Replacing an Electrical Outlet in Your Home

There are many fires that occur there is old wiring in the house. If there is old wiring in the home one of the things you should do is replace your outlets. It does not cost a lot of money and it can lessen the chances of a fire in your home.

There are a few tools that you will need once you decide to replace an outlet in your home.

∗ Screwdriver
∗ Wire Strippers
∗ Voltage Tester
∗ Electrical Tape

Here are some directions on what to do when you replace an outlet.

∗ The first thing you need to do is make sure that the power is off that flows to the outlet. You can turn the voltage tester on and do a probe of the terminals in the outlet to make sure that the circuit is not on. You should also check the top and bottom of the outlet. The reason for this is that it can be the case where a duplex outlet can be both divided and fed from two circuits that are different.

∗ Get the screwdriver and unscrew the face plate off the wall. Now unscrew the two screws that hold the outlet to the box that is in the wall and pull the outlet out of the box. You should probe the side terminals with the voltage tester again to make sure that the circuit is not conducting electricity.

∗ Now unscrew the wires from the outlet's sides. If the wiring is old the wires may not be white or black. But you can look at the screws that are on the side of the outlet, as the live side will have dark screws and the neutral side has lighter screws.

∗ Now that you have removed the wires from the old outlet discard them. Now look closely at the wires for any marks on them caused by scorching or nicks. Be sure to check the insulation to see if it is still in good shape. If the insulation is brittle or hard in any way than it is not good. Now take the wire strippers and cut off a small part of the exposed wire. Then strip around of the insulation. Using the hole in the wire strippers make a half circle formation with the exposed part of the copper wire.

∗ You have to be sure that the screws for the new outlet are loose enough so you can fit the wire underneath them. Now wrap the wire that is black over the screw on the live side of the outlet and then tighten. Do the same thing for the white wire. Around the outlet wrap a piece of electrical tape, as this will securely cover the terminals.

∗ Now screw the outlet back into the wall box. Then screw the faceplate onto the outlet.

∗ Go and turn the circuit breaker back on. To make sure that you wired it correctly use the voltage tester and probe the new outlet. Generally the voltage meter will read around 115 volts when plugged in.

Safety tip: The most important thing to remember is to make sure the electricity is turned off. If you are not sure that it is turned off, than do not go ahead with the wiring. If you are not comfortable at all doing this you can hire an electrician.

Author: Jason Green