Household Electrical Repairs

In todays world of electrical/electronic miracles more and more receptacles are needed all the time. Sometimes this can be a real chore.  Often you can go through a wall and connect to an existing outlet.

The tools required for this project are a thin blade screwdriver, needle nose pliers, wire strippers, razor knife or sheet rock saw.

If you have an existing outlet on the other side of the wall, you can do this quit easily.  First make sure the power is off at the existing outlet. Remove the cover and the receptacle screws. Gently pull the receptacle out of the box.  Next take a thin blade screw drive and push on the edge of the box untill it goes out the other side of the wall. This will show you where the stud is on the other side. Measure the box and mark the wall. Use a sheetrock saw or razor knife to cut the opening out. remove the plugs so you can run the romex wire from the existing box to the new box. With the wire inside of the new box, push the box in place and screw it to the stud. Strip the romex about 4 inches and strip the black and white wires about 1/2 inch and connect the to the new receptacle. black on gold screw,white on silver screw and bare ground on the green screw. Install the receptacle and mount the cover. Go to existing receptacle and repeat the connection the same as the new receptacle. reinstall the receptacle and cover and turn the power on-you are done!

Most homes have at least one exhaust fan in the attic.  Depending on the size and shape of the attic, the attic may have 2 or 3 exhaust fans.  Since the attic is usually hot in the summer months - sometimes reaching as much as 130 degrees F - the exhaust fans will often have bearing failure.  The bearings are usually of the sealed type and can not be lubricated. Most of the time it is cheaper to replace the exhaust fan than try to repair them. Some exhaust fans have a thermostat that can fail but you may not find the correct thermostat and it is still easier to just replace the complete exhaust fan.

The tools required to replace the exhaust fan are: flashlight, wire strippers, needle nose pliers, screw drivers and nut drivers. See tool list

When going into the attic, be very careful to step on the ceiling joist and not between or you can be hurt or at least damage the ceiling sheet rock.

To replace the exhaust fan, first verify that the power is turned off.  You can turn the breaker off or if the breaker is not marked, using a multimeter, verify the voltage is off by shutting the breakers off one at a time and reading the voltage at the exhaust fan connections. ( They are usually connected with wire nuts that you can carefully remove to check the voltage. After the power is turned off and verified disconnect the wires from the exhaust fan. The wires may be physically attached to the exhaust fan by a clamp which can be loosened to pull the wire out of the exhaust fan. Most fan motors have 3 screws holding them to the housing. Remove the mounting screws and pull the exhaust fan out. By doing this you do not have to climb a ladder on outside to rremove the exhaust fan. Then reinstall the fan with the mounting screws and reconnect the wires. Turn on voltage and verify that the exhaust fan is working and you are done.

Repairing a florescent light can be done easily and quickly. If you change out the bulbs and the lights do not light up bright, it is probably the ballast. Make sure the light switch is turned off. This will insure that there is no power at the light fixture. The tools required for this procedure are wire strippers, lineman pliers, nut driver and multimeter.  See Tools For Household Electrical Repairs

Remove the bulbs and the center cover. The center is usually held by tabs. You can squeeze the cover and get it out of the tabs on either side and drop it down from the fixture. Carefully remove the wire nut from the black wire coming out of the ceiling and connected to the ballast. Note: this is the “hot’ wire. Use the lineman pliers to seperate the black wires. You can put the wire nut on the wire that comes out of the ceiling for safety while removing the ballast. Disconnect the white wire in similar fashion. Next use the wire strippers to cut the remaining wire connected to the ballast within 2 or 3 inches of the ballast. Use the nut driver to remove the nuts holding the ballast in place. Note: the ballast me be physically warm to touch. you can use a rag or cardboard to hold the ballast while removing the wire nuts. The ballast will have a model number on it. Most home florescent lights have 120volt ac ballasts that can be purchased at the local hardware store.

Use the nut driver to install the ballast. Connect the red wire to red wire and the blue wire to blue wire. The 2 yellow wires on the ballast are then connected to the 2 yellow wires going to the light sockets. You can twist the slack wire together to keep it tucked under the cover. Connect the white wire to white wire and last connect the black wire to black wire. Replace the cover and bulbs and you are done!

You have a light that wont turn on after you replaced the bulb or a “plug that just quit”.There can be 2 problems at this time. Either there is no electrician available when you can be home or the service is just too much. Most of the household electrical repairs can be done by an inexperienced person with some simple instructions and a minimum of tool expense. The list of tools required to do most of the basic household electrical repairs quickly and safely is as follows:

• multimeter
• screw drivers
• wire strippers
• flashlight
• needle nose plier
• Step ladder

To find the necessary tools at an affordable price visit Tools For Household Electrical Repairs

Replacing a ceiling light fixtureis usually a fairly simple project. There are many selections now available with a wide variety of styles. The tools required are needle nose pliers, thin blade screwdriver, wire strippers, multimeter, and step ladder. Note, you might also need a phillips screw driver. Read the rest of this entry »

Changing out the doorbell push button is a quick and easy procedure. Most doorbell push buttons do not wear out, They usually have sustained some kind of physical damage such as button stuck or broken.Most push buttons are very similar in size and have 2 screws attaching the push button to the wall. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Change a Receptacle in 15 Minutes

This procedure is a simple process that requires only afew tools. these include a multimeter, needlenose pliers and a thin blade screwdriver and possibly a sharp knife if there is a lot of paint on the edge of the receptacle cover. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have had a light that did not turn on and changing the bulb did not fix the problem, it is probably a faulty switch. The next step might be to call an electrician. This could have 2 problems. Either the price for the service call is very high or no electrician is available when you need them.

The next option is to replace the switch yourself. This can be task can be accomplished in a short time with few tools. the tools required are a thin bladed screwdriver, needle nose pliers and a multimeter. The light switch can be purchased from a local hardware store, usually for $2 or $3. Read the rest of this entry »