Panel schedule template

What a panel schedule is

A panel schedule is a table that records every circuit in a panelboard by its space number, together with what the circuit serves, the breaker rating and number of poles, the connected load and the bus phase it is connected to. It is kept at the panel, usually on the inside of the door, and in the project's drawings.

Section 408.4(A) of the National Electrical Code requires every circuit and circuit modification to be legibly identified at the panel by its specific purpose or use, in enough detail to tell it apart from every other circuit. Descriptions that depend on who occupies a room at the moment, such as a person's name, do not meet that requirement. A panel schedule satisfies the identification requirement and adds the ratings and loads that a plain directory leaves out.

What's included in this template

The template holds the panel header: panel name, location, voltage system (120/240 V single phase or 208Y/120 V three phase), main breaker or main lugs only, the main and bus ratings, the number of spaces from 12 to 42, the source the panel is fed from, the date and the preparer, with an optional business name and logo.

Circuits are laid out the way a panelboard is built, with odd numbers in the left column and even numbers in the right. Each row takes a description, breaker amps, poles (1, 2 or 3), load in volt-amperes and notes. A 2-pole or 3-pole breaker occupies the spaces directly below its first space and locks them, and the bus phase of every space is assigned automatically from its position. Rows can be marked as a spare (a breaker installed with nothing connected) or a space (a position with no breaker).

Live totals show the load on each phase in VA and amps, the total VA and the phase imbalance, with a visible warning above 10%. Quick-add chips fill a description such as Range or EV charger; they never assume a load or a breaker size. The finished schedule downloads as a US Letter PDF formatted to tape inside the panel door, with no Ampxa branding. Drafts are saved in the browser on the device, can be exported as a file and are removed with Clear saved data.

How to use it

1. Enter the panel name, location and source, then choose the voltage system and the number of spaces shown on the panel's label.
2. Choose main breaker or main lugs only and enter the main and bus ratings from the label.
3. Select a space and type the description, or pick a quick-add chip to fill it.
4. Enter the breaker rating and poles as installed. A 2-pole or 3-pole breaker takes the spaces below it; the template refuses a breaker that would overlap another circuit or run past the last space.
5. Enter each circuit's load in VA from nameplates, a load calculation or measured values, and mark unused breakers as spares and empty positions as spaces.
6. Check the phase totals and the imbalance figure, add the business name and logo if wanted, then download the PDF and fix it inside the panel door.

Breaker ratings belong to the installed equipment and the conductors they protect. The breaker size calculator shows the 125% continuous-load arithmetic and the next-size-up rule for a new circuit; the schedule records the result rather than choosing it.

Worked example

The example below is a 120/240 V single-phase panel with a 200 A main breaker, a 200 A bus and 30 spaces. The loads are example figures entered for illustration, not typical or recommended values. On a single-phase panel the rows alternate between phase A and phase B, so spaces 1 and 2 are on A, 3 and 4 on B, 5 and 6 on A, and so on.

Each 2-pole load is split evenly between its two phases: the range puts 4,000 VA on A and 4,000 VA on B, the dryer 2,500 VA on each. Phase A then carries 4,000 + 2,500 + 1,500 + 1,500 + 1,200 + 600 = 11,300 VA, and phase B carries 4,000 + 2,500 + 1,500 + 1,500 = 9,500 VA, for a total of 20,800 VA. Divided by 120 V, that is about 94.2 A on phase A and 79.2 A on phase B.

The average phase load is 10,400 VA. Phase A is 900 VA above it, so the imbalance is 900 ÷ 10,400 = 8.7%, inside the 10% warning level. Moving the 1,200 VA bedroom lighting circuit from space 9 to space 11 would put it on phase B, leaving 10,100 VA on A and 10,700 VA on B, an imbalance of about 2.9%; the live totals show the change as soon as the row is moved. The Load the worked example button under the circuit list fills the template with these figures.

Panel schedule vs circuit directory

A circuit directory is the list of circuit descriptions on the panel door or the card holder beside the breakers. It is the minimum that Section 408.4(A) asks for: each circuit identified by its purpose. Directories in older houses are often handwritten, incomplete or out of date, and circuit mapping, described below, rebuilds them.

A panel schedule carries the same identification and adds the engineering data: breaker ratings and poles, the connected load of each circuit, the phase it is on and the totals per phase. Engineers include panel schedules in construction drawings, and electricians use them to balance a panel, plan additions and confirm what a breaker serves. A completed schedule from this template serves as the directory as well.

How to map circuits in a panel

Circuit mapping is the process of finding out which breaker feeds each light, receptacle and appliance, and the result is a circuit map: the circuit directory written from what was found rather than from memory. It is the usual first step in an older house whose directory is missing or wrong, and the schedule above records the map space by space.

1. Number the spaces. If the panel is not numbered, the spaces are counted in the standard order, odd numbers down the left side and even numbers down the right, the same order the template uses.
2. Prepare the rooms. Every light is switched on and a lamp, radio or plug-in receptacle tester is placed in each receptacle, so a loss of power is easy to see or hear. Two people with phones, or a plug-in circuit tracer, make the work much faster.
3. Switch off one breaker at a time. Everything that goes dead is recorded against that space: rooms, fixtures, each half of a split or switched receptacle, and fixed appliances. The breaker is switched back on before the next one is tested.
4. Note the two-pole and handle-tied breakers. Ranges, dryers, water heaters and air conditioners are on two-pole breakers; handle-tied pairs often feed a multiwire branch circuit, which should be recorded as one entry with both spaces.
5. Check what is left. Receptacles that stay live after every breaker has been tested may be fed from a subpanel; those protected by a GFCI further upstream also lose power when that GFCI trips, which is worth noting.
6. Enter the circuit map in the schedule. Each space gets a description specific enough to meet 408.4(A), such as Kitchen countertop receptacles, east wall, rather than Kitchen.

Circuit mapping only operates the breaker handles; it does not require removing the panel cover, which should be left to a qualified person. Switching breakers off interrupts refrigerators, freezers, sump pumps, computers and any medical equipment, so those are noted in advance and restored promptly.

Limitations

The schedule adds up the loads entered; it is not a load calculation. Service and feeder sizing under Article 220 applies demand factors that a plain sum does not, so the total VA here will usually differ from a calculated service load. The method is explained in the residential load calculation guide.

The template does not check whether a breaker rating suits the conductor, the load or the equipment, and it does not size anything. Phase current is shown at 120 V line to neutral, the usual convention on a panel schedule; 240 V and 208 V loads are split evenly across their poles. The template follows US (NEC) practice only, and local amendments and the edition of the code in force apply. A schedule prepared with it does not replace inspection or the judgment of a licensed electrician.

Frequently asked questions