Troubleshooting Electrical Outlets in Five Easy Steps

Installing a new electrical outlet is easy to do as long as you take the necessary preventives.

First make sure you find the circuit swell that feeds the old outlet. Go to the electrical service box in your home. See if the circuit combers are marked as to where they're located. If they are not marked also you'll have to shut each circuit swell off one at a time and test the outlet you're replacing. Utmost outlets run off of a 15 amp swell so stick those switches. You can plug a light into the outlet and leave it on to see if it goes out when you flip the swell off.
If the outlet is not working duly also you may need to get a simple circuit tester and check the cables to the outlet to make sure the electricity is out. You could also suddenly against the black and white line with an insulated screwdriver to trip the swell, but not inescapably a safe way to find out which one it is.

Once you have the electricity shut off you can remove the frontal cover plate, if you have not formerly. Wind the old outlet and pull it out of the box. You'll have at least two cables connected to the outlet, three if it's a predicated circuit to the main service box. You should have one white and one black line with the ground being bobby. If you have a veritably old house and the wiring hasn't been changed over also most probably you only have two cables and the colors may vary. The most common are white and black.
The white line is the neutral line and also appertained to as the ground. The black line is the feed or hot line that supplies electricity. Before you remove any cables take note of where they're on the old outlet so you can replace them onto the new bone. Numerous new outlets have two options of connecting the wiring. You can either connect to the screws on each side or slide the cables into the reverse of the outlet in their correct places-they're generally marked for the color of the line or say hot for the hot side.

Once you get the cables connected make sure they're tight and also slide the outlet back into it's box and strain down with the new screws. Replace the cover plate and also go back to the service box and flip on the circuit swell. If the circuit swell trips back out snappily also you have ever shorted out the cables or mis-wired the outlet. Recheck the outlet and make adaptations. Try the swell again and make sure it does not trip. If all is well also plug in your electrical appliance and make sure everything works.

Electricity is definitely nothing to play around with, if you don't feel confident in replacing an outlet play it safe and have an electrician take care of it. It is pretty cool to be able to do it yourself as long as you take the necessary precautions.