In my recent blog concerning the installation of a new shower head I told you about my lifetime friend Mike Hennecy and his plumbing ability and cited his method for changing out a shower head to make your life better and to dress up your bathroom without spending a lot of money. I WILL NOT be using Mike’s expertise for this blog. You see Mike and electricity do not mix. Mike maybe one of the few people that have avoided death by electrocution both from trying to do home electrical work and additionally having been struck by lightning twice and survived. The last time the lightning actually looked around for him and struck him in his garage. So now when ever he talks about changing a light bulb or a light fixture or even turning on a light by himself, Dianne, his wife of soon to be 46 years, calls me, a local electrician or the insurance agent to make sure his life insurance is paid up. So today we’re going discuss how to properly change out a light fixture the right way not the HENNECY way.
The real purpose of many of my blogs are to further your ideas for improving your home without spending a fortune. You can change the entire look of a room with some paint and a new light fixture, brighten a hallway by changing out a drab little ceiling fixture, change the curb appeal by dressing up the exterior with new fixtures, make your bathroom brighter and look new with different vanity lights, or finish off a simple kitchen remodel by getting rid of that old 1970’s fluorescent light fixture. As I featured in an earlier blog National Builder Supply is a Progress Lighting dealer (http://www.nationalbuildersupply.com/Results.aspx?dsNav=N:1060 ) with over 1700 beautiful fixtures in stock and ready for immediate free delivery on purchases over $100 and their usual unmatched customer service. Begin this new adventure by looking around your house and decide what you would like to change and choose a new fixture. When the fixture arrives follow these simple steps:
1. Unlike Mike, locate and turn off the circuit breaker that controls the individual circuit to the fixture you want to replace. Why the breaker and not just the light switch? Your home’s electrical system is actually a closed loop system of wiring which loops from one box to another and many of the boxes have a continuing live or “hot” wire in the box which is not turned off by the individual switch. If you only turn off the switch you may easily come in touch with a hot wire in the box and create the “Hennecy Effect”, which usually results in injury or possibly a near death experience.
2. Remove your old fixture. This may involve removing the glass globe by loosening the set screws around the base. Make sure that you hold the globe with one hand while loosening these screws. Next remove the light bulb(s) and there should be a single screw in a slot in the fixture base or on the end of a threaded rod which holds the base to the ceiling or wall. When this screw is removed you should be able to pull the base away from the ceiling or wall and find the wiring. Don’t panic there are only 2 wires you need to worry about. And possibly a ground wire which I will also discuss.
3. If your house is less than 100 years old you will find at least 2 wires, 1 white 1 black attached to the same colored wires from the fixture base. If your home is older you may have cloth covered wiring from the system attached to the black and white wires on the fixture, If this is the case, mark the wire from the house to the black wire on the fixture with a piece of black electrical tape, if you have it, or use simple masking tape. This will allow you to know which wire is which when you get ready to mount the new fixture.
4. Now disconnect the wiring from the fixture to the house wiring. This will entail either removing the plastic “wire nuts” which hold the wires together or remove the black electrical tape which is wrapped around the wires and untwist them. If you have wire nuts set them aside for reuse, if electrical tape discard it and use the “wire nuts” that should be with the new fixture. It is best to discard the old wire nuts and use new ones. If new ones are not available then inspect the old ones for damage before reusing them.
5. Now this will be the hardest part, READ THE MANUFACTURERS DIRECTIONS FOR ASSEMBLY AND INSTALLATION of the new fixture, Each new fixture will be different in how they are assembled and the steps you must follow to have it ready to hang.
6. Once you have these instructions well read and followed , the only thing you have left to do is, using wire nuts, reconnect the wiring, black to black, white to white that were all together. 99 percent of the time they are white some times a red wire will be included to the bunch either way if you took note when you removed the old light you know where the white wire was. Sometimes you find a fixture has more than one socket for the bulbs. When this happens just attach all the black wires to each other and all the white wires to each other. If a green wire (ground) is present then reconnect it as you found it on the old fixture or attach it to the mounting cross bracket with the small green screw on the bracket. You may want to wrap your wire nuts with black electrical tape as a further precaution to assure the circuit is well insulated Carefully push the wiring up into the electrical box behind the mounting bar and continue with the manufacturers instructions on mounting the fixture. Install your new light bulbs and turn your circuit breaker back on and you’re done.
The real purpose of many of my blogs are to further your ideas for improving your home without spending a fortune. You can change the entire look of a room with some paint and a new light fixture, brighten a hallway by changing out a drab little ceiling fixture, change the curb appeal by dressing up the exterior with new fixtures, make your bathroom brighter and look new with different vanity lights, or finish off a simple kitchen remodel by getting rid of that old 1970’s fluorescent light fixture. As I featured in an earlier blog National Builder Supply is a Progress Lighting dealer (http://www.nationalbuildersupply.com/Results.aspx?dsNav=N:1060 ) with over 1700 beautiful fixtures in stock and ready for immediate free delivery on purchases over $100 and their usual unmatched customer service. Begin this new adventure by looking around your house and decide what you would like to change and choose a new fixture. When the fixture arrives follow these simple steps:
1. Unlike Mike, locate and turn off the circuit breaker that controls the individual circuit to the fixture you want to replace. Why the breaker and not just the light switch? Your home’s electrical system is actually a closed loop system of wiring which loops from one box to another and many of the boxes have a continuing live or “hot” wire in the box which is not turned off by the individual switch. If you only turn off the switch you may easily come in touch with a hot wire in the box and create the “Hennecy Effect”, which usually results in injury or possibly a near death experience.
2. Remove your old fixture. This may involve removing the glass globe by loosening the set screws around the base. Make sure that you hold the globe with one hand while loosening these screws. Next remove the light bulb(s) and there should be a single screw in a slot in the fixture base or on the end of a threaded rod which holds the base to the ceiling or wall. When this screw is removed you should be able to pull the base away from the ceiling or wall and find the wiring. Don’t panic there are only 2 wires you need to worry about. And possibly a ground wire which I will also discuss.
3. If your house is less than 100 years old you will find at least 2 wires, 1 white 1 black attached to the same colored wires from the fixture base. If your home is older you may have cloth covered wiring from the system attached to the black and white wires on the fixture, If this is the case, mark the wire from the house to the black wire on the fixture with a piece of black electrical tape, if you have it, or use simple masking tape. This will allow you to know which wire is which when you get ready to mount the new fixture.
4. Now disconnect the wiring from the fixture to the house wiring. This will entail either removing the plastic “wire nuts” which hold the wires together or remove the black electrical tape which is wrapped around the wires and untwist them. If you have wire nuts set them aside for reuse, if electrical tape discard it and use the “wire nuts” that should be with the new fixture. It is best to discard the old wire nuts and use new ones. If new ones are not available then inspect the old ones for damage before reusing them.
5. Now this will be the hardest part, READ THE MANUFACTURERS DIRECTIONS FOR ASSEMBLY AND INSTALLATION of the new fixture, Each new fixture will be different in how they are assembled and the steps you must follow to have it ready to hang.
6. Once you have these instructions well read and followed , the only thing you have left to do is, using wire nuts, reconnect the wiring, black to black, white to white that were all together. 99 percent of the time they are white some times a red wire will be included to the bunch either way if you took note when you removed the old light you know where the white wire was. Sometimes you find a fixture has more than one socket for the bulbs. When this happens just attach all the black wires to each other and all the white wires to each other. If a green wire (ground) is present then reconnect it as you found it on the old fixture or attach it to the mounting cross bracket with the small green screw on the bracket. You may want to wrap your wire nuts with black electrical tape as a further precaution to assure the circuit is well insulated Carefully push the wiring up into the electrical box behind the mounting bar and continue with the manufacturers instructions on mounting the fixture. Install your new light bulbs and turn your circuit breaker back on and you’re done.
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