How Residential Electrical Repairs Are Done For A Faulty Wall Outlet
If your home doesn't have enough outlets, it could be very inconvenient when one goes out of service. An outlet can have problems for a number of reasons. Plugs could keep falling out, the outlet might get hot, the outlet might be charred or cracked, or it just might not work at all.
When your outlet is broken, it's best not to use it. Call an electrician to check the outlet to see if it's safe, or to repair or replace it if needed. Here's how an electrician may handle this type of residential electrical repair.
Test The Outlet With A Meter
The electrician may start by plugging a meter into the outlet holes to see if it has power. If there is no power, the electrician may check the circuit breaker next to see if it flipped off. If the circuit breaker is on, the electrician has to take the outlet out to examine it and find out what's wrong.
Even if the outlet has power, they may still want to replace it if it's damaged in any way so it won't pose a safety hazard. Before starting work on the outlet, the electrician turns the power off at the circuit breaker and verifies there is no power to the outlet with the plug-in meter.
Take The Outlet Apart
The inner outlet can be reached once the outer plate has been unscrewed and pulled off. Then, the screws holding the outlet in place are removed. The electrician can pull the outlet out at this point to look at the wires. They might see where a wire came loose and is causing the problem. If that's the case, the wires can be tightened to see if that fixes the issue.
If the problem is in the outlet, the outlet has to be replaced with another of the same amp rating. To remove the old outlet, the three attached wires have to be removed by loosening the screws and pulling the wires off. The three wires are the live, ground, and neutral wires. They have to be connected to the new outlet in the same positions there were in on the old outlet.
Put In A New Outlet
Putting in a new outlet is a fairly easy residential electrical repair. The electrician winds the bare end of the three wires around the screws, tightens the screws, and then pushes the outlet into the box in the wall. Then the outlet is screwed to the wall and covered with the outer plate that's also screwed to the wall. The final step is to switch the circuit breaker back on and test the outlet with the meter to make sure it's getting the appropriate amount of power.