Home Maintenance and Repair

Replacing a Faulty Electric Receptacle

            Why would you be replacing an electric receptacle? After all they rarely cause trouble. But really that may or may not be true. If you have aluminum wiring you should know that it generates a lot more heat then copper and while the wire is sized to handle the extra heat, the heat will cause the receptacle to wear out. It is also possible that the metal in the receptacle may fatigue do to use. The blades of the plug are designed to fit into the metal receptors inside the receptacle and these receptors will eventually become weak and unable to hold a good connection to the blades of the plug.

            This weakening of the receptors will eventually cause you to have to replace the receptacle. Following the steps below will help to accomplish that task.

1. Locate the breaker or fuse box and turn off the breaker or remove the fuse for the particular plug. You can test the receptacle by plugging a working light into the plug.
2. Remove the face plate.
3. Remove the screws that hold the receptacle in the box in the wall and pull the plug out.
4. It is important to note how the wires are connected to the receptacle.  The black wires are typically connected to the brass colored side and the white wires are connected to the silver side. Don’t forget the ground wire it may coated green or be a bare copper wire.
5. Put the new receptacle together and install it in the wall in the reverse order.

 

Replacing the receptacle visual

 

 

Troy Dobson             Fair Oaks, California getaliving@comcast.net