Any tips on what to look for when fixing a broken light fitting? My plan is to switch the electricity off at the mains, then poke around in said fitting with a screwdriver. Sound good? The fitting is in the ceiling. Thanks is advance for any advice.
Call in somebody to fix it if you know about as much as you seem to know about it. It could save your life.
Fucking ditto.
I have yet to see an electrical malfunction that responds to poking with a screwdriver, but there is always a first time.
If you are certain you have the power off at the circuit breaker/fuse box, why not just buy a new light socket at Home Depot and replace it? It is as easy as connecting two wires with wire nuts, attach the ground to the metal electric box in the ceiling, and screwing the fixture to the box. Here are step by step instructions.
If you do decide to do it yourself, spend a few bucks to get something that will detect current. They range from a cheap thingie that lights up when there’s current present to more versatile meters that measure the voltage and a lot of other stuff.
Whatever, I was taught to ALWAYS check the current, even if you have the whole house turned off. Kinda like always assuming a firearm is loaded…check, check, then check again.
Thanks for the tips (despite the wording of the OP I’m actually a very careful guy). I turned off the electricity and took a look at the fitting, the long flex and weighty lampshade had caused the neutral connection of the flex to fray. I took the flex off, trimmed it back and reconnected it securely. There is now light where there was once only darkness.
Sounds like good advice, LiveOnAPlane. Out of interest, is it possible to get an electric shock if the mains are turned off?
No, but you can get a very nasty surprise from a circuit that you think has has been isolated and hasn’t. Been there, done that!
Hence the (tested) testing tools.
As Myglaren said, No. The point is, to be SURE there is no power. Forget the mains. Forget the circuit breakers. TEST the circuit, always.
I mean, even if the power to the entire city in which you live is out for whatever reason…TEST the circuit anyway.
I guess I should add some ridiculous scenario to back this up…suppose the entire city is out of power. Suppose your neighbor has a generator, and it is on. Suppose theat instead of going just to his/her house, it is actually feeding into his/her power grid. That means that there is actually power flowing…I can’t find a cite, but I have read of cases where power company workers were electrocuted while working to restore power for exactly this reason.
Test, test, test. Assume nothing.
Thinking on this, I suppose I should have ended my first sentence with a qualified “yes.”
Sorry.
Re: Checking for voltage before working on electrical circuits, my approach is to treat electric wires as if there is always voltage present, even when I KNOW it is safe. It helps me keep from developing bad habits that could prevent me from living to a ripe old age.
Cites:
From this thread: From the Red Cross
What I didn’t make very clear is that you should ALWAYS test the test equipment prior to use, too, every damned time. It can be working one minute, failed the next and you don’t want to find out the hard way that your tester is faulty.
This can be done safely if you disconnect the main circuit breakers–the big 100 or 200 Amp jobs at the top of the box. However, I still don’t recommend it for the average Joe for two reasons: 1) It’s all too easy to forget to do that, or to forget to unpower and disconnect the generator when the power is restored. Reconnecting the main breaker at that point will give you a nasty suprise in the form of a destroyed generator if the mains and generator are even a little bit out of phase, as they almost surely will be. 2) The circuit you are backfeeding into very likely will not be sized for supplying the load of an entire house. This isn’t so much an issue with a little portable generator, but if you’ve got one capable of supplying several tens of kilowatts, you may be asking for trouble. You’ll still have a circuit breaker to help protect you, but running a circuit at close to capacity is not necessarily a wise thing to do.