Sick of your hallway light never turning on? Miss the days when your doorbell actually worked? Fear not, we have a few DIY hacks you can use to fix your simple electrical problems.
Disclaimer: Electricity is dangerous. Any major electric issues you have should be handled by a licensed professional.
Checking Your Breakers
The easiest thing to do when one of your lights or outlets isn’t working is to check your breaker. If one of your breakers is tripped, it will be in a half-position instead of all the way up. Simply move the switch all the way down, and then all the way back up to fix it.
String Lights
Don’t throw away your favorite holiday lights just yet! The great part about string lights is that they normally come with an extra fuse. If you kept the box they came in, it’s more than likely hiding in there. The tiny, cylindrical fuses can be found underneath a sliding plastic covering at the plug part of the lights. Replace any blown-out fuse with the new one. If you can’t find your extra fuse, you can purchase them here.
Dead Doorbells
Doorbells are a pretty simple electrical fix. Most likely the button is broken. To test this, unscrew your doorbell from the wall, and disconnect the wires (there should be two). Touch the wires together, and if they make your doorbell ringing sound, you know it’s the button and not the wiring that’s bad. You can buy new a new doorbell button here. Connect the wires to the new button, just as they were connected to the old one, and screw it back onto the wall. There you go! Working doorbell in no time.
Electrical work should be done with caution. Use protective gloves when working with wiring, and if you’re not sure what to do, it’s always better to call on an electrician than risk shocking yourself. For any more questions you have, or to schedule a repair, contact us today at Gulf Coast Electric.
