The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Practical Electricity And House Wiring
Openings in the plaster must be repaired and if there is but a small amount of it to be done, a simple mixture of Plaster of Paris and water will serve the purpose. Fill any cracks around boxes with the same material.
Completing the Installation.—The cables having been pulled in, boxes installed, complete the installation by installing switches, receptacles, etc.; twist the ends of the wires and test as in new work. Solder and tape all connections and install the fixtures to complete the installation.
The foregoing paragraphs are not intended to show every method used. You will have to exercise your ingenuity in boring holes for the cable, and in fishing the cable. Plenty of patience will be your biggest asset. Skill can be acquired only through practice.
Alterations And Additions
Before attempting to make any changes or adding to existing circuits, open the main or service switch so as to cut off the power on all the wires. To work on "live" wires is hazardous and foolhardy.
The problems in alterations and additions are exactly the same as our problems in the previous chapter. Alterations usually consist of adding additional baseboard convenience outlets, adding switches to outlets formerly controlled by a pull chain, or in adding additional light outlets.
Locating Permanently Live Wires.—The wires for a new outlet must of course run from other wires that are permanently live, regardless of the position of any switches.
If you have an outlet box on which the light is controlled only by a pull-chain or switch in the fixture (not by a wall switch), the wires leading to that light are permanently live.
If lights are controlled by wall switches, there may or may not be permanently live wires in the box on which the light or fixture is mounted. Open the box, remove tape from all the connections, bend the wires so that the ends do not touch each other, nor the outlet box. Turn off all switches. Turn on the main or service switch and touch the two leads from a test lamp (which may be a lamp in a weatherproof socket shown in Fig. 224) to the different wires inside the box. If you can get the lamp to light, the two wires which caused the lamp to light are permanently live. Turn off main switch.
