So, I'm replacing all the socket outlets in my new place to shiney silver ones. I want to make sure there's nothing running through it and thus, not electricuting myself to death. I have one of those voltage testing screw driver thingies but a quick search suggests licking the wires might be a better way of finding out if there's any power there, so what the hell do I do people? WHAT DO I DO!? What piece of kit do I need to not die? I've never done this before either so any tips would be helpful, I'm relying on my collins DIY bible and the interwebs.
Go to the circuit breaker and disconnect the power to the socket you want to change. If you don't have a multimeter, then plug something into the socket to verify that there is no power. If the device does not turn on, then you're most likely good to go. Edit: I should mention that for an outlet with two plugs, it's always good to test both plugs before you proceed.
What I do which is probably wrong so wait for a proper sparky to come along. I usually turn the electrics off via the fuse box and do a test with a mains tester screw driver, end of the day if your not sure your best off finding someone who is 240V of AC current hurts believe me. Plus bad wiring can result in fire or shorting its self out usually on you when you plug things in. Safety first at the end of the day
Yeah but this is just one of those things you should be able to do isn't it? It's no more complicated than re wiring a plug is it. In fact, it's almost exactly the same as rewiring a plug. I don't fancy paying a sparky £60 (super minimum estimation) to do it. Clearly switching everything off at the circuit breaker is a good idea . As it goes, I did find myself messing with live wires when I was a kid. I can confirm that the brown wire hurts more than the blue. It'll be fine, I'll just use the screwdriver. I'm sure it's crap if you're a sparky but it'll tell you if there's a current there.
You can buy plugs that will tell you whether the socket is live or not. You can also take a table lamp round and plug it in to every socket, if it doesn't come on then there isn't power there!
I'd not thought about that... I'll just use a lamp on all the sockets, no light, no power! w00t. Gettin' my DIY on. Does anyone know about painting brick?
What people have said so far is correct. Here's a bit more info; You should be able to identify the socket rings in your house. If it's a two storey house, there will be at least three rings for sockets - one for sockets on the ground floor, one for sockets on the first floor and one for the kitchen sockets. Because of the higher load on the circuit in the kitchen from appliances like toasters, kettles and microwaves, the kitchen is kept on a separate ring. A normal sized bungalow will normally only have two socket circuits, one for the kitchen and one for the rest of the house. We live in a split level bungalow, which has several levels including a ground floor (living room and porch), first floor (kitchen, lounge, dining room, bathroom etc etc), second floor (main bedrooms) and a basement (garage and my workshop). Because of this, there are six socket rings in our house - one for each level, an additional one for the kitchen and another for my workshop. When you have identified these socket rings, you just need to disconnect the circuit breaker or remove the fuse from the breaker to render that ring safe to work on. You can do it this way and leave the lighting circuits alone so you don't have to work in the dark For reference, there will also probably be one MCB in your fusebox for the cooker (high draw appliance) and if you have an electric power shower in the bathroom or en-suite, that'll be on another, isolated from the rest of the circuits. These both exist in our fusebox - the power shower is in one of the upstairs en-suites and the cooker hob/oven in the kitchen is on another one. Once you have your socket rings identified and disconnected, the unequipped mans way of testing sockets is to go around the various areas of the house (floor by floor or ring by ring) testing the sockets in each circuit with a simple appliance (like a lamp) to make sure that there is no power at those sockets. The "proper" way of doing this is to use a simple plug tester like this one to test the sockets. This has the added ability of testing the sockets after you turn on the power when the socket faceplates are changed over, and will indicate any wiring faults in the live, neutral and earth connections of each individual socket. I happen to have a box of 15 of these testers in the workshop - I got them from the CPC catalogue ages ago, but I ordered a box by accident, instead of a single unit. If you PM me your address, I'll send you out a couple for your toolbox Hope this helps!
A valid point sir, wouldn't it be nice if the bulb went? ...cheese? seriously though, paint. Very useful mate, thanks very much! I think on this occasion I'd feel a bit safer if I just closed everything off. I'll be doing it in the day so it shouldn't be too bad! I always wondered why there were so many switches on the CB though! the cooker does have an MCB but I'm not changing anything there. I'm also changing all the light switches too so would have to switch them off as well. In other news, I'll also be fitting a new ceiling light! Yay for gaining technical abilities/possibly dying. The circuit tester thingy would be amazing! I'll drop you a PM, thank you thank you <3.
+1 on this - the lights will also tell you when you switch the power back on that you haven't done anything silly like terminated the live into the neutral etc.
