Unless it’s something weird, like a rat ate through the wiring in the wall, most electrical things around the home are fairly easy to attend to.  Switches and wall outlets are merely a matter of replacement.

Turning Off The Power

Almost all houses have an indoor circuit breaker panel somewhere.  Even if the breakers are labeled, it would obviously be best not to trust them until you know otherwise.  If in doubt, just flip off the whole mess.  It’s easier to reset a clock than deal with funeral home costs.

Outlets

All outlets have silver and gold screws, silver for the neutral wire (usually white) and gold for the hot (usually red or black).  Don’t mix the wires around.  If the wires are stuck straight into the back of the old outlet, you’ll need a real tiny screwdriver (like for eyeglasses) to stick in the tiny slot to release the wire.  Otherwise, just cut it off and start afresh.

Note: While the types of outlets where you just stick the wire in the back are obviously very handy, use the actual screw terminals if the outlet is in a place where something that draws real current (like a space heater) might be used.  The screws make a much better contact point than the little slip-in types.

Switches

Make sure it’s the same kind of switch.  If it’s a 3-way switch, like in a double-door bathroom, you need to replace it with a 3-way switch.  Turn off the juice, pop off the old switch and replace it.  Since there will be three wires going to a 3-way switch, be sure to connect the wires to the same terminals and test it before you mount it back in the wall.

Lights

If a wall or floor lamp is acting goofy, like flickering and such, it’s most likely the base the light bulb screws into.  The contact points where the wires connect are pretty cheap and corrode after a number of years and eventually start making for a bad contact, causing the light to flicker.  It’s actually a small fire hazard and should be replaced or the lamp thrown away.

Ease of replacement depends on the lamp design.  Starting at the bottom, you have to disassemble the lamp along the path the wire makes right up to the socket.  Floor lamps and small wall lamps are usually fairly easy to disassemble, but chandeliers and multi-bulb lamps can be a real pain, if not flat-out impossible.

Fluorescent lights provide their own challenges.  They often work in pairs, so if one burns out, neither one lights.  The bad bulb will usually have dark bands around the ends.

If it’s an older unit and it’s flickering or hard to start, it might be the ’starter’.  It’s a small aluminum canister (with the diameter of a quarter) that’s easily replaced.  They’re always nestled around the bulbs in a fairly obvious location, so if you don’t see one, yours doesn’t have a starter.

That’s bad news, since that means you’ll probably have to replace the whole ballast, and it’s kind of a messy job in that there are a ton of wires to hook up, plus they’re expensive.  If it’s a relatively cheap fixture, like a shop light, it’d be cheaper (and a lot easier) to just replace the dang thing.

Appliances

If a large appliance is just dead in its tracks, about the only thing you can do is check the circuit breakers.  If it appears to have power, you can try accessing the connection panel on the appliance and see if the wires are live, but they usually are if there’s power at the breaker.  Most likely the appliance will be at fault, and most things will have to be fixed by the pros.

About the one thing that’s easy to do is replace the heating element in an oven.  There are usually just a couple of screws holding it to the back panel.  Remove the wires and take the old element with you to the store for an exact replacement.

Wire & Connectors

It’s important you know the difference between stranded wire and solid-core wire.  Solid-core wire has lots of advantages, but you never, ever use it in an environment that vibrates.  Even inside the wall of a mobile home is a no-no.  It’ll eventually become brittle and break.

Also, you always err on the side of caution when selecting wire size.  If 14-gauge seems right, buy 12-gauge.  And you always want to anticipate how much juice a wire might be asked to carry in the future.  You might use 14-gauge for that wall outlet in the outside office because all you want it for is a computer and some lights, then you rent out the room to some college kid a few years later who promptly plugs in a great big space heater, overtaxes the line and burns the place to the ground.

Attention should also be paid to connectors, whether it be wire nuts, crimp connectors, clamp connectors, or whatever.  A bad connection means that less voltage is getting through, so, to maintain the equilibrium, the unit draws more amps.  That, in turn, makes the unit overheat and that’s a big part of why things wear out.  This is especially true with 12-volt systems, like motorhomes and boats.

And this goes double if you’re on a boat in a saltwater environment.  You should use the crimp connectors that seal the ends with epoxy when heat is applied.