mack1

Hi zerofire,

Wrench has given you some good advice.....but if you decide to try a fix yourself, let me give you some details. Outside city limits, there is normally no code that requires an electrician to do the work, though it is a good idea to have one do it. An electrician knows that 110 volt circuits kill more folks each year than any other voltage and here is why. If an electrical current is caused to pass through your body and across the heart, only a few milli amperes is required to cause fibrilation of the heart (very quick pluses that don't pump blood). Feeling the pluse tells the tail and someone must beat on your chest until rhythm is regained and then artificial recessitation is required. Work with one hand in your back pocket is a good idea. Be advised of the dangers. Throw the breakers and measure each circuit for voltage before starting to work on them. Tape a note on the breaker so everyone knows not to throw the breaker while you are working on the circuit. Serious work, so be careful.

Houses are normally wired with romex cable. Three wires in a sleave. Black, white, and green. Black is the hot wire (115vac), white is neutral, and green is the ground (physical ground that connects to an 8 foot copper clad stake in the ground under the meter outside the house). Romex cable is normally marked with the wire size. #12 wire will carry 20 amperes. #14 wire will carry 15 amperes. Breakers and/or fuses should be sized accordingly. The breaker/fuse is sized to protect the house (not the attached equipment). The neutral and ground (white and green wires)are normally connect to the ground buss in the breaker panel. A green wire from there goes to the ground stake outside. The white wire goes to one of the wires connected to the transformer outside the house at the utility pole. (It is also grounded at the pole to a coil of wire on the pole bottom or a stake in the ground)

Why is there a ground wire? The ground wire is connected to metal objects that might get shorted to the hot wire. (the metal case of an old style drill, metal vent hood, etc.) When a short occurs, it throws the breaker if the ground wire is connected. Old two wire circuits didn't have this and you could get shocked when holding the shorted metal and accidentally touching a grounded object (water pipe, etc.) Without the ground connection, you can touch a shorted metal object and not know it until you touch a ground like a water pipe. I know this by experience.

If you try this yourself, be very careful. I would suggest that you use a trained electrician. Get some quotes to make sure you aren't being overcharged.

Best regards,
Mack1