How to change the outlet

Perhaps there is no such person who has never sought an answer to the question of how to change the outlet. A modern house can not be imagined without electrical appliances. Even in the most remote villages, where people are accustomed to living without a centralized water supply and gas pipeline, electricity is needed. It is not surprising that all the elements of household wiring are gradually worn out due to intensive exploitation, requiring replacement.

Although the installation of outlets and switches is considered male work, this is just a stereotype, because it does not need brute force, although, of course, it is important to consider whether additional work is needed. Usually the opposite is true, the accuracy inherent in women is in demand. Knowing how to change the outlet, you can cope with this task in just a few minutes.

When is a replacement necessary? There are a few reasons:

- Burnout of contacts due to too high current load;

- temperature damage due to poor contact at the place of attachment of the wire to the contact;

- an unsuccessful design of sliding contacts, which means that after a short time the plugs plugged into such a socket are poorly fixed, causing the contacts to heat up and damage them.

Let us dwell on these reasons a little more. Each outlet is designed by the manufacturer for a certain permissible current: the plastic "stuffing" usually withstands less current than the ceramic one. For example, if a current of 10 A is indicated, it means that it can connect a household appliance with a power consumption of no more than 2.2 kW (actually up to 2 kW). But if you turn on 5 kW load, then the contacts and the inner case will be damaged and will have to look for instructions on how to change the outlet.

Bolt connections require periodic crimping, and since no one does this, then from here and reflow with subsequent replacement.

The contacts must tightly tighten the plug pins. In cheap outlets, the force is provided by a special form of contacts. From frequent use they are weakened, there is heating. In more expensive models, the design is reinforced with a spring frame.

So, how to change the outlet? First of all, you need to turn off the electricity. It can be a machine only on a "branch" or immediately on all home wires. It is recommended to check with the help of an indicator or a multimeter that there is no voltage. Check by simply turning on the plug of the appliance does not work, because the incorrectly connected machine can break the phase wire and the neutral wire.

After that, carefully unscrew the bolt holding the cover of the socket and remove it. Further, it all depends on the design: some models are directly screwed to the back box, but solutions on two legs are more popular. We examine: usually two hanging screws are visible from the sides, slightly twisting and carefully taking out the inner part of the outlet from the box. If three wires are connected (grounded network), then you need to purchase a model with a three-wire connection. If the wires are only two, then any outlet is suitable. The main thing is to decide on the standard: Soviet or Euro (they differ in the thickness of the fork pins).

Unscrew the bolts holding the wires. In the case of three wires, you need to remember where the earth is, and plug it into a grounding plug in a new outlet. The remaining two can be connected to the contacts in random order (if there are no special phasing requirements). From the new outlet remove the cover, screw the bolts of the network wires, insert it into the mounting box, set the required level (so that it is not crooked) and alternately tighten the bolts of the spacers. Spacers must not damage the wires. Install the cover and apply voltage.

Also there are overhead sockets. They are not installed in a junction box, but are screwed directly to the surface. Usually they are used for open wiring. Replacement is even easier, since there are no struts.