What kind of wire do I need to replace a light fixture?
But if you have an older metal box, there may not be a ground wire inside the box to connect to. Adding a ground wire to the box isn’t difficult; just connect a six-inch section of bare copper wire to the box by driving a No. 10-32 ground screw into a threaded hole in the box.
Do you have to replace the wiring in the House?
If your house is lived-in, or you don’t want to cause a major disturbance, the task will take much longer and your options will be limited. You may have to leave the wiring in the walls intact and only replace the cable in the attic or crawlspace. Get the Best Mortgage Rate for You
When to use wire rated for 90 degrees?
These fixtures carry a warning on the label: “Use wire rated for at least 90 degrees C.” If you know your wiring was installed before 1985, you’ll have to choose a fixture that doesn’t carry this warning.
Is it safe to cut power to a light fixture?
Pro tip: So even if you cut the power to the light fixture, there may still be live wires in the junction box. To be safe, check all the wires in the box with a non-contact voltage detector before you disconnect any wires. Just touch each wire’s insulation with the tester. If the light glows, the wire is live.
When to change the size of a wire?
Like dozer said, it’s done commonly where the wire is oversized for the circuit, but derated for voltage drop. For example, say you have a 15 amp circuit. #14 wire would normally be fine, but if the run’s 250′ you’re going to have issues with voltage drop. To alleviate the problem, you’d have to run #12.
When do you need to replace your electrical wiring?
Staining or discoloring of the electrical outlets means your home’s experiencing surges in power. This is a fire risk and needs to be addressed. If you’re noticing these problems, you need to update your home’s electrical wiring with the help of a qualified electrical contractor.
Is it OK to change wire size Midway?
Other guy says that its perfectly ok to start out as 12 and drop to 14 at a junction box as long as the load down stream from there is not drawing over the 14 gauge wires AMP capabilites. I think that this would be wrong because someone could put a 20 AMP breaker on this ciruit and part way the wire size would only be rated for 15 amps.
Can you change the size of a wire breaker?
We are not talking of tap conductors or the conductor being undersized for a particular breaker rating. As long as the breaker is sized for the smallest portion of the circuit (with the excpetion of tap conductors ) you can change the size whenever you feel like it.