Solve Home Electrical Problems Yourself !Does your home have:
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"I don't want to learn so much stuff myself, just enough to see if I can fix this one problem..." Are you in luck! I make myself available 14/6 (really!) to help you by E-mail or Phone. Tip of the Day: Many sources seem to want you to be afraid of overloading your circuits. Don't be concerned -- you have circuit breakers! They stop overloads in their tracks by tripping the circuit off before a load gets "over." Extension cords and dimmer switches say how many watts is too much for them, but other than that, don't worry about using your circuits. Life is too short. - Detective Larry ...More Tips of the Day. Is This Stuff Helpful?Welcome,
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New Pages: I'm giving you weekend wiremen a break -- a page on Basic house wiring. I know its not the pure troubleshooting that I like, but "it's not all about me," is it?... In case this website's information becomes unavailable some day, you can secure it for yourself in two ways:
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 BACKGROUND Did You Know? Your System The power company Your main panel Circuit operation Wires: hot neutral etc Switching How Things Go Wrong Symptom categories Symptom-cause chart Cause categories Testers SITE RELATED HOME Sitemap Sitemap of diagrams Contact Me Donate About me Troubleshooting stories Trouble at my house Articles by Larry (offsite) Poetic attempts Circuit Down book Other advice sites Links Kudos Privacy Policy Disclaimer Copyright What is The Diagnostic Tree? 
The Diagnostic Tree is a set of pages I developed to get you to a solution of your home electrical problem in the fewest possible steps. The pages are linked mostly to one another, so that, according to how you answer questions raised on one page, you can click your way to the next page that is right for your situation, without hunting. Here are the themes of the pages of The Diagnostic Tree:Doesn't work Breaker won't reset GFI won't reset Lights blink Lights stay dim/bright Shock Comes and goes One item out Open hot/neutral Short circuits Tripped only once Troubleshoot heaters 
How old?
Look at the patentBeginners' Corner - An outlet with a reset button is usually sensing faults at other normal outlets too, and will make them go dead too when it trips off. |
 TROUBLESHOOTING Safety Diagnosis in a Nutshell A DIY Strategy Categorize Symptoms Categorize the Cause Pinpoint the Location The Open The Ground-fault The Short Circuit The Shock Testing Repairing GENERAL FAQs Common problems A Diagnostic Tree Typical circuit diagram Hookup tutorial Wire connection catalog How to test for what Testers chart Am I being dumb? Symptom-cause chart Glossary SPECIFIC TOPICS GFI-GFCI problems 3-way switches Open hot, neutral, ground Is a breaker tripped? AFCI breaker (arc-fault) Replacing outlets Signs of bad connection 2-circuit cables Main service wire bad? MISC. Misc.devices/appliances Undid some wires? Various tips Labeling a panel Melted wires Tips for electricians UK vs US wiring Basic wiring rules OPINION Electrical fires Safety opinions Electrical myths A pro-DIY journal Don't Save Electricity LOCAL WORK Eastside & Seattle area Bellevue Bothell Carnation Covington Duvall Fall City Issaquah King County Kirkland Class at LWTC 11/13 Maple Valley Medina Mercer Island Mill Creek Monroe Newcastle North Bend Redmond Sammamish Seattle Snoqualmie Woodinville THANK YOUs "One of the finest resources on the web" -Alan "You provide information in such an easy to follow form" - Bill "Yours is the only one where a novice can get real help" -Donna "Best site I've found on electrical circuits problems" -Gaetan more Advanced Corner - If you are slightly live (from a fault in a heated floor, say), then anything grounded that you test with a neon or non-contact tester may register as if those things were what is live. | |
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The Scope of This Website: These pages have been designed for the DIY homeowner who faces home electrical problems, that is, electric malfunction issues in his/her household electrical wiring system. The site is not mainly oriented to helping with design, installation, or with remodel projects. [More geared to these are such sites as this one from Sears and this well-written one; but I would avoid ehow.com as unreliable based on this page, where for three years they have been advising wrong and dangerous ways to test outlets.] Some books are better at wiring projects than most websites. Some who need to find this site's material may be searching with terms found in this statement: "When I replaced a toggle two way switch with a rocker tree way switch, the GFI breaker switch wall socket popped off. I guess I need help to trouble shoot my house hold electricity. Cant a GFCI circuit or GFI switch handle a 3 way circuit? I don't want any wall outlets (recepticles) to go bad or get dim from a bad breaker. I want a free electrical advice website and to learn home electrical repair." © 2005-2010 Larry Dimock Google PageRank: 4 out of 10 possible | ||
-th visitor since April 2005!
