HOME WIRING REPAIRS IN THE REAL WORLD

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

To protect in one location only: if one cable enters the box, connect the hot and neutral wires to the "LINE" terminals only. If more than one cable enters the box, use the pigtail method mentioned earlier to connect the hot and neutral wires to the "LINE" terminals only. For pass-through protection to other outlets: after confirming you are working in the first box of the group to be protected, connect the wires from the incoming power cable to the "LINE" terminals, and the wires from the outgoing power cable to the "LOAD" terminals. In all cases, the ground wire is attached to the green terminal. (Use the pigtail method, if needed.)

Project 3: Fixing Fixtures

After crouching by all of those receptacles, you're probably ready for a good stretch. And while I've got you looking up, I'll start telling you how to "get down" with light fixtures. As I told you earlier, choose your replacements with care and foresight in regard to lighting capacity, style, and weight. Because there are several popular methods of hanging fixtures, you'll find your mechanical skills just as important as electrical know-how when replacing a light. The new fixture should come with the proper hardware and mounting instructions right in the box. Any snags you hit in actually hanging the fixture can easily be solved with a trip to a well-stocked hardware store. After killing the power, remove the attaching hardware and lower the fixture to reveal the wiring. You may find myriad wires in the box, but focus on the ones connected to the fixture. The fixture's wires are usually connected to the house wiring with wirenuts. Unscrew one wirenut at a time, swap the new fixture's wire for the old one's wire, and screw the wirenut back on. Always connect hot-to-hot (black, red, white painted black), neutral-to-neutral (white), and ground-to-ground (bare or green). Also, your specific instructions may label "style-colored" wires as hot, neutral, or ground. Follow those instructions, as well as any for grounding the light, to the letter. The fixture may include its own wirenuts, but they may not be appropriate for every job, especially if several house wires are joined to the light's wires. Reuse the old nut if it looks good, or even better, replace it with a new one of equal size.

Here are some additional tips on wiring methods that I feel are important. There's no better place to begin than where I ended: with wirenuts. Because wirenuts come in many sizes, choosing the best one can be difficult. Just remember that a wirenut should screw on its wires like a pipe screws into its fitting: starting freely and ending tightly. If it starts hard or doesn't tighten up, select the next size up or down, respectively, and try again. Most brands say no pre-twisting of the wires is necessary, and all say no bare wire should be left exposed after the nut is applied. If any is left showing, the wires must be trimmed and the wirenut reapplied. When fastening stranded wire to solid wire (as in most light fixture jobs), lead the stranded wire into the wirenut a little ahead of the solid wire. Always twist the wirenut clockwise until tight, then tug on the wires to be sure they are secure. Finish by wrapping the wirenut and the wires together with electrical tape, also in a clockwise direction.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print