Anyone ever replaced wall outlets?

M

mhortsch

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Minneapolis
I just paited the living room. Got some nice brushed metal outlet plates and switchplates. I wanna replace my outlets cuz they are 100 years old and look like ****. Not to mention they have about 50 years of paint layers on them. I don't have metal outlet boxes, so i don't think grounding is an option at this moment. Is there anything more to it then flipping the fuse...unscrew from wall...unscrew wires. The repeat in reverse?

i don't wanna fry my face or anything.

Any advice? Is it as easy as it looks?
 
coming from a fairly un-handy man, it's pretty-much as easy as it looks.
I did it a few years back.

common sense will get you through it. (ie. don't let the two wires touch eachother, nor make indirect contact via a screwdriver, etc. oh, of course, cut the power before beginning).
 
and buy one of those litte testers at home depot for about 3 bucks with the little red led on the end which lets you know if the circuit is hot. saved my ass a few times..and yes, just reverse the process when you go to reconnect.
 
You pretty much got it. One thing though, the old plugs probably have the wire inserted into some little holes on the back of the plug. With the power off you may be able to push something into another hole, located near it, and pull the wire out. The only reason I mention this is incase the electrician didn't leave you enough wire. If you can't get the wire out you will have to cut it as close as you can, curl it and place it around the correctly labeled screw.
 
When my youngest son was about five he stuck a paper clip in a wall socket. It rolled him across the room. It left a burn shaped like the end of the paper clip he was holding.

I think that incident burned his brain...Twenty five years old and can't find his ass with both hands. ;)
 
Buy the tester that uses batteries, not the one u just stick in the outlet.
U can use it by just touching it to the wall near the outlet or on the outlet.
They come in real handy.
 
Are your old plugs grounded i.e. three prong? Are any within 4 feet of a sink or other source of water? $20 multimeter from radio shack is a better way to check your wiring.

Brent
 
Personally, I wouldn't use metal plates on non-grounded outlets. Just what is holding your current plates and outlets if you don't have metal boxes? Is this old enough to have knob & tube wiring?

mhortsch said:
I don't have metal outlet boxes, so i don't think grounding is an option at this moment.
Any advice? Is it as easy as it looks?
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cigarsarge said:
When my youngest son was about five he stuck a paper clip in a wall socket. It rolled him across the room. It left a burn shaped like the end of the paper clip he was holding.

I think that incident burned his brain...Twenty five years old and can't find his ass with both hands. ;)
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I am trying to resist the urge to post goatse.....
 
cigarsarge said:
When my youngest son was about five he stuck a paper clip in a wall socket. It rolled him across the room. It left a burn shaped like the end of the paper clip he was holding.

I think that incident burned his brain...Twenty five years old and can't find his ass with both hands. ;)
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:sign:
 
Whatever you wind up doin', just don't let the "smoke" out of the wires! If ya do that, they don't work any more!!! :whistling:

I was doin' a bit of rewiring and something got crossed up and when I hit the switch to turn it on, *poof*, all the smoke came out of the wire! Then, it didn't work any more!! ;)

So be careful! Make sure you get the wire with "extra" smoke!!! :p

Floyd T. :sign:
 
I've done quite a bit of house wiring over the years and you're on the right track Marc AND the advice to use some kind of tester to make SURE that the circuit is indeed dead once you turn off what you think/thought was the right breaker/fuse is the way to go.

I've actually wired/rewired things like that live in the past and if you're careful and use insulated cutters and pliers, you'll avoid getting shocked. This is NOT recommended however ;) Also the shock is less if you are standing on something like a mat instead on standing barefoot on a wet floor :0 :laugh:
 
Well, Im still alive.

I didn't get a tester, contemplated, but was sick of running all over the place for materials. Prolly should have. I used a lamp to test, which worked fine. Excpet I assumed an outlet on a different wall was part of the same breaker, had the plate off and started unscrewing the outlet. For some good reason I decided I better test it, sure enough it was hot! Saved my ass!

The plus side...turns out they were all metal boxes, just not what I was use to seeing, or thought I'd seen. So I ended up grounded all my outlets!!! Finally I can plug in my 3 prong electronics without ghetto-rigging it.

Another day...another house task completed. What's next...will it ever end...do I want it to ever end...

CC - remind me to take some snaps of my landscaping project...
 
CC - remind me to take some snaps of my landscaping project...
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Speaking of which, I planted impatients around my silver maple last week and it came out better this year than ever. I'll try and upload a picture on fotiki or photobucket if I can find my password :D I'll probably wait a month or so for the plants to grow which will make for a better photo (if the damned things don't DIE first :laugh: ) The people at the nursery told me to use Miracle-Gro a couple of times this year so I gave them their first treatment today. Goddam chipmunks thought it might be a fun place to play and uprooted a couple of my plants :angry2: BASTIDS :angry2:
 
Metal boxes do not ground your outlets, unless they themselves are grounded, via conduit or a ground wire from the entering line. So, you may be able to plug in your three prong plugs now, but chances are, they are not really grounded.

As far as needing a tester, naw, just touch the black to the white and you'll kill the circuit. Then you can work on it safely. LMAO!! (Don't really do this... it's an electrician joke).

I just replaced a 400 amp service over the weekend. What a pain in the ass. Worse part, I have to do it all over again, because all I did was temporary the old service, to run our field lights and concession stand, until I get my new panel and meter socket. My arms are so sore from twisting and bending 600mcm's that I can barely type.
 
cletus said:
Thought for the future!
Outlet can still have current and not turn on a lamp!
Only one wire is HOT, Takes 2 to complete circuit!
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The neutral won't get you unless it is the wire being switched, like they did in the "old" days, and has a load on it. Otherwise you're safe.
 
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