help!!!!!!!!!?

Question

why must you never just turn off the switch instead of tripping the circuit breaker or removing the fuse.

Answer 1

I am going to assume you are talking about disconnecting power to a light fixture or switched receptical when you are changing it.

There really is no difference between shutting off the breaker or turning off the switch. Power will not be present if either one is in the off position.

I would suggest as a common safety practice that you always check for power with an volt meter before working on any circuit just to verify there is no power.

Answer 2

Ditto with sensible_man. Turning off a switch doesn't mean much. A basic course in electricity: you have a positive and a negative. The positive carries the charge and the negative takes the unused charge and returns it out in a safe place, e.g., earth. Typically a switch will stop the flow of the positive charge until it is switched on, however, long long time ago electricians would switch the negative. This was primarily seen in real old homes with nob and tubing wiring. Unfortunately even today some are still done in that manner. The problem with this is the positive charge is not off but only the unused negative, so you have a positive charge at the appliance or light even though it is not running.

Secondly, as sensible_man stated, there is another possibility the negative charge is shared between another negative charge. This creates a potential shock hazard because the breaker can be completely off, yet another breakers charge is sharing the negative.

Answer 3

It is just a safer thing to do. There may have been some additional electrical work done and it was done incorrectly and have a cross connection in the switch or box. I had this happen in an older home. I turned off the switch to a light fixture, the bulb went off, but when I tried disconnecting the wiring, I got zapped.

Answer 4

Princess.. can you give a little more info,about your question.