the electricity to the circuit breaker panel and remove the old branch circuit breaker. This project is continued from How to Wire an Electrical Outlet Under the Kitchen Sink – Part 1.
Shutoff the Electricity to the Circuit Breaker Panel
Now that I’ve traced the old branch circuit, it’s time to disconnect the power before replacing the circuit breaker and wiring for the under kitchen sink outlet. The 150 AMP service disconnect on my home is on the outdoor electric meter box. Flipping this switch cuts off power to the entire house and circuit breaker panel.
Had my circuit breaker panel had a main disconnect in the breaker panel I would have shutoff the power at the panel. Just remember that when shutting power off at the breaker panel service disconnect that the main feeder cables from the electric meter will still be hot (energized with electricity)! Hire a licensed electrician if in doubt.
Circuit Breaker Panel: Disconnect the Branch Circuit Wiring
I’ve marked the old hot water dispenser branch circuit wires and circuit breaker with pieces of blue tape to illustrate what I’m working on in the photos. I placed the tape on the wires after shutting off the power at the house service disconnect.
I’m working by the light of a battery powered lantern now because the electricity to entire house is Off.
Remove the branch circuit NM-B 14/2 hot (black) wire from the circuit breaker by unscrewing the wire clamp screw:
Pull the black hot wire out of the circuit breaker:
Loosen neutral bus bar clamp screw for the branch circuit white (neutral) wire:
And remove the white (neutral) wire from the neutral bus bar:
Release the clamp screw for the ground wire and pull the ground wire out of the ground bus bar. A needle nose pliers work well for grabbing a wire that’s buried behind wiring in the breaker panel gutter:
Loosen the two cable clamp screws that secures the cable as it enters the the bottom of the panel box. Carefully pull the black, white and ground wires out of the wire gutters, straighten the wires then pull the cable out of the circuit breaker panel. I’m holding the cable after removing it from the breaker panel in this photo:
Remove the Circuit Breaker
The old single pole standard circuit breaker will be replaced with a new Ground Fault Circuit Breaker (BFCB) which eliminates the need for a GFCI receptacle.
The old circuit breaker is removed by carefully using the flat tip of screwdriver to pry it up from the hot bus stab. You need only lift it up an inch or so.
Grasp the circuit breaker and lift it out of the panel:
This project is continued in How to Wire an Electrical Outlet Under the Kitchen Sink – Part 3.
Take care,
Bob Jackson
