Am I crazy to do my own electrical work - changing a regular light switch to a dimmer and replacing a dimmer?

Question

This is an older house. I've replaced light fixtures and did that wiring okay. Now I'm thinking about changing a dimmer switch to a regular switch, replacing an old dimmer switch with a new one, and replacing a regular outlet with a ground fault interrupter outlet.

Is that too complicated or are those things pretty easy? The one thing I worry about is that this is an older house with several owners over the years. Some of the wiring I've seen is pretty outdated. I wonder if an electrician would notice a safety problem in the existing wiring and I wouldn't.

Answer 1

Replacing the switch is no problem. A single pole switch is just that. It breaks the current flow on the "hot" wire so there is no in and out. If you are dealing with 3 or 4-way switches be careful to recognize the existing hook-up.
The outlets are a different deal. They need to be hooked up properly to maintain polarization. There is a designated positive (hot), neutral, and ground. You have to have a"ground" to hook up a GFCI outlet. You can achieve this best by wiring back to your electrical service with 12/2 WG (with ground) wire.If this isn't probable you may be able to run an additional wire to a water pipe (not recommended, but can be done). The wire should have green sheathing to designate it as a ground wire. Hook your GFCI up per instructions and push the test button. If everything is hooked up right it should "trip". There are also plug in testers available to test for proper polarity and ground. Hope this helps! Oh, buy the way, turn off the power.

Answer 2

those that say no problem and go ahead they have done it too, are wrong....egads just because something works and you get a light to shine doesnt mean it was done right or SAFELY! A monkey can put 2 wires together, but one day they might burn down the house because of it...and then say omg what could have possibly happened! anyways....while YES NORMALLY changing any of these isnt too hard....the problem i see is you mentioning a few times the age of the house and wiring....and if ANYONE here knows anything about wiring....they should know that older wiring is NOTHING like the modern stuff and the proper way of wiring techniques. YES an electrician would most likely find MANY problems or safety issues in your home...and I recommend you call one asap...

Answer 3

If you are comfortable with working around electric, then you probably will be all right.
Just remember to make sure you are dealing with an inactive circuit, or you might have a shocking revelation!!
You don't say if you are still on a fused panel or if it has been upgraded to circuit breakers.
If you got fuses, it is most likely needing someone to just do a quick check of the wiring and see how it is laid out.
You would be surprised at the configurations I have seen with add-ons that occurred 15 years ago and then there is something else added for the outlet out back for the freezer. First thing you know, your fridge is wired into the same circuit that the microwave is supposed to be on.
Just be safe!!

Answer 4

i wouldn't say your crazy for doing it but your question about a safety problem could be just that if old wiring (and that depends how old) is the type that insulation is comming off it and if there is no ground wire along with your hot and nuetral wire. if you can cut a short piece about an inch long and take it to a store like Lows or a hardware store and ask one of sales people in that area about it. most will tell you if it is safe or not. If possible in older houses with only hot and nuetral wire run it is best to rewire where you can and than be very carefull about what you hook up to outlets and the amp draw that they will pull. educate your self by reading all instructions that come with any electrical item. also many store like lows or home depo have books on basic electrical work like you mentioned. Good Luck

Answer 5

No you should be fine. Just make sure you turn the breaker off to be on the safe side.

I was doing some wiring in the attic of house one day and the breaker box was in the basement. I decided that if I was careful to not touch both hot wires at the same time I would be okay. Wrong, while connecting one of the hot wires my hand brushed up against the ground wire and I didn't know it till it got half way up my arm. My arm throbbed for days over that stupid trick and I'll make the long trip to the breaker box every time from then on.

Answer 6

If you've replaced light fixtures, you should have no problems changing switches. Most switches even have which wire goes where printed right on the plastic. Just make sure the circuit's off and plug the wires in the right places. Incredibly easy. Even if your wiring is older, changing switches shouldn't do anything to make it worse.

Answer 7

As long as you aren't increasing the load on the circuit and just doing simple switch replacements, you shouldn't have to worry about the wiring. If you were adding light fixtures or outlets to a circuit you need to make sure the circuit can handle the additional load. Many basic electrical guides tell you how many outlets and/or lights you can put on a 20amp circuit.

Answer 8

both are pretty simple to change al you need to do is turn on the light then trip breaker until the light goes off then change the switch. the out let plug in a lamp turn it on and do the same with the breakers until the lamp goes out. the gfi outlet is sometime s a little tricky just ask the people where you buy the breaker how you hook up the wires to it. most of them have gold and chrome screws just put the black to the gold and white to chrome. and you will be ok . you are not going to be seeing much in the way of detecting hazzards while doing the two task

Answer 9

Given that it is an old house, you might want an electrician to check on the wiring, but that has nothing to do with the job at hand. When you do the work, just make sure that the electricity to that area is turned off until you have completed it. You seem pretty handy, so I'm sure you can do it.

Answer 10

Changing out switches and outlets are very simple and easy. Just make sure that you do turn off the power to the switch or plug that you are working on first so you wont wired your self up.