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How to Strip and Splice Wiring for the Electrically Challenged
By Amanda Bashore of Your Home Supply
If you usually tackle your own fix-it projects, at some point you’re going to run into something that involves electricity. Some jobs might be outside your scope of knowledge but there are a lot of projects that you can do yourself such as upgrading to new outlets and switches or adding a ceiling light or replacing the exhaust fan in the bathroom. All of these projects will require you to strip and splice wires together. This can sound a little scary but with a bit of knowledge and a couple of basic tools there really are some simple electrical projects that you can do yourself. If you’re going to working on an electrical socket or direct wired light, ceiling fan or kitchen or bath exhaust fan make certain you turn the power off at the main breaker panel. You can test this by plugging a small lamp into the socket you plan to work on or better yet use an electrical tester. If course if you’re working with a table lamp or something similar just make sure that it’s unplugged from the outlet. Joining Your Wires Together Use a pair of wire strippers to remove about ¾ to 1 inch of the insulation covering from the end of each wire you want to splice. Take care to make sure you don’t damage the copper wire when you’re stripping off the insulation. Now you can splice the ends of the two bare wires together by twisting them together with a pair of electrical pliers. You don’t want them to come loose but at the same time you don’t want to twist them so tight that you end up breaking some of the wires. So three or four twists with your pliers should be enough to make a secure connection. Trim about ½ inch off the end of your twisted splice, cutting at an angle to form a point. What the Heck are Wire Nuts? At this point you can add a wire nut. A wire nut or solderless connector is a small plastic cap with screw threads inside. It can be screwed onto the ends of bare wires to keep them from coming apart as well as to insulate the wires. You might notice that these connectors come in a variety of colors. This is just a simple way of identifying the different sizes. You need to make sure and purchase wire nuts to fit the gauge of wire you are working with. Attach a wire nut to the two wires you twisted together. Basically it’s just a matter of screwing the wire nut on the wires until it makes a tight fit. You can also wrap the wire nuts with electrical tape for added security as well as wrapping any remaining exposed wire above the wire nut with electrical tape. It’s important that you don’t leave any of the stripped wire exposed.
Making the Connection Depending on your project, you can start to reassemble everything, if you’re working on a wall type socket or installing a ceiling or vent fan, carefully push the wires back into the outlet or junction box. Continue from here with your installation. Replace any wall plates if necessary and turn the power back on at the circuit breaker box. Test your outlet or fixture to make sure you have a secure splice and that all is working well. One final word for those of us that have an actual fear of electricity beyond anything this side of the light switch. Call an electrician or an electrically savvy friend. Don’t be afraid to ask help.
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PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Your Home Supply
Inexpensive, and high quality home product
www.yourhomesupply.com
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The copyright for this content entitled "How to Strip and Splice Wiring for the Electrically Challenged " has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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