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A/C & Cooling |
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Air & Water Quality |
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Appliances |
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Basement, Attic & Loft |
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Bathrooms |
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Cabinets & Countertops |
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Car, Garage & Shop |
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Childproofing |
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Closets & Storage |
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Decorating & Furnishing |
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Design, Plan, Build |
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Doors |
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Electrical & Lighting |
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Floors & Stairs |
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Green Home, Save Energy |
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Heating & Fireplaces |
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Home Tech |
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Kitchens |
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Landscape & Structures |
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Lawn & Garden |
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Paint & Painting |
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Plumbing & Fixtures |
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Pools, Spas & Saunas |
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Real Estate & Finance |
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Roof, Chimney & Gutters |
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Safe & Secure Home |
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Seasonal, Family & Fun |
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Siding, Columns & Detail |
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Walls & Ceilings |
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Windows & Skylights |
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How to Test an Electrical Circuit |
  Whenever you're working with electricity, make it an ironclad rule to check first that power to the area you're working on is turned off at the service entrance panel or subpanel..
Before you touch bare wire ends, use a neon tester, as shown, to confirm that the circuit is dead. Touch one tester probe to a hot wire or terminal and the other to a neutral wire or terminal, the grounding conductor, or the grounded metal box. The tester will light up if the circuit is live.
 Be careful: If by some chance you didn't turn off the right circuit or if there's a short in the system, the wires may still be hot. Make sure to hold the tester probes by their insulation, not their metal ends, or else you may get a shock or cause a short circuit.
If a lamp or appliance doesn't work, that doesn't necessarily mean the circuit is dead; the appliance itself could be faulty. Insert the probes of the neon tester into the slots of a receptacle, as shown; if the tester lights up, the circuit is still hot.
More about Electrical Repairs:  Complete Home Wiring
Electricity provides us with comfort and conveniences that we often take for granted until something goes wrong. Fortunately for the do-it-yourselfer, electrical work is one of the easiest kinds of home improvement and repair.
Copyright Sunset Publishing Corporation |
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