Most electrical problems in your house will more often than not require an electrician to fix them, but sometimes, if you have some time on your hands and the right tools, there are certain things you may want to tackle yourself. In this post, we will look at replacing a junction box and fixing backstabbed wires.

Replacing a Junction Box Cover

Your existing junction box should already meet the required National Electrical codes of standards, but if you happen to find one in your home that is missing a cover, it is best to have it replaced immediately. Because the splices where wires are connected together are housed in a junction box, they could end up being inadvertently damaged and become a fire or shock hazard. If this has already happened, you may want to ask a qualified electrician for help.

Fixing this is as simple as using the original cover and some screws, or if it is lost or damaged, buying a new one for a few cents at your local hardware store and installing it with the accompanying screws.

Backstabbed Wires

Backstabbed wires occur when wires in newer switches and receptacles are pushed into the back. These are more likely to come loose than those that are held in place by screws. A wire that comes loose will most likely cause the terminal to stop working, but in some cases, it may even cause an electrical fire.

Carry out a check to see whether there are any switches with backstabbed wires. If you find any, release the wires and then attach them to the appropriate screw terminals on the switch. If you do not feel comfortable doing this yourself, your electrician should be able fix this for you pretty quickly.

This is not the time of year to be dealing with electrical problems in the home. It can be a huge issue to have an outlet fail or a breaker constantly trip when you are trying to deck your halls. The problem can be a number of different things, but you won’t know for sure until you have an electrician in Santa Monica come out to take a look. It is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to any kind of electrical concerns. The team at The Electric Connection is ready to help you discover what the problem is and get it taken care of before it becomes a serious safety hazard.

If you are not a trained electrician, you are going to have to guess what the problem is. That is a risk you don’t want to take. What if that outlet that only works on occasion is actually not just a fluke and is the sign of a much bigger problem. It is a good idea to have a Santa Monica electrician inspect your home. During the inspection, the outlet will be tested and the cover removed to check for any loose wires. While it may be an easy fix, ignoring those loose wires could create a tiny spark that ignites the insulation packed around the outlet.

You are not expected to know all of the hazards or to know why your breaker is tripping. That is a job for an electrician. Santa Monica residents will feel better knowing their house has been given an electrical checkup. Problems will be identified and you will be given the option to take care of right away or wait until it is a little more convenient. Your electrician will let you know just how serious the problem is or whether it is something relatively minor. If you are concerned about an electrical problem in your home, give The Electric Connection a call and let one of their experienced electricians diagnose the problem for you.

The list of rules to be followed when installing new electrical systems into a building are related to the specific rules of the state, as well as certain minimum requirements laid down by Federal law. So in some senses the United States does not have a unified Electrical Building Code, because often there are variations between different states.

It was to address exactly this issue that the National Fire Protection Association, a panel of nineteen different bodies, began publishing the National Electrical Code (NEC) in 1897, and now every three years, in order to arrive at a single source of rules that should govern electrical installations. The current version was published in August 2010 and runs to over 1000 pages.

Whilst the NEC is not law as such, in practice it has been adopted by most states as their set of rules for electrical installations and wiring in buildings (with a few changes here and their depending on the state you are in), and so is now in practice the Electrical Building Code for the United States.

You can read the full 1000 pages plus version online for free here: Building Codes

This is the book that all Journeyman Electricians will consume when undertaking their training, as it is pretty much the standard version across the country.

Though there are some differences between the states, and you can see the individual requirements for your state here: State Regulations

Some of the key NEC rules that need to be followed when installing a new electrical system into a building are:

If you are planning on installing electrical wiring then you should refer to the NEC and your local Electrical Building Code for specifics and to the link above for any state specific requirements that you need to know.