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Solve Home Electrical Problems Yourself !![]() Does your home have: Site Map Search Site
Welcome, -th visitor since April 2005! What if this site ever becomes unavailable? You'll be glad to know that most of this electrical advice is available as a download or book called Circuit Down. Give yourself, or a DIY-er you know, the gift of Detective Larry's experience and his 35 diagrams and charts. It is available online from Lulu (the download), Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.Tip of the Day: The word "receptacle" sounds like something receiving. But the word "outlet" sounds like something giving. How can they both refer to the same thing? An outlet is giving electricity out, from the perspective of the electrical system. But from the perspective of you, the user, a receptacle is receiving your what you plug in, in order to run a lamp or such. - Detective Larry ...More Tips of the Day. Navigation: Besides using the sidebars, these may help:
Brand New Pages: Would you like some instruction on How the wires connect in a switch, light, or outlet box? Includes diagrams. Designed especially for when you have disrupted some connections and need to see how to get them back right... I also have this similar new Electrical wiring connections diagram page that will eventually show almost all possible wire connections/functions for up to four cables in various size boxes (up to 3-gang, plus light boxes). Are You Being Helped? Consider Donating. Or recommend "The Circuit Detective" to friends via facebook® .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 oriented to helping with design, installation, or with remodel projects. [More geared to these are such sites as this well-written one and electrical-online; 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." © 2005-2009 Larry Dimock Google PageRank: 4 out of 10 possible | ||
![]() Background includes: 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 Related pages: Circuit diagram Tour of a typical circuit Typical cabling 3-way switches Hooking Wires Up 2-circuit cables Main service wire bad? Melted wires Labeling a panel Testers chart Symptom/cause chart Other Pages: FAQs Common problems Glossary Safety opinions Electrical fires Electrical myths Tips for electricians UK vs US wiring Articles by Larry Other advice sites THANK YOUsSo glad I waited and found your website! You make it so easy to understand electricity! -Sandy (AZ)moreGENERAL Troubleshooting stories A pro-DIY journal Poetic attempts Copyright Links About me Privacy Policy Donate Contact Me HOME Local Work Seattle area Bellevue Carnation Duvall Fall City Issaquah King County Kirkland North Bend Redmond Sammamish Snoqualmie Woodinville Beginners' 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 includes: 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 Related pages: Am I being dumb? GFI-GFCI problems AFCI breaker (arc-fault) A diagnostic tree How to test for what Is a breaker tripped? Signs of bad connection Real estate inspection? Replacing outlets? Wires undone? Misc.device/appliances Diagnostic Tree START HERE includes: Doesn't work Breaker won't reset GFI won't reset Lights blink Lights stay dim/bright Shock Comes and goes One item out Troubleshoot heaters Open hot/neutral Short circuits Tripped only once THANK YOUsYou definitely have gone way beyond the typical things that something like my Home Depot Wiring book goes into. -StevemoreWiring Diagrams Sitemap of Diagrams includes: System overall Power company Main panel How a circuit works Wire colors/functions Typical circuit System weak spots Connection glitches The dead/live border Circuits sharing neutral Shared neutral open Main wire open GFI protecting loads Test for tripped GFI Hot/neutral reversed 3-way switches 4-way switches Rare 3-way switches Switch box connections Light box connections Outlet box connections More box connections Open hot Open neutral Open ground 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. | |