Electrical Maintenance Guide and Tips

Disposers

2011-05-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Disposers are another kitchen toy few of us live without in newer homes. They’re now installed in houses of all price levels. Oddly, they were not legal in New York City until August 1997, when concerns that zillions of pounds of ground-up orange peels, unfinished blintzes, and coffee grounds would clog the city’s plumbing gave way to consumer demand, a desire to decrease waste in landfills, and health hazards associated with uncollected trash bags full of food waste. Local laws in New York say that disposers can be installed only by licensed plumbers and electricians, who need permits to do the work. New Yorkers can contact the Department of Buildings at 60 Hudson Street to get the application for permits.
Disposers either are hard wired or are plugged into a receptacle under the sink with an appliance cord and plug. Some local codes require that a disposer be plug connected. A plug-in model is easier to work on because you can disconnect it from its power source quickly for servicing or replacement. This receptacle cannot be used for any other load, nor can it be part of a small-appliance circuit.
A disposer can have one of the following three types of “On/Off” switches:

A standard single-pole switch located above the counter or under the sink.
An integral switch built into the drain lid that, when twisted, activates the unit.
A flow switch installed in the cold-water line and activated when the drain lid is twisted.

With this type of switch, the disposer will not run until cold water is flowing into it. (This helps prevent grease buildup.) Disposers are even available for septic systems. In-Sinkerator makes a complete line of disposers. You can see the company’s products at www.insinkerator.com.

Wiring the Fridge

2011-05-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

Some modern refrigerators draw a surprisingly small amount of current for all the work they do. Although the NEC figures 1,200 watts in its load calculations for a refrigerator, some only require half that amount. It’s apparent that it takes more electricity to produce heat than to maintain cold. The code allows a refrigerator to be supplied by its own 15- or 20-amp circuit, but it does not require a dedicated circuit. You can run a refrigerator off one of your small-appliance circuits, but many electricians recommend a dedicated circuit for the fridge.
Why? Remember, your small-appliance circuits are GFCI-protected. All it takes is one instance of nuisance tripping, and your refrigerator could be off for hours (or weeks, if you’re out of town). In addition to losing a lot of food, you’ll have to clean out some pretty rank stuff. A Sub Zero brand refrigerator (or other high-end refrigerator) requires a dedicated 15-amp circuit.

Small-Appliance Circuits and GFCIs

2011-05-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

I already mentioned the danger of electricity around water and water pipes. An errant current will not hesitate to pass through you on its way to the ground through a water pipe. You also can get a shock or become electrocuted if you have contact with a receptacle and a range, a refrigerator, or a cooktop because they also are grounded. The code recognizes these dangers and steps in with GFCI requirements. Specifically, the code requires that all small-appliance circuits used on countertops be GFCI protected. This includes any receptacles serving kitchen islands. The usual installation calls for the first receptacle on the circuit (the feedthrough receptacle) to be a GFCI type, which in turn protects the additional receptacles down the line. It also is acceptable to install a GFCI circuit breaker, although this is more expensive than a GFCI receptacle.
The key word here is “countertop.” Other receptacles, such as one for the refrigerator or under the sink for a plug-in disposer, do not have to be GFCI protected. The underthe-sink receptacle cannot even be part of a small-appliance circuit; it must be its own dedicated circuit. Small-appliance receptacles must be installed so that any point on the back of the countertop is within 24 inches of a receptacle. Another way of saying this is that no two receptacles can be more than four feet apart. Every counter that’s wider than 12 inches must have at least one receptacle.

Dedicated Circuits Everywhere

2011-04-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

A kitchen is the home of the dedicated circuit. There are so many high-wattage devices here that too many on one circuit could cause it to trip; therefore, the code says these devices should be split up. Specifically, a kitchen should have individual dedicated circuits for the following loads:

All built-in appliances including the dishwasher, range, microwave oven, trash compactor, and disposer
Small, countertop appliances (food processors, toasters, and so on)
Lighting fixtures (cannot be part of the preceding circuits)

A minimum of two 20-amp small-appliance circuits must be installed to bring a kitchen up to code. These same circuits can supply power to receptacles in adjoining rooms including the breakfast nook and the dining room, but that’s as far as they can go. You can’t run your bedroom clock radio off a kitchen circuit. Beyond the minimum, which is all the code addresses, you or your electrician must consider how your kitchen will be used. An espresso machine, for example, needs its own dedicated circuit if it runs at 1,200 or 1,500 watts to avoid tripping the breaker every time the espresso machine is running and you decide to use the toaster. You would still be legal with your two small appliance circuits; you just wouldn’t be practical given your intended use of the kitchen. If you have a lot of small appliances and use them regularly, consider adding a third or even a fourth dedicated circuit.

Kitchen Wiring

2011-04-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever lived with an outdated kitchen, you’ll appreciate a modern one. Microwave ovens, food processors, and home-model espresso makers didn’t exist in the 1920s and 1930s. One or two receptacles were plenty for the portable appliances available at the time. Trying to make do with your parents’ or grandparents’ wiring at the end of this century is an exercise in frustration, not nostalgia. As you plan your kitchen upgrade, keep in mind any future remodeling. You might not be ready to replace cabinets, move walls, or upgrade appliances now, but you might in a few years. There’s no point in going all out with your electrical changes if you have to redo them later. By all means, add the necessary receptacles, but think twice before adding those fancy light fixtures. All it takes is a different cabinet configuration or the addition of an island to throw your lighting pattern askew. What if you move your electric range or refrigerator? If you run new circuits for them now in their present locations, you’ll have to run them again later. Stick with the necessary work for your safety and convenience now. Of course, if you don’t plan to do any extensive future kitchen remodeling, go ahead with a full electrical makeover now.

Kitchen and Electricity

2011-04-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

We take our kitchens very seriously. In years past, a kitchen was hidden away and was seen as a more utilitarian room used simply for the storage and preparation of food. These days, we dine, mingle, read the paper, and socialize in this room, which often has a family room directly connected to it. It’s one of our home’s biggest overall energy consumers, and it demands a lot of wiring, devices, and appliances. Given the multitude of tasks and uses of a kitchen as well as the code requirements, you need to pay special attention to its circuits and the placement of light fixtures and receptacles. As previously discussed, you’ll want plenty of task and ambient lighting. You’ll also need a number of dedicated circuits for individual appliances. On top of that, some receptacles require GFCI protection and some do not. A well-designed kitchen is a joy to be in and inevitably will become the hub of your house. Virginia Woolf said, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” I certainly won’t claim that meeting the National Electrical Code in your kitchen will improve all these areas of your life, especially if you live mainly on microwaved hamburgers, but at least you’ll get a better look at what you’re eating.

Keeping the Inspections in Mind

2011-03-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

An inspector will scrutinize your work more closely than an electrician’s work. Make sure your cable is pulled tightly through wall and floor spaces and is stapled according to code requirements, which specify insulated staples or straps …

➤ Not more than 12 inches from a box or fitting.
➤ Not more than 41⁄2 feet from each other when a cable is running along a stud or joist.
➤ Installed without damaging or denting the cable in any way.

You must have at least six inches of cable or conductors in each box from the point of entry into the box. Once attached to a device, the conductors should be neatly tucked inside with the hot and neutral conductors separated from each other. Overall neatness and professionalism go a long way toward satisfying an electrical inspector.

Plenty of Dedicated Circuits

2011-03-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

You might have already updated your kitchen and bathroom wiring with 20-amp, GFCI-protected circuits (or opted for GFCI receptacles). Now you can
expand and add other necessary dedicated circuits including …
➤ An outdoor GFCI or two.
➤ A workroom circuit.
➤ A garage circuit.

15 Amps or 20?

2011-03-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

Most branch circuits for lighting will be 15 amps. Twenty-amp circuits normally are reserved for dedicated purposes. It’s perfectly acceptable to use a 20-amp circuit for lighting, but use it judiciously because it can handle, for example, four more 100-watt fixtures than a 15-amp circuit. Great, you say, that means less wiring to do—at least until the lights go out. Then it might not be so great. You’ll have that much less light to see by if an entire section of your house goes dark. Twenty-amp lighting circuits work well when you have a large cluster of lights such as in a kitchen/ hallway combination where you might have as many as 10 150-watt recessed fixtures. You also should consider a 20-amp circuit for your home office computer and peripherals. Check the rating of your copier, which could need its own circuit.

Power Everywhere

2011-02-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

The whole point of a modern electrical system, aside from safety, is to have power, fixtures, and devices where you want them. You’re only reading this chapter if you have an outdated system or if you’re building your own home or addition. Newer houses rarely need circuits added unless they are being physically expanded or you’re adding more power to an area such as an unfinished basement, a garage, or outdoors. Don’t underestimate your needs. If you’ve got the time, install all the receptacles a circuit can handle. You’re already tearing up the walls, why find out later that the one wall on which you didn’t install a device was where you could really use one? Use the current code as a guide whenever practical for lighting and receptacle requirements. The only time you must follow it is during a major remodel when all the walls are open in an existing room and you’re running new wiring or when you’re adding on.

Write Up a Plan

2011-02-28T17:18:00.000-08:00

It’s always a great temptation, at least if you’re a guy, to dive into a project and improvise as you go. That’s okay for standup comedy (at least when it works), but why add to your electrical labors when you don’t need to? A pad of paper and a pen or pencil are still useful tools (even in the computer age) for visualizing your wiring. They can make the job easier and can save you some time by pointing out shortcuts and problems ahead of time. You might discover, for example, that a switch-controlled receptacle will provide light in a dormer bedroom more easily than trying to install a ceiling light. You also might need a plan to get a permit, although not every building department requires one for electrical work. A plan will give you an accurate count of fixtures, devices, circuit breakers, and electrical boxes needed for the job as well as an approximate measure of needed cable. You don’t want to go running back to a supplier because you’re short two receptacles.

Adding New Circuits

2011-02-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

In some respects, doing a major rewiring job is easier than doing intermittent alterations. For one thing, you don’t have to mess with tying into much of your old wiring because you’ll be replacing it. Instead of updating the critical areas such as the kitchen and bathroom and just living with the inherent remaining limitations of the old system, you’ll have upgrades everywhere. In other words, you’ll be up to code (or mostly up to code) and be done with it.
Once your new service panel is installed (a job for an electrician), adding circuits is something most homeowners can do themselves. Even if you simply plan out and install the cable, you’ll be saving a big part of an electrician’s fees. Getting cable from the service panel to the device is the time-consuming part of the job. If nothing else, in a culture where we are increasingly disassociated from physical work, wiring your house can be a source of great pride and accomplishment. As with any alteration to your electrical system, you must have permits and pass an inspection. Some business consultants believe that a messy desk is the sign of an inspired, creative mind, but this isn’t so with wiring. Freudian analysts might have a field day with electrical inspectors’ obsession with neatness, but that’s what they want to see, so don’t disappoint them. Finally, plan your time. You don’t have to do the entire house at once. You can do some of the work alone, but some is best done with two people involved. Check your calendars and pencil in—or punch into your personal digital assistant—a day that works for two of you.

What’s This Going to Cost?

2011-01-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

According to Today’s Homeowner magazine, the national average cost for upgrading an electrical service to a three-wire, grounded, 200-amp service is $2,264. For a little over $2,000, you get a safe, updated system and maybe a break on your insurance. If an electrician does the job, it will be done quickly and will be up to code. The electrician is responsible for meeting the code requirements. You’ll have some clout because you won’t (or shouldn’t) be paying the final bill until the system has been inspected and passed by your local building department.
This chapter pointed out at least the major steps and considerations you’ll face when upgrading your electrical service. This is well worth contracting out to an electrician, and I recommend that you do so, even if your local code allows you to install it yourself.

Subpanel Considerations

2011-01-31T16:01:00.000-08:00

The most logical locations for a subpanel in a remodeled house include …
➤ In a new addition.
➤ In a garage workshop.
➤ Near an attic converted to finished space.
A small subpanel can hold as few as two single-pole breakers, and a large one can hold up to 42. If the appearance of a larger panel isn’t an issue for you, go ahead and install the larger panel so you’ll have it available for future use.

Subpanel Alternatives

2011-01-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

Before installing a subpanel, consider its necessity. Certainly, it’s a convenience in the event of a tripped breaker, but is it worth the expense of purchasing a second panel (albeit a smaller one than your main panel)? The convenience factor aside, what you’re really comparing is the difference in cost between running individual circuits all the way back to the main panel and running a feeder cable to the subpanel, the cost and installation of the subpanel, and the cost of running the branch circuits from the subpanel. Some subpanels are installed because there aren’t any breaker slots remaining in the service panel, even though the panel has the amperage to carry more circuits. In this case, your existing breakers can be replaced with a smaller version of a standard single-pole breaker. These go by different names, including …
➤ Slimline breaker.
➤ Peanut breaker.
➤ Mini breaker.
➤ Tandem breaker.
These breakers are half the thickness of a standard breaker, which enables you to fit two of them into a single breaker slot. Others have two breakers on one single-polesize breaker.

Subpanels—a Real Convenience

2010-12-31T21:04:00.000-08:00

Subpanels are smaller versions of your main service panel. They serve a couple of purposes:

They provide proximity to circuit breakers, especially in large homes, so you don’t have to access the main panel some distance away.
They can expedite the wiring of a large house because the electrician only has to run one feeder cable from the main panel to the subpanel instead of running cable for every circuit separately the same distance. A subpanel on the second floor of a large three-story house, for example, enables you to control the circuits on the second and third floors. Like your main panel, you have to follow a few rules regarding the location of a subpanel:
It cannot be installed in a bathroom.
It cannot be installed in a closet.
The subpanel must be in an accessible, visible location.

Breaker, Breaker

2010-12-31T21:03:00.000-08:00

Circuit breakers, along with fuses, are known as overcurrent protective devices. They protect you, your electrical equipment, and your wiring. They are matched to the ampacity of a circuit’s conductors, and they shut the current down if there’s an overload or a short-circuit. Breakers are clearly marked (15, 20, 30 amp, and so on) and must be used accordingly. You can’t stuff a 20-amp breaker into your panel box and use it on a 15-amp circuit, especially if the circuit only has 14-gauge wire. This is a recipe for fire because you’ll be allowing the wire to carry more current than it’s designed to carry, and the breaker won’t sense the problem and thus won’t trip.
Breakers are either single pole or double pole (sometimes referred to as a two-pole breaker). Double-pole breakers are used for 240-volt circuits and draw power from each of the 120-volt hot wires entering the panel. A double-pole breaker can be either a single device or two single-pole breakers tied together so they’ll both shut off at the same time.

Grounding Your Panel

2010-12-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

A big safety advantage in newer service panels over old fuse systems is the fact that they’re grounded. The code is very specific about grounding procedures including
…
➤ The size of the grounding conductor.
➤ What is and is not an acceptable grounding electrode.
➤ Bonding requirements and the use of clamps and bonding bushings.

A service panel is grounded twice when possible: once to your water pipes (assuming they’re metal and not plastic) and once to a grounding rod buried in the ground. When a grounding rod cannot be used due to soil conditions, a length of copper wire can be buried directly in the earth (a minimum of 21/2 feet deep) or encased in concrete at least two inches thick that has direct contact with the ground (usually a foundation).
There also are other means of grounding the system (depending on your soil and house construction). The materials allowed, their installation, and their dimensions are all spelled out extensively in Article 250 of the code. Electricians know this stuff by heart because they use it every day. You, on the other hand, will never use it again, so consider calling an electrician for your panel installation.

Location Is Everything

2010-11-30T15:36:00.001-08:00

The code is a little particular about where you can situate a service panel. In addition to being as close as possible to the service conductors’ entry point, a service panel …

➤ Must have clear access to it (a minimum of a 30-inch wide by 36-inch deep uncluttered space).
➤ Cannot be installed inside cabinets or above shelving or any other encumbrance. It also cannot be installed in a bathroom.
➤ Must have a working space with 61/2 feet of headroom around it.

In other words, the panel has to be in a clear and accessible area, and it must be readily visible to anyone looking for it. You can’t store your skis or bikes in front of it, and you must be able to open the panel door a full 90 degrees until it’s flat against the wall. Section 110-26(d) of the NEC calls for some illumination to be provided around the panel so that you or an electrician can see what you’re doing if you have to access the panel. Although the code doesn’t detail how much lighting you need to supply, you want to be able to comfortably read the panelboard (the breakers) and the panelboard directory inside the door.

Anatomy of an Electrical Service Panel

2010-11-30T15:31:00.000-08:00

A service panel must conduct electricity to individual breakers, must receive and
route the current being returned through the neutral conductor, and must provide a
grounding medium for the system. In a sense, it’s the most powerful electrical device
in your system. Remember, the conductors and cable that come into and leave your
service panel include …

➤ Two hot conductors.
➤ One neutral conductor.
➤ One grounding conductor that

originates in the panel. The two hot conductors energize the panel—and thus the breakers—via two hot bus bars, which are located in the center of the panel. The black or red outbound wires are connected to the circuit breakers that clip or slide into the hot bus bars. These wires supply the current to electrical loads throughout your house. The neutral wires are connected to the neutral bus with setscrew terminals. A grounding bus bar connects the various grounding conductors from the circuits to the panel’s main grounding conductor. The grounding bus bar is bonded to the neutral bus bar. This is the only place the neutral and grounding conductors are tied together. In addition to individual breakers, most service panels have a single main service disconnect in the form of an individual breaker or a series of high-amperage breakers connected together. The code requires that you be able to shut the entire panel down with a maximum of six hand movements. (That is, the panel can’t need more than six switches or breakers to disconnect all of your home’s electrical equipment.) An old panel might require up to six moves to shut everything down, but new service panels all have a single main shutoff, as previously described. The code requires that this main disconnect be as close as possible to the service conductors’ point of entry into the building. In other words, you can’t bring the service conductors into one corner of your basement and then install the service panel 15 feet away while exposing the conductors. (Certain exceptions do apply.)

New Service/Old Service Electrical Service

2010-11-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

Unless you’re rewiring your entire house (which isn’t likely unless you’re doing a major remodel), you’ll need to connect your new service panel with at least some of the existing circuits. This usually is not included in the cost of the service change. It really depends on the purpose of the upgrade. In addition, if you have an old fuse system, you will most likely replace the following (again, at an extra cost):

➤ The major appliance circuits
➤ The kitchen and bathroom circuits
➤ The water heater and possibly the furnace circuits

Existing branch circuits for lighting often can be left alone and simply tied into your new panel. (Each will have to be checked, of course.) If you are replacing an existing service panel on a three-wire grounded system with a higher-amp panel, you also will need to connect to the existing service. Only when you’re completely rewiring your home can you ignore the existing service and its location.

Going Underground

2010-10-31T03:08:00.001-07:00

I’m a big fan of underground service conductors. New developments almost always have them, but a new house in an established neighborhood might not, depending on which side of the street it’s located. If you’re on the same side as the utility poles, consider burying your line. It will involve digging a trench at least 18 inches deep (check local requirements) and possibly doing so across a neighbor’s property. A buried cable results in a much cleaner appearance, and there’s no chance of it being damaged during severe weather, massive flooding notwithstanding. (The utility’s power lines can still go down, however.) It’s also out of the way when you have to set up ladders to paint or to work on your roof.
With an underground service, your utility company installs service lateral conductors (which may or may not have to be contained in conduit, depending on your local code). The conductors then enter the meter, via at least a short section of conduit, from underneath the ground. As with any outdoor wiring done by an electrician, you can save yourself some money by doing the digging and trenching yourself or by hiring it out to a less-expensive laborer than an electrician.

Overhead and Exposed

2010-10-31T03:07:00.000-07:00

It’s a lot simpler to install an overhead service in an established neighborhood than it is to start tunneling under streets and sidewalks to run conductors underground. Overhead wires are exposed to the weather, however, and this means your service can be disrupted if a tree branch falls on it during a high wind. Modern electrical service consists of two hot conductors and one neutral conductor coming into your home. They come out of a transformer, which steps down the voltage, and must clear roofs, fences, and outside structures as they connect to your service head on top of your service mast. The conductors form a drip loop as they enter the service head so that any rain landing on them will not run down the mast.
The service conductors are pulled through the mast and then pass through the meter (which records your electricity usage). Your utility connects the wires coming out of the weather head to the conductors (service lateral conductors or overhead wires) coming from the pole and the conductors to the meter, which the company usually supplies. Rules for installing an overhead service govern …

➤ The location of the meter.
➤ Clearance requirements for the conductors.
➤ Securing and supporting the service mast and raceway to your house.

Your utility company determines where the meter will be located. The company’s main concern is that the overhead conductors will be in a safe, unencumbered location. The clearance requirements for the conductors and the length of your service raceway (the mast and head) must take the following factors into account:

➤ The distance from the service mast to the utility pole
➤ The pitch of your roof
➤ Whether you’re using an IMC, PVC, or steel raceway (conduit)
➤ The proximity of windows to the proposed location

Finally, the conduit or raceway must be secured properly so it doesn’t loosen or bend. Any hole you drill for the raceway or its supports must be sealed so you don’t get water leaks. Your local electrical inspector can give you more information about clearance requirements and securing your service mast.
As you can see, this is a complicated process—and we haven’t even gotten to the service panel yet! In case you were wondering, you can’t attach any other cables (phone or TV, for example) to your service mast.

One New Service Coming Up

2010-10-31T02:42:00.000-07:00

Your service panel is the primary distribution center for all the electrical currents in your house and yard. It connects your CD player, lava lamp, and 27-speed blender to your utility’s service lines. Fuses serve the same purpose as the circuit breakers in a modern service panel, but they are considered dated and no longer are installed for residential purposes. Some old fuse services are as small as 60 amps, which is hardly adequate for modern electrical demands. The National Electrical Code calls for a new service to be a minimum size of 100 amps.
There are two types of electrical services:

➤ Overhead service
➤ Underground service

Most older services are overhead. That is, the utility company uses overhead service conductors, usually from a utility pole, that often connect to a service mast on the outside of your house. An underground service, commonly found in new housing, is buried. Each must follow prescribed installation procedures.

What to Do When There are Power Outages?

2010-09-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

You can’t do much to control power outages, but you can control what happens when the power comes back on. Unplug your computers and television sets, even if you have surge suppressors. The suppressors should take care of any initial charge from your electrical system, but unplugging these appliances guarantees that you won’t have any problems. Make sure any kitchen appliances that might have been left on, other than your refrigerator, are shut off. Any heat-producing appliance, such as an electric blanket, a heating pad, or a portable heater, also should be shut off, lest you forget about it and it stays on while you’re not home.

General Precautions in Working with Electrical Installation

2010-09-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

Einstein considered common sense to be all the prejudices you acquire before the age of 18. (This was the belief of someone who apparently had to be reminded by his housekeeper to dress warmly before venturing out into Princeton winters.) Semantics aside, a certain amount of common sense should be applied to your electrical dealings.
Precautions for electrical appliances, devices, and wiring include the following:

Buy only items that are UL-listed or approved by another accepted testing agency.
Keep children from playing near portable heaters and kitchen appliances.
Use kitchen and bathroom appliances on or near dry surfaces only.
Keep combustible materials such as clothes and curtains away from heaters of any kind.
Never cut off the grounding pin from a three-pronged plug.
Never file down the larger prong on a polarized plug.
Use child-resistant caps in unused receptacles.
Install smoke detectors.
Make sure the contact between a plug and a receptacle is solid and tight.
Allow plenty of free space around computers, televisions, and stereo sound systems to prevent them from overheating.
Keep metal ladders away from all power lines.
Stay away from any downed power lines.
Have your electrical system inspected if it’s more than 40 years old and you have no record of a recent inspection.
Make sure all switches and receptacles have cover plates.
At the very least, install plug-in GFCI receptacles into existing bathroom and kitchen receptacles that do not have grounding.
Make sure light bulbs are the correct rating for their lamp or fixture. (Excessive heat can be a fire hazard.)
Unplug portable appliances when they’re not in use, especially those near sinks. (You can be electrocuted if they fall into water—even if they’re turned off.)
Leave electric blankets untucked.

Beware of Fire Hazards

2010-09-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Fuses and circuit breakers are designed to protect you from inadvertently overloading a circuit. When your loads demand more current than the circuit is designed to handle, the circuit breaker will trip or the fuse will blow. This prevents the conductors or wire from overheating and causing a fire. A conductor can only offer a certain amount of resistance to a current; if there’s too much current, the conductor can heat up enough to melt its insulation.
A homeowner can create a dangerous situation by replacing a fuse or a circuit breaker with one of larger amperage, thus allowing more current to flow through the wires than they can safely resist. A fire can start without tripping the breaker or blowing the fuse because the larger-amperage fuse cannot sense the problem. Some signs of a potentially overloaded system include …
➤ Thirty-amp fuses used for lighting circuits.
➤ The use of extension cords as permanent wiring.
➤ Dimming lights when appliance loads go on.
➤ Excessive use of adapters that allow more than two loads to be plugged into one receptacle.
➤ Multiple service panels and sloppy wiring practices.

Power Cords

2010-08-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

Any cord-and-plug combination is subject to damage and wear. Lots of pulling and twisting, especially when a plug is pulled out by the cord rather than by grasping the plug itself, can cause the wires inside the insulation to break. This is particularly true with lamp cords because they use wire composed of multiple strands with a very small gauge. If the insulation protecting a cord cracks open, you could get a short circuit. It’s usually a better idea to replace these cords than to repair them.
Although it is less likely that you’ll ever have to replace a 240-volt appliance cord, these also can be changed out:

Unplug the cord and unscrew the end that’s attached to the appliance, noting which wire (by color) went with which screw.
Buy an exact replacement for the cord and plug.
Connect the new cord to the terminal screws on the appliance, noting any color coding on the screws to match the individual wires (black to black, and so on).

Short Circuits

2010-08-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

One telltale sign of a short circuit is black, smoky residue on switch or receptacle cover plates. Frayed or damaged cords and plugs also can be sources of short circuits. You need to check further for the source of the problem if your circuit goes dead and …

➤ You cannot find any visible signs of an electrical short.
➤ The circuit is not overloaded.

Before replacing the fuse or resetting the breaker, turn off all the loads and unplug everything from the receptacles. If the new fuse blows or the breaker trips right away, your problem is either in one of the devices (a switch or a receptacle) or in the wiring itself. To make sure the current is dead, remove all the cover plates and examine each device for charred wires or black residue. Clip the ends of any affected wires, strip off sufficient insulation, and install a new device. Replace the fuse or reset the breaker, and test the circuit again.
What if the circuit doesn’t short immediately after you set the breaker or replace the fuse? In that case, activate each load one at a time and then turn each one off. Check the load that eventually causes the short. The problem will be either in the fixture or appliance itself or in its wiring. Replace the offender and check the circuit again. If it still shorts out, you have a problem in the wiring itself and should call an electrician. Shorts in the wire almost always are at the device or fixture box, so the problem should be visible when you do your own inspection. Sometimes, however, the problem is caused by a splice or junction box buried in the wall and is therefore unnoticed upon first inspection. In the case of a plug-in appliance or lamp, if the circuit goes dead as soon as you insert the plug, you can assume the short is in the cord or the plug (both of which can easily be replaced). If the short doesn’t occur until after the appliance is turned on, the problem isn’t in the cord or the plug but in the appliance itself. You should then repair or replace the appliance.

Hot Electrical Equipments

2010-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

The cover plate on a light switch or receptacle should not feel excessively warm and certainly should not be hot. A dimmer is an exception because dimmers dissipate the heat from dimming through the fins of the dimmer and often transfer some of that heat to the screws holding on the cover plate. Cords and plugs shouldn’t feel hot, either. Heat is a sign that the load is demanding current in excess of the ampacity of the electrical cable and/or the plug and cord attached to the load. If you replace a 60-watt light bulb with one of a larger wattage (one whose wattage exceeds the rating for the fixture), the wire or cable will still supply the current, even if doing so makes the fixture dangerous.
Heat signals that you should examine the total load on a circuit or a cord and plug.
In the case of a hot circuit, you should …

Make sure the circuit breaker or fuse is the correct amperage for the circuit itself and the cable or wire that forms the circuit.
Total the combined load on the circuit.
If the load exceeds the circuit’s design, reduce the load. The real danger of an overloaded circuit is a wire heating up unseen inside your walls to the point where it can start a fire.

Electrical Warning Signs

2010-07-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Life is full of warning signs, but we don’t always pick up on them. A circuit that constantly burns out its fuse does not need a larger-amperage fuse. Instead, reduce some of the loads and their demand for current. Remember, electrical systems are very logical and safe when used intelligently. If you push them beyond their limits, all bets are off as to how well they’ll behave.
An orderly electrical system doesn’t overheat, start fires, or inordinately dim your lights. These are all signs that you have problems. (A fire means you’re too late.) If you have an older system that still uses fuses and does not have a grounding conductor, you need to be more observant of your usage and how your system reacts. Electrical problems sometimes require detective work. When an appliance doesn’t work at one receptacle, try it in another before you start tearing it apart. It might just be a bad receptacle or a loose terminal screw.
Remember that older, fuse-based systems weren’t designed for all the electrical loads we surround ourselves with today. These systems are safe when used judiciously.

Electrical Safety Rules

2010-07-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

These are the basic safety rules you must remember:

Never work on a live circuit, fixture, or device.
Shut off power to a circuit before repairing a device or load on the circuit. Keep one arm behind your back (or otherwise away from the panel) when shutting off or turning on a circuit.
Use a fuse puller to remove and replace fuses. Consider shutting off the power to the fuse box at the main disconnect.
Tape over or otherwise mark a main switch, fuse socket, or circuit breaker that’s been shut off if you’re working anywhere on your electrical system. This tells others not to turn the power on. (Post a large note on the fuse box or service panel as well.)
Always test to make sure the circuit has been shut off before doing any repairs.
Always unplug a cord-and-plug appliance, lamp, or other similarly connected load before repairing it.
Never stand in a puddle or on a wet surface when doing electrical repairs. Place a piece of wood on a damp floor and wear thick rubber boots to insulate your feet.

Trouble, Troubleshooting, and Safety

2010-07-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

Residential electrical systems, especially newer installations or upgrades, usually just keep humming along. Cartoonists could depict billions of smiling, happy electrons zipping around our wires, one little electron holding hands with the next, doing our electrical bidding. But things can go bad. Bare wires can cross each other, appliances can short out, and lamp cords can become frayed. Your electrical system, unlike the institution of democracy, might not require constant vigilance, but you have to keep an eye on it. Circuit breakers that trip regularly and fuses that burn out too often are signs of a problem circuit. Dimming lights are a romantic touch when you control them with a dimmer switch but not when they dim on their own. Likewise, if your electric can opener shoots sparks like a Roman candle, it means you have a problem.
Safety should be emphasized as always, and you should pass this emphasis on to your children and anyone else living in your house. Thousands of people are electrocuted every year, many of them children, and they often require hospital care. A safe, monitored electrical system will prevent many needless injuries and possibly even deaths. Without any further lecturing, we’ll move on to scrutinize your wiring, devices, and appliances.

Plaster and Drywall Repair

2010-06-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Plaster is applied wet and is forced into wood or metal lath. As it dries, the material that has oozed onto the back side of the lath forms plaster keys that hold the plaster in place. After you’ve cut the lath away to run your cable, you have to either patch in new lath for backing or use a small section of drywall for your repair. The cleaner your access holes, the easier your repairs. You might have to repaint the entire wall (maybe the rest of the room, too), depending on how much the paint has faded.
Patching a hole in drywall is a little easier than doing the same with plaster. All you need to do is …

Even up the hole in the wall by tracing an outline an inch or so in each direction. Take these dimensions and cut out an even rectangle or square of new drywall.
Hold the drywall patch against the wall, trace around it, and cut out an even, level hole.
Cut a second drywall patch two inches larger in each dimension.
Drill a hole in the center of the larger patch and pass a cord through it, knotting one end so it holds tight against the hole.
Apply construction adhesive to the outer two inches of the face of the patch.
Insert the patch into the wall and align it with the hole. Pull it tight to the wall with the cord.
Tie the other end of the string to a pencil or a small piece of scrap wood, and twist it until the patch holds tight. Tape the end of the wood to the patch so it doesn’t slip. (You also can screw through the wall and secure the patch.)
After the adhesive has set, test the smaller patch for fit and trim down the edges if necessary. Drill a hole in the middle of the patch.
Pull the cord through the second patch, and glue the smaller patch to the larger patch, securing it by twisting the cord.
After the patch has set, cut the string and push any excess back into the hole. Apply fiberglass drywall tape to the edges, and cover the patch with a thin application of joint compound.
When it’s dry, lightly sand the patch with 100-grit paper and apply a second coat of joint compound, spreading it slightly beyond the tape. Sand it when dry and apply a third coat if necessary.
Run your hand over the patch after each layer of joint compound has dried. (You don’t want to end up with a lump.)

The Finish Work

2010-06-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Electrical boxes must be set so they’re flush with the surrounding wall or ceiling when wood framing is used for construction (NEC Section 370-21). The gaps around the box cannot be greater than 1/8 inch; anything greater must be filled with patching plaster. The code wants to diminish the possibility of a fire spreading if a device or fixture has a short circuit. Boxes are secured by
…
➤ Nailing to the stud or joist.
➤ Plaster ears.
➤ Snap-in brackets.

Metal boxes can be used with …

➤ Nonmetallic cable.
➤ Armored cable.
➤ Metal conduit.

Nail-on plastic or nonmetallic boxes can be used with nonmetallic cable. Others are rated for use with plastic conduit.

Insulation Obstacles

2010-06-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

Insulation is great for maintaining your house’s temperature, but it’s terrible to pull wires through, especially the blow-in cellulose type. Worse yet is solid foam. You’ll never get a cable through that stuff. If you have insulation and you’re not inclined to pull your walls apart and remove it, consider …
➤ Using some form of raceway or conduit.
➤ Installing floor receptacles.
➤ Looking for alternative locations on interior walls instead of exterior walls.
➤ Going through closets or cabinets.

Get Your Drill Out

2010-05-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

The smaller the drill, the tougher the job when drilling holes for running cable through your house’s framing. I’ve already discussed drills. When access is limited, a rightangle drill can be very advantageous. Your holes must be drilled at least 11/2 inches from the edge of the stud or joist! This is to avoid damage to the cable from drywall nails or screws or any other fastener used to attach anything to a wall or ceiling. If the studs are exposed, you should install a metal nailing plate in front of the hole for added protection.

The Woodwork Comes Off

2010-05-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

Cutting very visible holes in your walls and ceilings (and repairing them later) might not be at the top of your list of fun projects. If you have wide baseboards, you might have a way out. You have to decide if it’s less of a mess to carefully remove a length of baseboard, pull the nails, reinstall, and possibly repaint it. With the baseboard out, you can drill behind it and not bother with patching up the plaster or drywall. This only works with wide baseboards (six inches wide and wider). With narrow baseboards, you would have to drill too close to the bottom of a stud, which could weaken it.

No Access, Now What?

2010-05-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Finished basements and attic spaces (or service panels located in finished garages) call for a more deft approach to your wiring. You have to decide if you should …

Run part of the circuit in conduit across the basement or garage ceiling.
Run conduit on the outside of your house and then into the walls.
Tear into the walls and ceiling at regular intervals, exposing the studs and joist to run the cable.

Most studs and joist are spaced at 16 inches on center (which means the center of the nailing side of one will be 16 inches from the center of another). The spacing offers predictable nailing surfaces for drywall and interior trim, especially baseboards. If you have no other way of getting into the wall or ceiling, you’ll have to open up the wall on each side of the studs and joist until you’ve reached the locations for your new boxes.

Dealing with boxes in ceilings

2010-04-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

Light fixtures and fans require an electrical box installed in the ceiling. (Fans are heavy and require special boxes. If you use anything else, the fan might fall out of the ceiling.) An unfinished attic gives you plenty of access to the joist. All you have to do is drill a small pilot hole at the proposed box location into the ceiling from below and poke a section of metal hanger up and into the attic (check the approximate location in the attic first for obstructions and wires). This will enable you to see if there are any obstacles in the attic such as existing wiring or framing that might be in the way of a box. Once you’ve established that the location will work, you can either …

Cut the round hole for the box with a hole saw.
Use a keyhole saw or a drywall saw for cutting the hole.

Ceiling boxes can be either nailed to a joist or attached with bar hangers. Nailing to a joist is simpler, but your light might fall between two joists and thus require hangers.

How to deal with plasters?

2010-04-30T01:18:00.001-07:00

Plastering is quite a craft. Older plaster jobs consist of three coats of material applied over wood or metal lath. Some old plaster (Victorian homes come to mind) is a little on the crumbly side. If you’re careful cutting through it, you’ll keep your repairs to a minimum.
To cut through plaster …

Determine the location of your new box (next to a stud if possible, but do your initial cutting at least a few inches away to make sure nothing gets in the way of the saw blade).
Place a drop cloth or a piece of plastic on the floor.
Drill a test hole so you can determine where the edge of the stud is located. (Ignore this if you’re not going to be near a stud.)
Place the front of your new box against the plaster, and use a pencil to draw around it (ignoring any plaster ears) to give you a line to cut into. You can apply masking tape around the outline to help keep the plaster from chipping when you cut.
Drill a hole in each corner to provide starter locations for the keyhole saw or scroll blade.
Hold a straightedge against the pencil lines, and score the plaster several times with a sharp blade.
Carefully saw through the lath in smooth movements. Go through about 7/8 of the way on one side and then cut the other side completely, returning to cut the remainder of the first side. This prevents the lath from excessively shaking the plaster.

If you have metal lath, you can’t really saw through it. You can try to chisel it out, but this can cause further cracking if you’re not careful. I’d just drill as many holes as you need, following the pencil outline to minimize the chiseling. Once the metal lath is exposed, cut through it with tin snips and smooth out the plaster with a saw blade or a rough file, or tap it with a small hammer.

How to deal with walls?

2010-04-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

Running cable through finished walls or ceilings is a nuisance. Once you’ve determined that a circuit can be extended or a new one added, you should plan the circuit’s route and figure out the least-disruptive route for the cable. An existing circuit can be extended from an electrical box provided that …

The box is sized to accommodate the additional cable.
The box isn’t at the end of a switch loop (an end-of-the-run switch).
The box isn’t a switch-controlled receptacle (unless you want the added device to be controlled by the switch as well).

Your best and easiest route is through an unfinished basement or attic, If you’re drilling into a crawl space, place a flashlight over the top of your drilled hole and turn it on. This makes it a lot easier to find the hole when you’re crawling under the house. If you have several holes to drill, insert a piece of scrap neutral wire into the hole; you’ll be able to see its white insulation more easily and mark each hole. It isn’t always easy to determine the location of a box when you’re up in an attic or down in a basement. From an approximate location in an attic, you can drill a very small hole on the outer edge of the wall’s top plate through the ceiling below and then poke a section of wire hanger or scrap wire through. From the room below, you can locate the necessary drilling location, go back to the attic, and adjust your coordinates. From the basement, you can drill a pilot hole from above (if you’re adding a receptacle) through the sole plate or bottom plate of the wall using a long, narrow twist bit. Then drill the larger hole from below. If the floor is only covered with subflooring material such as plywood, you can use your drill or drive a 16d finish nail through a location near the base of the wall where your new box is going in, looking for the nail down below. If you don’t object, you can do the same through carpet; just be sure to place the nail near the very edge of the baseboard and use a nail set to pound the head below the surface of the carpet
What if you have wood flooring? If you cannot accurately determine where to drill from the basement, drill the smallest hole possible (with a drill bit about four inches long) near the edge of the baseboard. Push a piece of wire through the hole so you can find the location in the basement. A piece of scrap conductor from your NMB cable will work just fine. At the end of the job, fill in the hole with a putty stick in a color matching the floor stain.

How Much You Can Keep?

2010-03-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

Basically, you can retain any and all safe wiring and devices. An electrical system will do what it’s designed to do and will do so reliably until you extend a circuit or the system beyond its design. You should remove or replace the following:

Any corroded or damaged wiring
Wiring that has not been installed properly (such as wire running along the bottom edge of an exposed joist rather than through holes drilled in the joist)
Devices or fixtures that render a circuit unsafe
Conductors that are the wrong gauge for their circuits
Any cable rated for interior use but installed outdoors You might be getting more than you bargained for if your system has been repeatedly altered over the years.

If additions have been made based on convenience (“Hey, look! I found a couple of wires.”) rather than logic, you could end up with an odd variety of lights, receptacles, and other fixtures all over your house. It might be best to run a new circuit or two to cover all these miscellaneous runs if you’re not already rewiring the whole house.

Mixing Old and New Wiring

2010-03-30T02:53:00.000-07:00

You can connect new cable or wire to existing cable or wire if you follow these rules:

All connections must be made inside an electrical box. The one exception is knob-and-tube wiring, which is the only electrical system that can be spliced in the wall. To do so, you must solder the conductors or use a mechanical splice such as a split bolt; a wire nut is not sufficient.
Junction boxes must be kept accessible. They cannot be covered up.
Don’t change the wire gauge. (New wire has to match existing wire.)
Be careful not to overextend the circuit by adding more loads than it’s designed to handle.

Knob-and-tube wiring doesn’t lend itself to easy identification of the hot and neutral conductors. You might have a junction box or device box packed with wires. Identify the hot lead the same way you would identify it in a less-crowded box:

Identify the circuit and turn off the power at the panel.
Check the connections with a voltage tester to confirm that the power is off.
Carefully remove any tape or wire nuts from the connected wires (those running back toward the panel).
Mark the wires so you know which ones were connected to each other.
Separate the wire ends so they’re not touching each other or the sides of the (metal) box.
Turn the power on at the service panel and test the wires one at a time until the hot lead lights the bulb on the tester.

Mark this as the hot line conductor. Messy junction boxes often indicate that a device or fixture was added without a lot of consideration as to its effect on the circuit. Your best bet is to confirm whether the circuit can or cannot safely support the addition and then deal with it appropriately. It might be that all you’re looking at is an unkempt, but safe, series of connections.

Messing Around With Old Wiring

2010-03-30T02:50:00.000-07:00

The easiest residential wiring to work with (short of metal conduit, which you’ll never find in a typical home) is grounded NMB copper cable. It’s newer than knob-and-tube wiring, the insulation is tough plastic, and you have none of the safety dilemmas that you have with aluminum wiring. If your electrical system was recently installed and inspected, it should be simple to trace circuits and calculate loads as you plan your additions and changes.
Regardless of the age of your system, you’ll have to tally your amperage usage for the total system as well as for each individual circuit affected by your work. Simply looking inside your service panel and counting the breakers or looking for an empty space to install a breaker isn’t enough. Wiring or changing your system generally means doing some damage to your house.
The larger the access holes and openings for boxes, the more repairs you’ll have to do. Your working goal should be to keep the repairs and patching to a minimum. As you can see, there’s more to electrical work than simply deciding to add a receptacle and running some wire.

Sock It to Your Socket

2010-02-26T03:06:00.000-08:00

In addition to damaged plugs, lamp sockets also are a regular culprit when a lamp won’t light. The socket itself doesn’t wear out, but the switch does. Several types of replacement sockets are available including …
➤ Pull chain.
➤ Twist knob.
➤ Push lever.
➤ Remote.
It’s easiest to replace your existing socket with one of the same style. Follow these steps to inspect and replace your socket:

Unplug the lamp.
Look at the outer shell of your socket. If it says “Press,” you can squeeze the socket and pull it out. If not, your socket is held in by screws, or the socket and harp (the frame for the lampshade) are secured to a threaded metal tube that runs the height of the lamp and is bolted at the base.
With the socket removed, check the wire connections at the screw terminals. If they’re tight, loosen the screws and remove the wires.
Test for continuity by placing your tester’s clip on one prong of the plug. Put the probe on the black wire and then the neutral wire. Put the clip on the other prong and repeat the test. If the tester’s bulb doesn’t light for either prong, you’ve got a bad cord and plug, and they’ll need to be replaced.
When you’ve determined that the socket is the source of your lamp woes, replace it with a new one with matching volt and amp ratings. Remember to attach the neutral wire in the ribbed or ridged insulation to the silver screw terminal and to attach the black or hot wire to the brass screw terminal.
Slide the insulating cardboard sleeve and outer shell over the socket and install in the lamp snuggly. (It fits into the lamp cap.)
Reinstall the harp, shade, and bulb and then test.

Round-Cord Plugs

2010-02-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

These are made for heavier-duty loads and loads needing a grounding plug. The terminal screws also are more substantial than on smaller, flatcord plugs such as those on lamps and radios.
Follow these steps to install a round-cord plug:

Cut the cord end clean with lineman’s pliers or a combination tool.
If there’s an insulating disc with the new plug, remove it.
Pass the cord through the clamp on the rear of the plug.
Strip two to three inches of insulation from the round cord and 3⁄4-inch of insulation from the hot, neutral, and grounding wires. Tighten the clamp.
Take the black wire and the white wire and tie an underwriter’s knot as close as you can to the cut edge of the insulation on the cord.
Wrap or hook the end of the black wire around the brass terminal screw going in a clockwise direction. Do the same with the neutral wire and the silver terminal as well as the grounding conductor and the green terminal.
Tighten the terminal screws securely. Make sure the wires are not touching each other.
Install the insulating disc.

Bugged by Bad Plugs

2010-02-26T03:01:00.000-08:00

An intact plug has straight prongs, a solid casing, and a cardboard insulating faceplate or disc (unless the entire plug is solid plastic). If the prongs are bent, the casing cracked, or the faceplate missing, replace the plug.
Plugs come in a variety of styles including …

➤ Flat-cord plugs.
➤ Quick-connect plugs.
➤ Polarized plugs.
➤ Round-cord plugs.

The easiest plug to install is a quick-connect plug. The prongs of the quick-connect plug can be removed from the casing by squeezing them together. By spreading them, the lamp cord can be inserted. To attach a quick-connect plug, squeeze the prongs together and slide them back into the casing. You don’t have to do any work on the wire; just follow the instructions on the package. Be sure the plug is rated for the load to which you’re attaching it. (You won’t get away with a quick plug on a heavy-duty portable appliance, for example.)
To replace a flat-cord plug, disassemble the casing on the new plug, pull apart the two halves of the lamp cord to the length of two inches or so, strip the insulation off the ends of each half, wrap the wires clockwise around the screw terminals, and reassemble the casing. The quick-connect plug is the easier of these two to install, but it’s not the best choice for a lamp that’s unplugged often.

The Easy Lamp Repairs

2010-01-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

You turn on your trusty reading lamp and—nothing. Chances are it’s the light bulb. Remove the old bulb, screw in a new one, and you should be ready to go. If not, you’ll have to inspect further. Your problem could be …

➤ The power supply.
➤ The receptacle.
➤ The contact tab at the bottom of the light socket.
➤ The light socket.
➤ The cord or plug.

The power supply and the receptacle are easy enough to check. A voltage tester will tell you whether the receptacle is hot, and a quick trip to your fuse box or service panel will tell you whether the problem is originating there. If a breaker has tripped or a fuse has gone out, you need to discover the cause before you can consider the problem solved.
The contact tab at the bottom of the socket is the same one referred to previously in this chapter in the “Inspect First” section. Simply unplug the lamp and use a small screwdriver to pull up slightly on the tab. If the bulb still doesn’t work, you’ll have to look at your cord and plug more closely.

The Pieces Inside Fluorescent Fixtures

2010-01-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

All fluorescent fixtures have the following major components:

Ballast
Sockets
Lamps (a.k.a. light bulbs or tubes) The ballast is like a small transformer inside the fixture.

It has two major jobs:

First, it provides the spark that sets off the gas within the tube, making that gas fluoresce. This requires higher voltage.
Then, the transformer reduces the voltage to the (very low) level necessary to sustain lighting.

There are three main types of ballasts or fluorescent circuits: preheat, rapid start, and instant start. (The type is identified on the ballast casing.)
Preheat technology dates back to the original fluorescent fixtures, and it is used today mostly for certain low-wattage fixtures such as compact fluorescent fixtures. This type of circuit uses a starter.
Rapid starts are the most frequently used ballasts today. They maintain a continuous low-wattage circuit to the lamp’s filaments so they start up faster (in less than a second). This style of ballast also comes in a version that allows dimming. An instant-start ballast, as the name implies, ignites the gas in the lamp instantly. It supplies a higher starting voltage than the other types of ballasts, and like the rapidstart variety, it requires no separate starter. The drawback to this voltage boost is that it requires a special lamp. The lamp also will have a shorter life than those used for rapid-start circuits. One way you can distinguish between the lamps is by the number of pins on the ends of the lamp. (These pins insert into the fixture’s sockets or tubeholders.) Rapid-start lamps are bi-pin (they have two pins); most, but not all, instantstart versions have only one.

Try a New Style

2010-01-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

Styles and fashions change, a fact that’s certainly not lost on America’s retailers. The dim ceiling fixtures with the square-shaped glass domes from the 1950s and 1960s just don’t cut it any more, unless you’re into retro-hip lifestyles complete with hula hoops and strange-looking dinette sets. The array of fixture choices today is astounding. Just about any period of fixture can be matched, or a completely updated style can be installed. The only limits are your imagination and your checkbook. Some fixtures can greatly increase the amount of lighting in a room. A single overhead fixture in a long hallway, for example, might be replaced with track lighting running the length of the hallway, turning it into a great space to display paintings or photographs. As always, make sure your circuit can support the increased current demand should you replace a fixture with one of a higher wattage rating. There’s no need to limit yourself to using incandescent fixtures to replace your existing ones. Fluorescent fixtures, especially compact models, should be considered as well.

Installing a Fixture Box

2009-12-31T10:23:00.001-08:00

A self-supporting retrofit box can be installed in an existing ceiling or wall if your light fixture doesn’t have a box. This regularly will be the case with very old wiring or poorly done additions to your electrical system. You’d be surprised how many old incandescent fixtures are attached directly to plaster lath instead of to any kind of box. Retrofit boxes come in two flavors: metal and plastic. Each is designed to fit snugly against either plaster or drywall by using adjustable ears and brackets that expand and/or tighten against the wall. A plastic box has an attached, U-shaped bracket that tightens like a toggle bolt as its attachment screw is tightened. A metal retrofit box comes with brackets or supports (known as “Madison Holdits” and sometimes as “battleships”) that fit between the box and the wall. As they are pulled out, they firm up the fit of the box. The arms of the supports are then bent over the edge of the box, tucked inside, and pinched tightly with pliers.
Another version of a metal retrofit box features a screw-operated support on each side of the box. As the screws are tightened, the metal support wedges the box in tightly against the plaster or drywall. A retrofit plastic box has plastic or metal internal cable clamps that help secure the cables to the box should it ever slip from the opening. Metal boxes are a bit trickier to use if you’re unfamiliar with them, so consider using plastic retrofit boxes for your work.

Time to Replace

2009-12-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Installing new fixtures is a doable homeowner project. It’s easier to do with modern wiring and boxes, but it still can be done with older types of wire as well. To replace a fixture, follow all safety precautions, read the instructions and diagrams that come with the fixture, and …

Turn the power off and test to make sure it’s off.
Follow the preceding steps for testing the fixture’s socket to remove the fixture and undo the wire connections.
If the fixture does not have an electrical box, install .
Install the mounting strap that comes with your new fixture to the box. (The strap, also called a mounting yoke, has predrilled holes set to the dimensions of the fixture.)
Connect the black wire and the white wire from the fixture to their counterparts in the circuit wires.
Connect the grounding wire to the grounding screw on the mounting strap and to the grounding conductor that might come attached to the fixture.
Install a light bulb, turn on the power, and test the fixture. After the test, turn off the power and remove the bulb.
Attach the fixture with its mounting screws to the mounting strap.
Install the light bulb and the globe.

Inspect First

2009-12-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

There are two main reasons for replacing a light fixture:

It isn’t working, and you believe it is somehow broken.
You want to install an updated style or a fixture that will offer more light.

You should do a number of checks before pronouncing a light fixture broken or beyond repair. You already know about checking the switch and the fixture itself for power. In addition, you should look at the following:

The lamp (light bulb)
The socket
The wire connections inside the box

Checking the light bulb is the obvious first course of action—replacing the bulb with one that’s working. If it got jostled around in a storage drawer or even on the way home from the hardware store, there’s always a chance a new bulb isn’t working, so check it in a fixture or lamp you know is working. The next thing to check is the socket. At the bottom of the socket is a small metal tab that makes contact with the bottom of the lamp. Turn the power off and check with your voltage tester by placing one probe on the metal tab and one on the inside of the metal socket. The bulb should not glow. If it does, the power is still on, and you need to shut off the correct circuit. With the correct circuit shut off, test the fixture again with your voltage tester. With the power off, pull the end of the tab up a little bit using the end of a screwdriver. Screw in the lamp, turn on the power, and try the fixture again. These tabs sometimes become depressed or flattened out and don’t form a tight contact with the lamp. Why would the contact suddenly be broken? All it takes is a slight vibration in the fixture from, say, a large truck passing by. If a light bulb that you know is good doesn’t work, you have a problem with the socket. Remove the fixture to test the socket by following these steps:

With all glass globes, lampshades, and light bulbs removed, unscrew the fixture from the box by turning the mounting screws counterclockwise.
Carefully pull down the fixture and let it rest on top of the ladder. This is critical if it’s a heavy fixture.
Disconnect the wires from the terminal screws and take down the fixture.
Attach the continuity tester’s clip to the hot wire terminal screw, and place the probe against the metal tab in the socket. If the tester does not glow, the socket needs to be replaced.
Attach the continuity tester’s clip to the neutral terminal and the probe to the threaded portion of the socket. Again, if the tester’s bulb does not glow, the socket needs replacement.

Some sockets are permanently attached to the fixture, in which case the entire fixture must be replaced. Others are attached to the fixture with screws and can be removed and replaced. Take your old socket to the hardware, lighting, or electrical-supply store and purchase an identical replacement.
The same vibrations also can cause the wire connections to come loose just enough to lose contact with the fixture.

Understanding Light Fixture

2009-11-30T03:44:00.000-08:00

Changing a light fixture can be more involved than simply replacing a switch or a receptacle. Switches and receptacles almost always are housed in electrical boxes, but this isn’t always true for light fixtures. If the system is old or has been hacked at enough, you can disassemble an old ceiling light only to find a couple of wires dangling through the plaster without the hint of a box. As you should know by now, this is a dangerous situation because all wire connections must take place within a box. You might feel like cheating by continuing the status quo, but don’t. You’ll need to install a new box (unless one’s already there).
Lights usually get replaced because tastes change. Old fixtures don’t often wear out, since they have no moving parts (unlike a switch). Historic or not, the original hanging lights in your Craftsman home might be ugly to your eyes, or you might want to replace more modern fixtures with replication period fixtures to restore your home closer to its original condition.
The usual safety precautions apply to replacing fixtures that apply to any other electrical work—turning the power off is number one—but now you’ll sometimes be working off a ladder. For that matter, two of you might be working off two ladders if you have to remove an especially heavy or delicate fixture such as a chandelier. One thing is for certain: With the huge selection of new fixtures to choose from, you’re bound to find a replacement that will dress up any room in your house.

Considerations in Choosing Light Types

2009-11-30T03:31:00.000-08:00

The most comfortable light in many instances is natural sunlight. (You may think differently if you live in the Sahara desert.) If you’re remodeling or adding on to your house, think about adding more windows and skylights. Millwork companies can custom match any existing wood window or come close enough with stock material. There are enough vinyl and aluminum window manufacturers around that you should be able to find one that will look like part of your house. Paint color also affects the impact of light, both natural and electric. Light colors will be the most reflective, but they might not be your first choice in certain rooms. Balance out your color choice with adequate lighting. Finally, look at your choice of controls or switches. Dimmers are inexpensive, and they greatly expand your options in any room. One minute your living room is washed in light for your Scrabble club’s monthly game; the next minute it’s dimmed way low for you and your jo. (Scottish for “sweetheart,” this word works great on a triple-word score.)

What to Do of Cheap Power Reigns?

2009-11-30T03:12:00.000-08:00

At one point in the 1980s, it was estimated that the cost of residential electricity in Seattle was one tenth the cost in New York City. If it’s any consolation, our delicatessens weren’t anything to write home about. The cost differential isn’t that great anymore, but we’re still below the national average. Lower costs aren’t necessarily a justification for excessive use of electricity, but they will determine whether more efficient fluorescent lamps will ever pay off for you.
Basically, the higher your electricity costs run beyond the national average (around 8￠ per KWH), the more cost-effective fluorescent lights will be in your home. This doesn’t mean they will work well for all your lighting needs from a cost standpoint. The longer a light is continually on, the better a candidate it is for a fluorescent lamp. An occasionally used attic or storage-room light is best left with an incandescent lamp. Some fixtures, such as recessed ceiling lights, might not have room for a fluorescent lamp.

Fluorescent Lighting

2009-10-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Fluorescent lamps are considered to be the most energy efficient, but they often suffer from a reputation as flickering, eerie sources of light suitable only for institutional settings. They are the light source of choice in industrial and commercial settings because of their efficiency and long life—something worth considering for your home as well. Modern fluorescent fixtures have a place in residential settings.
A fluorescent lamp is constructed with …

A glass tube.
Argon or argon-krypton gas and a small amount of mercury.
Phosphor coating on the inside of the tube.
Electrodes at each end of the tube.

As electricity passes between the tube’s electrodes, it jostles the mercury atoms, which then give off ultraviolet radiation. The radiation is converted to light when it interacts with the phosphors lining the tube. The fixture itself comes with a ballast to kick-start the current passing within the tube and to keep it regulated. The range of phosphors available to manufacturers enables them to produce lamps with different color tones for different applications.
Fluorescent fixtures also produce less heat and more light for the amount of electricity they consume as compared to incandescent lamps.
One of the biggest changes in fluorescent technology is the shape and size of the lamps. In the past, you were stuck with straight, U-shaped, or circular figures. (The last always seemed to be used outside small-town, drive-in, ice-cream stands for some reason.) Now we have compact fluorescent lamps that can be an efficient substitute for incandescent lamps. A 40-watt compact fluorescent lamp, for example, can replace a 150-watt incandescent lamp and can last up to 10 times longer. (It had better, given the typical cost of $20 or more.) Two types of replacement units are available:

Integral units, which include a compact fluorescent lamp and ballast in a self-contained unit
Modular units, in which the bulb is replaceable Now you know that you can replace your incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, but is it worth it?

Tungsten-Halogen Lamps

2009-10-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

These lamps (which are smaller in size than standard incandescent lamps) also heat up a tungsten filament, but they contain halogen gas. The gas combines with the evaporated tungsten to create tungsten halide gas that deposits the tungsten back onto the filament, extending its life. After the deposit, halogen gas is released and the process starts all over. The smaller size of the lamp enables the filament to heat up to a higher temperature and a higher efficiency.
Because none of the tungsten is deposited on the glass, a halogen lamp burns brighter and has a very focused, intense light.

Incandescent Lamps

2009-10-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

This is the most familiar type of lamp. An electric current passes through and heats a tungsten filament, producing a glowing light. (The term “incandescent” literally means “to glow or become hot.”) Over time, heat evaporates the tungsten, and it eventually weakens and breaks. The lamp contains a chemically inert gas that allows the tungsten vapor from the heated element to deposit on the sides of the glass. This is why standard incandescent lamps gradually become darker over time. If they are too small, the tungsten coating would turn them opaque, and they’d be useless as a source of light. Incandescent lamps are cheap to produce and are versatile in application, but they are considered to be impractical by energy conservationists as a source of light given modern alternatives. They produce a considerable amount of waste heat for the amount of current they draw, and they have a useful life of 750 to 2,500 hours depending on the lamp. Builders traditionally install incandescent fixtures because both they and the lamps are inexpensive and are not likely to meet any resistance from price-conscious buyers. When buying lamps, take note of the voltage rating of the lamp. Typical lamps sold in stores are rated at 115 or 120 volts. At professional lighting stores, you should be able to find longer-lasting lamps rated at 130 volts.

What’s Your Lighting Type?

2009-09-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

Lighting is divided by the type of lamp used and the style of the fixture. Lamp types include …
➤ Incandescent.
➤ Fluorescent.
➤ Halogen.
Each of these has distinguishing characteristics, as described in the following list. When it comes to fixture styles, the sky’s the limit. They range from antique reproductions to one-of-a-kind works of art (with prices to match). The following are some of the most common light fixtures:
➤ Flush-mounted ceiling lights that include square, mushroom, or round domes
➤ Hanging ceiling lights and chandeliers
➤ Surface fluorescent lights
➤ Recessed ceiling lights
➤ Track lighting
➤ Bath bars
➤ Sconces and wall-mounted lights
➤ Wall washes
➤ Undercabinet-mounted lights
➤ Outdoor lights (floodlighting, landscape lighting, pole-mounted lights, wallmounted lights, and security lighting)

All of these will light up a given area. You just have to decide whether they will provide light that you find both appropriate and pleasing to the eye. Your budget also is a consideration, especially if you’re buying fixtures for a major remodel. An outdoor landscaping light, for example, can be a simple pagoda light or an ornate—and expensive—leaded-glass lamp. (The latter is not recommended if you have kids, dogs, or errant adults running around the yard.)

Looks Are Something

2009-09-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

The cheapest porcelain fixtures with 100-watt bulbs might provide safe lighting, but they won’t be much to look at. Visualize the appearance of the fixture and the lamp as well as their function. Some fixtures literally are works of art (Tiffany lamps, for example); others are designer-created and are very striking to look at. Do you want to look at a brass hanging light over the kitchen table or cobalt-blue steel? You’re going to be looking at them every day, so take your time choosing your fixtures.

Combining Lighting Styles

2009-09-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

Most general living space will accommodate more than one lighting style. A closet
obviously doesn’t need accent lighting unless you make a point of giving your guests
a tour of your shoe collection. A dining room needs ambient light, but it can become
very dramatic with, say, floor-to-ceiling lights illuminating the side walls while the recessed
ceiling lights are off and a few lit candles are on the table. A mix of lighting
offers the most options and can present a room and its occupants at their best in a
variety of settings.

Whether you’re building something new or remodeling, keep your furniture in mind
rather than strictly installing lights by formula (so many per square feet at such and
such a distance from each other). You might have a grand piano ready to nestle in a
corner of the living room or a windowless wall just waiting for your collection of
family portraits. Either situation calls for very specific fixture placement.

Lighting Up Outside

2009-08-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

I think exterior lighting is always a plus with any. Good lighting will welcome you and your guests on a rainy night, provide some measure of security for your family, and illuminate address numbers, door locks, and staircases. Before you decide to install fixtures as powerful as Batman’s searchlight, consider the following:

Know the size of the fixture and its scale compared to your house.
Think about the location and aim of the lights and their effect on your neighbors. (A little light goes a long way at night.)Caulk the top seam between the fixture and the section of the house where it’s attached to ensure that water stays out. Leave the bottom uncaulked so that, if moisture does get in, it has a place to exit.
Think twice before installing solid-brass fixtures. They won’t rust, but eventually most will tarnish and need polishing.

Installing outside lighting, like many tasks, can be done the easy way or the hard way. The easy way means mounting all the fixtures on the walls of your house (and porch ceilings), which means you can pull your wires from inside the house. The hard way means digging ditches and running wires and conduit underground, although this will give your yard a much more dramatic presentation. As a final consideration, think about what your outdoor lighting will look like from inside the house. You can enjoy your yard even in the winter if you set up lighting that accents it well.

Aim the Lighting High, Low, and Wide

2009-08-28T09:19:00.001-07:00

Light from a lamp is aimed somewhere, whether it’s the top of your desk or your workbench. Even general ambient lighting gets directed somewhere. Recessed ceiling lights and adjustable spotlights can provide as broad or as focused a beam of light as you desire. Some lights are installed as wall washers, meaning they shine down a wall either to highlight artwork or other collections or simply to draw your attention to the perimeter of the room, conveying a greater sense of size than might truly exist. The advantages of recessed ceiling lights are their versatility and unobtrusiveness. Let’s face it, a chandelier automatically draws attention to itself—especially if one of your party guests is swinging on it. A recessed fixture is far more subtle and almost hides in the background.
Some fixtures can serve more than one purpose. A wall sconce, for example, can serve general, task, and accent lighting needs. This versatility is a huge advantage over ceiling lights when you’re remodeling because it’s far easier to wire and install a wall fixture than to install most ceiling fixtures.

Know Your Lighting

2009-08-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Lighting is defined by its use in our homes and places of work. Designers and architects break it down into several categories:

➤ Accent lighting emphasizes or highlights a specific area or object and directs our attention to it.
➤ Ambient lighting is general illumination.
➤ Task lighting is for illuminating work and tasks.

It’s never a bad idea to install plenty of ambient lighting, even if you later decide it’s more than you immediately need. At some point in the future, you might move things around and decide you need more lighting. I wouldn’t recommend tearing up the walls just to install fixtures, but if you have an open ceiling or already are doing some installations, consider a few extra light fixtures if the circuit permits. If you walk into a lighting store or the lighting section of a home-improvement center, you’ll see dozens and dozens of fixtures to choose from. Where do you start?

Distinguishing a Lumen from Illuminance

2009-07-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Light output is measured in lumens. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of Science, a lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the amount of light from a source of one candela radiating equally in all directions. A candela is a unit of luminous intensity equal to 1/60 of the radiating power of one square centimeter of a black body at 1,772°C. You can draw two conclusions from this information:

The higher the lumen measurement, the more light you’ll have to work with from a fixture.
Authors can easily get carried away when they have too many reference books at their disposal.

Illuminance, which is measured in foot-candles, is the amount of light hitting a point on a surface. A foot-candle is (easily enough) defined as the amount of light produced by one candle on a surface one foot away. We can’t see illuminance, but we do see luminance or brightness, although this is somewhat subjective. (What appears to be dim light to me might be plenty bright to you.) Architects and lighting consultants take all these measurements into consideration when they calculate the lighting needs of buildings.
Comfortable lighting selections and light levels are determined by the tasks that require the lighting, the distance between the light and the task, and the degree of glare. One definition of glare is excessive contrast between the intensity of light on a particular object or surface and the surrounding area or background; indirect glare is the glare produced from a reflective surface. Too much contrast between them causes glare. (Computer screens are a common example.) You can reduce this glare by …

Installing fixtures that keep the light level appropriate for the task at hand.
Using a louver or a lens to block or redirect the light.
Carefully considering the placement and spacing of light fixtures.

Another measurement of lighting quality is how well it enables you to see colors accurately. The better the color rendering, the more pleasing the living space. Color-rendering capability is based, naturally enough, on the color-rendering index (CRI), which measures from 1 to 100. (Natural daylight measures at 100.) The higher the rating on the CRI, the more lifelike and accurate the object being viewed.

Measuring Your Lighting Needs

2009-07-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

The NEC calls for a minimum calculation for general lighting and receptacle loads of three watts per square foot of living space. This comes out to approximately one circuit every 575 square feet. That doesn’t amount to a lot, but remember, electrical codes only establish minimum standards. In reality, you’ll want lighting everywhere.
Consider the different areas of your house and their individual needs:

Kitchen. Overhead lighting, natural light from windows and sliding doors, work light over counters, a light over the stove.
Bathrooms. Primarily lights over the sink(s) and lights over the bathtub and toilet, depending on the size of the room.
Dining room. A hanging light over the table, recessed ceiling lights, or possibly wall sconces. This room often has a dimmer switch to tone down the light.
Bedrooms. Children’s rooms often get ceiling lights. Master bedrooms might depend more on reading lamps and switch-controlled receptacles, although large rooms can use recessed ceiling lighting as well.
Hallway. You might want a long track light to highlight artwork on the walls.
Garage. At least one light per bay over the hood of the cars. It’s even better to add one or two at the other end so the trunks are illuminated.
Basement. Depends on whether the space is finished or unfinished. In either case, you want at least enough ceiling light to cover the entire area thoroughly, leaving no dark spots.
Closets, storage rooms. At least one ceiling light.
Outdoors. At a minimum, one light over each entry door and over the garage doors. It’s even better to consider lights to line walkways and illuminate gardens or security lighting for back and side yards.

Your use of a room obviously will determine your choice of lighting fixtures, their locations, and their number. A single fluorescent ceiling light will fulfill all the working requirements of most closets because the requirements are pretty basic: to shed enough light for you to identify and choose your clothes. A kitchen, on the other hand, requires all kinds of light for a modern homeowner. You need lights over counters for close work so you can chop, dice, and mince vegetables instead of your fingers. Overhead lights enable you to read the newspaper and get a better look at what’s hiding in the back of your pantry. A dimmer-controlled hanging light over the eating area lets you tone things down for a late-night meal. Anywhere you’ve got a wall, ceiling, or floor, you can install a light. It’s simply a matter of extending a circuit or running a new one and choosing your fixtures. The science of lighting is a little more complicated.

How Illuminating my home is.......

2009-07-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

We are way beyond the point when lighting was simply functional, allowing us to work and not stumble around after the sun went down. If function was all it meant to us, every room in our house would have one huge, efficient, fluorescent light fixture on the ceiling and maybe a night-light or two for after dark. Instead, lighting does much more such as …

Create a mood or atmosphere.
Define a space.
Provide security and safety.
Highlight artwork or a section of your home.

Your lighting needs will be defined by these factors and others. Before you install a particular type of lighting, ask yourself the following questions:

Who will be using this area and for what purpose?
Do I want a traditional or modern look?
How often will anyone be in this room?
How much am I willing to spend?
Is energy conservation important to me?

At a minimum, the code calls for one switch-controlled light per habitable room. Hallways, stairways, and garages also must meet this code requirement. This can be accomplished with permanent fixtures, such as ceiling lights, or through a switch-controlled receptacle into which a lamp can be plugged. Bathrooms and kitchens, however, must have an installed fixture. Your first step is to establish your minimum lighting needs and then choose the style of fixture you want to meet them.

Grounding an Old Receptacle

2009-06-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

A properly grounded system ties each device, appliance, and fixture back to the service panel with a separate grounding conductor (the bare copper or green insulated copper wire). It’s unrealistic to attempt this with an old electrical system unless you’re replacing it (in which case, the grounding would be part of replacing the system). You also could install a GFCI in place of an existing, two-wire receptacle. The National Electrical Code allows an ungrounded, two-wire receptacle to be replaced with a GFCI. A GFCI can even protect any receptacles downstream (away from the panel or power source). A GFCI used in this manner will only protect you from ground faults; it will not act as a ground for any equipment plugged into the receptacle(s). As a rule, it’s best for GFCIs to protect only a single box, not multiple receptacles. If you try to use one GFCI to cover multiple receptacles, you might experience nuisance tripping due to the greater sensitivity to current fluctuations. A GFCI installed to replace a twowire receptacle should be marked “No Equipment Ground.” A GFCI must be wired according to stamped terminals on the back of the receptacle. They will be marked “Load” and “Line” as well as “Hot” and “White.” The hot wire (which runs from the panel or fuse box) is the line conductor; anything going off to another load or receptacle is the load conductor. How do you know which is which? You’ll need your voltage tester.
With the power off and the old receptacle removed, separate all the wires in the box so they’re not in contact with each other (or with the box if it’s metal). Turn the power back on, and put one end of your probe on one hot wire and one on the neutral that is paired with the hot you are testing. If the bulb doesn’t light up, try the other black wire and neutral. The one that lights up the tester’s bulb is the line conductor. It’s the one receiving power from the current you switched back on at the service panel or fuse box. Connect this to the “Line,” “Hot” side of the GFCI. It is very important that the line side hot and neutral conductors or wires be connected to the “Line” side of the GFCI; otherwise, the GFCI will trip or will not work at all. If the line and loads are reversed, the GFCI will still have power if it is tripped, producing a hazardous situation.
As an alternative to installing a GFCI to replace an ungrounded receptacle, it is permissible to install a grounding conductor to an ungrounded circuit by using an individual No.12 insulated green copper conductor to connect each receptacle being grounded to the closest cold-water pipe. The grounding conductor will then have to be secured to the pipe using an approved clamping device. It also can be run directly back to the panel and installed in the grounding/ neutral bar.

Installing a New Receptacle

2009-06-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Receptacles are a little more straightforward than three- and four-way switches. With a single duplex receptacle, you’re dealing with one or two cables coming into the box. An end-of-the-run receptacle will have one cable, and a middle-of-the-run will have two. The receptacle has two sets of terminal screws, silver for the neutral wires and brass for the hot.
After shutting off the power and testing the terminal screws, remove the outlet by loosening the screws attaching it to the box. Remove the hot and neutral wires, noting their position on the outlet (hot upper, hot lower, neutral upper, neutral lower) by marking the position on an attached piece of masking tape. Reconnect to the new receptacle in the same locations, and gently push the wires back into the box while reattaching the new receptacle. Turn on the power at the service panel or fuse box and test.

Two-Wire Grounding

2009-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Do the following to test a two-slot receptacle: Place one probe in the hot slot and the other end on the screw securing the cover plate. The screw must be clean as well as paint and grease free.

If the receptacle is grounded, the tester’s bulb will light up.
Put the probe in the neutral slot if the tester does not light up in the hot slot. If it lights, the receptacle is grounded, but the neutral and hot wires have been reversed and are attached to the wrong terminals. If the bulb doesn’t glow at all, the receptacle isn’t grounded.
To be absolutely sure that the receptacle is grounded (if your test indicates that it is), turn the power off and remove the cover plate. Check to see if an actual grounding conductor is present.

Test for Grounding

2009-05-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

You can test a grounded, three-slot receptacle for grounding (remember, the power is on) by placing one probe of your tester in the short slot and one in the hole for a plug’s grounding pin. The short slot is for the hot wire. The bulb should glow to indicate that the receptacle is grounded. If it doesn’t, keep one probe in the grounding hole and place the other one in the longer, neutral slot. In this position, if the bulb glows, it shows that the receptacle is grounded, but the black and white wires have been reversed (they’re attached to the wrong terminal screws) and should be corrected. If the bulb doesn’t glow in either case, the receptacle isn’t grounded. A three-slot receptacle that isn’t grounded is misleading and dangerous to a user. It might indicate that only the individual receptacle is incorrectly wired or that it was inadvertently used to replace an ungrounded receptacle. Either way, you want to know so you can correct the problem.

Check and Check Again

2009-05-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Receptacles, like switches and fixtures, need to be checked with a voltage tester before you do any work on them. The test is similar for both grounded and ungrounded receptacles, except you’ll be testing for grounding as well with the former. A grounding test can only be done with the power on.
With the power off, insert both ends of your voltage tester into the slots of the receptacle. The light in the tester should not go on. If it does, the power has not been turned off, or the wrong circuit was shut off. Even if the tester bulb does not light up, you can’t be sure that the current is off. The receptacle might be damaged but still receiving a current. Remove the cover plate and carefully pull the receptacle out. Place one probe on the brass terminal, which should be connected to the black or hot wire. Place the other probe on the silver or neutral terminal. You must touch both terminals to complete the circuit. The bulb shouldn’t glow if the power has been shut off.

Disreputable Receptacles

2009-05-27T06:52:00.000-07:00

Receptacles are pretty long-lasting, but old ones eventually can give out when the clips no longer hold a plug snuggly. There also are drawbacks to some old receptacles if they’re neither polarized nor grounded. Receptacle bodies also get broken if furniture or toy trucks somehow bang into them. (This happens at gyms all the time, only barbells do the damage.)
You want your receptacles and their cover plates to be intact. Broken or missing sections can set up you and yours for a shock or worse. When replacing an old receptacle, you can’t simply pop a new, grounded receptacle into an existing two-slot outlet. It doesn’t work that way, although there is a trick you can do with a GFCI that will give you some protection, but it will not ground any equipment plugged into the receptacle. A GFCI does not give grounding protection unless a grounding conductor already is present.

Old Wire, New Switch

2009-04-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

It can be difficult working with the deteriorated knob-and-tube wire ends inside a box. You might have to snip off the end, and the remaining wire can be a little too short to easily connect to a new switch or receptacle. In this case, you can pigtail a short, new piece of wire to the existing wire and connect the pigtail to the terminal screw on the device. This also will bring the wires into compliance with the NEC, which calls for six inches of workable wire length inside a box. The following diagram shows this type of pigtail.

Dimmers

2009-04-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

You can replace any interior single-pole switch with a dimmer if the box is large enough to accommodate the larger body of the dimmer. Don’t try to pack it into a tight or overcrowded box because this is a fire hazard (see the instruction sheet that comes with the dimmer). Dimmer switches come with about four inches of their own wiring or lead wires (line and load and ground wire) ready to connect with cable from the circuit with wire nuts.

The Great Outdoors

2009-04-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

You cannot replace an outdoor switch with an indoor switch unless you also use a bubble-type cover or a cover with a flip-style lid. These are weatherproof covers. Better yet, you can use a cover with a built-in, horizontal, lever-type switch that comes with a foam gasket between the cover plate and the box. The lever activates a regular toggle switch underneath. Other than that, the replacement procedure is the same as a regular single-pole switch.

Four-Way Switch

2009-03-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

A four-way switch has two sets of traveler wires running between it and a pair of threeway switches. There is no common wire nor is there a common terminal. The continuity test for a four-way switch requires a few extra steps. You need to put the clip on any pair of traveler screw terminals separately and then touch each of the other screws with the probe. This is a total of six tests for each position of the toggle (see the following figures). The test should show two continuous currents for each position of the toggle switch. (The paths between specific traveler screw terminals vary with different manufacturers.)

A four-way switch box has two cables with three conductors coming into it (thus four hot conductors or wires). Two are black; the other two are a second color, most likely red. When you replace the switch, be sure to match the wires to the correct traveler terminals. New four-way switches either match their terminals up by color (two are brass and two are copper), or the back of the switch might have wiring instructions. This makes your job easier. You simply have to match one color of wire insulation to one set of screws (red wires to brass screws, for example). See the following figures for a typical installation.

Three-Way Switch

2009-03-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

Replacing a three-way switch is more involved than replacing a single-pole variety. Now you have traveler wires to deal with (these connect the two three-way switches) as well as the common wires.
This means the cable running between the switches is 12/3 (or 14/3) cable rather than the more common 12/2 (or 14/2).
Follow the same safety and testing procedures that you would with a single-pole switch. Because three way switches (and four-way switches) are more expensive than a common single-pole switch, you want to be certain that the switch is really broken before throwing it away and replacing it. When removing a three-way switch from its box, note to which terminal screws or
back-wired slots the wires are connected. Mark the common wire with a small piece of masking tape, or attach each wire to the new switch as you remove them from the old switch. The common terminal screw usually is copper; the traveler terminals are brass or sometimes silver. Note whether the neutral wire is being used as a hot conductor.

New Switches

2009-03-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

The easiest switch to replace is the single-pole switch. Before popping in a new one—and this is true with any device—read the specifications on the old switch. These usually are listed on the metal mounting strap and include the following:

The amperage and voltage ratings
The type of current it will carry (AC only for house current)
The type of wire that’s compatible with the device (CU for copper only, CO/ALR for copper or aluminum, ALR for aluminum only)
Its Underwriters Laboratory or other testing service listing

The back of the device will indicate the acceptable wire gauge and a stripping gauge for measuring the amount of insulation to be removed prior to installation. The location of your switch will determine how its replacement gets wired. A switch can be at either the middle or the end of a run (one complete circuit). These positions in the run are simply defined:

A middle-of-the-run switch can be anywhere between the beginning and the end of the circuit. There will be at least two cables entering the box (at a minimum, one on the line side coming from the panel and one leading to a fixture or other device).
In an end-of-the-run switch (also referred to as a “switch loop”), the cable runs from the fixture to the switch. This requires special treatment of the white wire.

Remember to shut the power off at the service panel or fuse box and to test the switch with a voltage tester before removing the wires. Note the condition of the ends of the wires. You don’t want to reuse damaged or nicked wires. If you find any damage, cut off the minimum amount of wire necessary to remove this section and then strip off sufficient insulation (about 5/8 of an inch) so the wire will make a solid contact.

Continuity Coming Up

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A continuity test will tell you whether a switch’s metal components, which are critical for the flow of the current, are intact or broken. A continuity tester is battery-powered and provides a current that passes from the tester’s clip through a device or fixture. The tester’s other component is a probe that lights up if a current is passing through the device as designed. To perform the test, a switch or fixture must be disconnected from its power source and removed. (The tester will supply the current for the test.) A continuity tester should never be used on a live current.
The following figures show you how to do a continuity test on a single-pole switch and a three-way switch. If your tests show you that the switch is the problem, it’s time to replace it.
If your tests show you that the switch is the problem, it’s time to replace it.

Checking the Devices

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Switches, appliances, and fixtures test a bit differently than receptacles. The first three are tested for continuity and power and require both testing tools. A continuity tester will indicate whether the circuit’s pathway within the switch has any breaks in it from metal fatigue. It also checks other appliances and fixtures for similar breaks. Let’s start with testing for a switch.
Follow these steps to test a switch for power:

With the switch off, touch one of the voltage tester’s probes either to the bare end of the ground wire (the inside of the wire nut holding the neutral wires together) or, if it’s a metal box, to the side of the box.
Place the other probe against each black wire either at the terminal screw or at the back-wired slot.
The bulb should light up for at least one of the hot wires, the line wire coming from the panel or fuse box. If the tester does not light up for either black wire, the problem is somewhere in the circuit between the panel and the device. (Go to step 4 if it does light up.)
Turn the switch on and check the other black wire, which is the load conductor. If the bulb on the tester does not light up, the switch is bad and needs to be replaced.
If both black wires show current passing through them, recheck the fixture and the appliance because the problem is not with the switch.
Note: In some older homes with knob-and-tube wiring, the neutral wire has been switched and used as a “hot” conductor. This makes the task of troubleshooting much more difficult. If you have any questions or concerns while testing, call an electrician.

Probing the Problem

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You flick the light switch and nothing happens. The coffeemaker, which was set on a timer to go off at 6 A.M., sits with pot of cold water on your kitchen counter. Before assuming that the devices are shot, follow this checklist:

Confirm that the circuit has power and that the fuse hasn’t burned out or the circuit breaker tripped.
Check to see if the appliance or fixture is working by checking light bulbs, cords, and plugs.
Inspect the connections at the fixture and at the terminal screws to ensure they are tight.
❏ Check for a problem in the circuit itself.

The very first thing you should do is confirm that power is getting to the device. Every electrician has a story about going on a service call to repair a dead circuit only to discover that the breaker had tripped and no one checked. That’s a pretty expensive discovery for a homeowner. Your first step is to examine your fuse box or service panel. Does everything look okay? Are there burned-out fuses or tripped breakers for that circuit? Check carefully. Some breakers have very little sponginess and don’t move much when they trip. You might have to test several breakers if you haven’t done a circuit map and are uncertain which breaker controls the failed device. If you can eliminate the power source as the problem, check the connections (see the following figure) by taking the following steps:

Turn the power off.
Remove the cover plate from the device, and unscrew the device from the box.
See if the terminal screws are tight and have good contact with the wires.
If the device is back wired, there shouldn’t be any bare wire showing, only insulation.
Check the wire nuts or taped-and-soldered connections to be sure they’re tight.

If there are no problems with the connections, you’ll have to probe further with your handy voltage tester and a continuity tester.

Replacing Old Switches and Receptacles

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Now that you know about switches and receptacles, it’s time to replace any that are broken or to upgrade existing ones. The most common upgrade is swapping a standard toggle switch for a dimmer. Newer, quieter models—that don’t have the resounding “click” of old switches—sometimes are installed in older homes that still have their original devices.
The most common reason for replacing a device is wear and tear. The clips in a receptacle that hold a plug tautly or the metal arm in a switch eventually can fatigue and no longer work properly. A simple loss of power to a fixture or an appliance, however, is not necessarily a reason to replace a device. You have to do a few system checks first, which we’ll discuss in this chapter.
The short projects in this chapter will help you get your feet wet—don’t take that literally, however, when working around electricity—and gain a degree of comfort with your electrical system. Three- and four-way switches require more troubleshooting skills, but we’ll cover the most common situations with both switches. We’ll also discuss upgrading your current two-wire receptacles and making them safer when the situation calls for it—without updating the entire system with a grounded conductor.

Brass: New and Old

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Many older homes have original brass cover plates, often with a dark bronze tone. These will readily take to a buffing wheel and will come out a fine, shiny brass if that’s your preference. New replacement brass plates also are available. Some homeowners and designers install them in kitchens and bathrooms, but such damp locations aren’t the best places for brass unless you like polishing them from time to time. If you go to any good-size street fair, at least in a large city, you’re likely to run into an artist’s booth selling ceramic electrical plates. Some have a theme (such as stars or suns); others are a little more whimsical. Check to see if they’re listed by UL; if they’re not, decide whether you think it’s a problem. These plates are usually ceramic, nonconducting material and can be pricey.
Local gift and design shops might carry these types of plates as well. They usually are purchased for a single room, such as a bathroom or a baby’s room, rather than an entire home.

Cover Plate for Cable Boxes

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Every electrical box needs a cover plate. A junction box, which is used solely to house wires and their connections but not devices, needs a blank cover plate. The cover plate keeps probing fingers, especially those of kids, away from the wires and the terminal screws on the device, all of which are fine sources of electrical shock. Plastic is the material of choice for most cover plates, but metal is used in some commercial work and with metal boxes. Outdoor boxes have plates with foam gaskets to keep moisture out. Outdoor receptacles have additional protection: A section of the cover plate closes over and covers the receptacle when it isn’t in use. Plastic cover plates have been used since the 1920s, but other materials have been used as well.

Brass: New and Old
Many older homes have original brass cover plates, often with a dark bronze tone. These will readily take to a buffing wheel and will come out a fine, shiny brass if that’s your preference. New replacement brass plates also are available. Some homeowners and designers install them in kitchens and bathrooms, but such damp locations aren’t the best places for brass unless you like polishing them from time to time.

The Artful Flare of Ceramics
If you go to any good-size street fair, at least in a large city, you’re likely to run into an artist’s booth selling ceramic electrical plates. Some have a theme (such as stars or suns); others are a little more whimsical. Check to see if they’re listed by UL; if they’re not, decide whether you think it’s a problem. These plates are usually ceramic, nonconducting material and can be pricey.
Local gift and design shops might carry these types of plates as well. They usually are purchased for a single room, such as a bathroom or a baby’s room, rather than an entire home.

Check the Cable Box Size

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Boxes come in different sizes based on the installation need. Rectangular boxes, the most common ones used for single devices, generally are two inches by three inches for residential use. Depth ranges from 15/8 inches to 319/32 inches. The deeper the box, the more wires it can accommodate and the easier it is to tuck in the wires and install a device and still meet code. You’ll really appreciate this when you’re dealing with 12-gauge wire.
A round box with
extendible bars.
How many cables can your box accommodate? Well, the bigger the box the better, but to be more exact …

Count the number of intended cables for the box. Each hot and neutral conductor counts as one wire each, and all the grounding conductors together count as a single wire.
Take this total and add one for any cable clamps (if they’re the same type of clamp). If you have two different types, you have to count each as a separate number.
Take this new total and add two for each device (switch or receptacle).
If the box contains 14-gauge wire, multiply the total number (of wires, clamps, and devices) by 2 cubic inches. If 12-gauge wire is being used, multiply the total by 2.25 cubic inches.
The result of this multiplication is the minimum allowable volume of wires, clamps, and devices for that box.

(The volume of a box usually is stamped on the back of the inside of the box.)
Let’s say you have a light switch in a plastic box with two 14-gauge cables coming
into it. (One is the line; one is the load.) This gives you two hot conductors, two neutrals,
two grounding conductors (these count as one wire in our calculations), and
one switch. Therefore …
Two hot conductors: 2
Two neutrals: 2
One grounding conductor: 1
Device: 2
Total: 7
7 2 cubic inches = 14 cubic inch minimum box size (Note: Most plastic boxes do not have any type of clamp.)

Plastic or Steel Cable Boxes?

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Both plastic and steel boxes are used in residential construction. A box has to withstand a certain amount of construction trauma when it’s installed and later when drywall is installed around it. (Drywall hangers are not necessarily kind and gentle people, at least not when they’re getting paid by the square foot.) Plastic boxes are lightweight and are easy to install, especially those that come with nails for direct attachment to a wall stud or a floor joist.
Metal boxes are standard in most commercial work. Unlike a plastic box, a metal box is a good conductor of electricity and must be grounded along with the device or fixture. Special fittings are used to connect a metal box to conduit and conductors to the box. These fittings include an array of clamps, clips, and locknuts, most of which you’ll never use in the course of residential repairs and remodeling. A plastic box works well for a single gang or device use, but some electricians find that a larger plastic box’s shape distorts during installation or when the drywall is installed. For these reasons, they use tougher boxes, either Bakelite (reinforced phenolic) or metal for two gang installations and metal for three gang. The larger the box, the more difficult it is to keep it level and in line.

They’re Not All the Same

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The following is a list of the most common electrical boxes:

Rectangular for switches and receptacles
Square for junctions or two receptacles/ switches
Octagonal and round for ceiling fixtures
Retrofit types for inserting into existing walls and ceilings
Aluminum and PVC plastic for exterior use
Boxes with extendible bars or braces for attaching between joist
Pancake boxes for limited circumstances when a regular box is too deep for the wall or ceiling space (Most of the plastic ones are not listed as tested by UL, and the metal ones are rated for only one cable, usually 14 gauge.)
Fan-rated boxes—the only boxes you can use to install paddle fans

Don’t Forget the Boxes

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The NEC code requires that any wires connected to each other or attached to a fixture or device must be enclosed in a box with a cover plate. This means that receptacles, switches, lights, wall heaters, anything that requires electricity will have its wiring housed in a box. A box serves a number of purposes:

It serves as a point of attachment for a device or a fixture. (It has to be screwed to something.)
It keeps wires that could short and then spark away from wood framing, decreasing the possibility of fire.
It protects people from accidental exposure to wires and possible shock.

There are boxes for every purpose: ceiling lights, retrofitting fixtures into existing walls, weatherproof designs for outdoor use, and junctions for wire connections that aren’t immediately attached to a device or fixture. As with switches and receptacles, you’ll have to choose the right box for the job at hand.

Receptacles Galore

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Most of the receptacles in your home are the duplex type and have been in common use for the better part of the century. Current versions differ from those used through the 1950s because the newer ones have a grounding hole. Polarized receptacles came into use in the 1920s. The different-size slots (the longer one always goes with the neutral wire, the shorter with the hot) maintain consistent, directed current flow along the respective hot and neutral wires. The earliest receptacles were an odd arrangement. The plug-in part of the outlet was actually a screw-in affair, something like a light bulb. The receptacle plate had a small flap that flipped up to reveal a socket into which the plug-in was screwed. (Hey, electrification had to start somewhere.)
The following are specialized types of duplex receptacles:

Floor receptacles
Clock receptacles
GFCIs

Floor receptacles are specially designed to withstand foot traffic. They are installed in the middle of large rooms or in other areas far away from a wall receptacle. They often are seen in offices and other commercial settings with large, undivided floor spaces.
A clock receptacle is recessed so that a clock and its cord can be hung flush against a wall. You used to see these more often in kitchens, but you don’t see them as often now, especially since the advent of inexpensive battery-powered wall clocks. This type of receptacle is now more common for plugging in microwaves and for picture lights that plug in behind pictures and paintings.
A GFCI can be used for a single location such as a bathroom or a kitchen, or it can offer protection to an entire circuit of receptacles or other loads. This is possible only if the GFCI is the first receptacle on a circuit. From that point on, anything beyond it on the same circuit will have GFCI protection. If it’s in the middle of a circuit or in any other position than the first receptacle, it will not offer any protection to any load between it and the service panel.

Timers and Doorbells

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Timers, either manual or automatic, also are types of switches. Manual timers regularly are used with bathroom fans and heat lamps. A frequent residential use of automatic timers is to control a whole-house ventilation system. Doorbells are switches, too. When you press the button, a low-voltage current flows to the chimes or the buzzer. Thermostats are another low-voltage switch, except these are activated by temperature changes. Elaborate thermostats have separate switches for controlling the furnace fan and for turning heat and air conditioning on and off manually.

Dimmers

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In addition to their romantic value, dimmer switches enable you to decrease the lighting in the dining room so your kids can’t see that you’re feeding them Brussels sprouts, a side dish that no human being should ever eat anyway. Dimmer switches come in several styles including those with …

A toggle control.
A dial control.
A sliding control.
Automatic dimming.

A dimmer reduces the voltage reaching a light fixture, but in doing so, the switch builds up a small amount of heat. Because of this heat and the large size of a dimmer switch compared to other switches, it might not work as a replacement for an existing switch if you have an undersized or crowded box.

Pilot-Light Switch

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A pilot-light switch resembles a standard singlepole switch, except it has a built-in bulb (either the toggle is illuminated or the bulb is on the face of the switch) that lights up when the switch is in the “On” position. This usually is installed when the fixture or light is out of sight of the switch (say, a light in a detached garage). The illuminated switch lets you know if someone forgot to turn the lights off.

Ganging Up

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Switches for multiple light fixtures often are ganged up in one box. If all the lights are on the same circuit, one feed wire from the panel will supply the power for all the switches and their loads. A separate cable will run to each fixture. Sometimes you’ll run across a single gang box with a double switch, but this isn’t very common in residential systems.
How many switches can you fit in one box? Leviton offers one switch plate that has space for 10 switches. You’ll find these in commercial settings or maybe in an Internet gazzillionaire’s new mansion.

Switch/Receptacle Combo

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This handy device is half receptacle and half switch. It’s a quick way to add a receptacle to a room (after you’ve calculated the amperage of the new load—remember not to overload your circuits). The receptacle will be at switch height, which typically is four feet from the floor to the top of the receptacle box. The switch and the receptacle can operate independently of each other, or the receptacle can be controlled by the switch, perhaps for a hanging ceiling lamp not directly wired to a circuit that came with a lamp cord and plug.

Four-Way Switch

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This one is always found between a pair of three-way switches. You’d have to have a really long hallway or a large room needing switch controls from three locations. A four-way switch comes with two pairs of color-matched terminal screws that conveniently connect with color-matched wires from the two three-way switches.

Three-Way Switch

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Three-way switches come in twos so you can control a light from two locations. Their most common location is at the top and bottom of a staircase or at opposite ends of a large room with more than one entrance. Three-way switches come with three terminal screws: Two are the traveler screw terminals; the third, which is darker in color, is the common screw terminal. The traveler terminals connect one switch to the other. The cable that runs between the switches has two hot wires: one neutral, and one ground.

Electrical Switches

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The most common switch in your house is a single-pole switch with a toggle marked “On” and “Off.” It typically is used to control a light fixture or a receptacle. Single-pole simply refers to electricity flowing in one direction. In most cases, one black (hot) wire is connected to one terminal screw (or it might be back wired), and a second hot wire is connected to the other terminal screw, proceeding on to the light. In terms of physics, a pole is just one of two opposite points on a magnet that manifest the magnetic properties. (Remember, a spinning magnet, called a dynamo, at your utility’s power plant creates the electric current.) Unlike older switches, modern versions often come with a ground terminal for the green or bare copper ground wire.
A single-pole switch controls the current to its load from one location only. Other witches control the current from two or even three different locations