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FIND YOUR DREAM HOME OR APARTMENT
Telling a novice or non electrician that he can do ANYTHING electrical is unwise and could be deadly. Telling someone who is not a trained electrician to install a ceiling fan is outright stupidity .Existing fixture ceiling boxes are not to be used for fans under any circumstances fans must be installed on a fan box so in all cases the old ceiling box is not to be used and must be taken out and replaced with the proper box which is a job in itself and only someone who has been trained for this work should attempt it.
This is why electricians spend 6 years in school and four years on the job before they can take an extremely difficult test to be licensed to perform this work.
whoever is writing this article is not helping the general public save money but instead they are endangering the person attempting this work ,THEY SHOULD CEASE THIS AND APOLOGIZE FOR CREATING AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CONDITION!!
These articles are a joke......simply changing a light switch or even a toilet or faucet repair is not necessarily complicated but it is not suggested you do these repairs if you are not trained properly. I am a long time facility maintenance manager, electrician, and construction manager and I am not saying this because of any reasons besides, property damage and/or death. There is a reason plumbers and electricians go to school for 4 or more years.
1st working with electricity ie: switches, dimmers, receptacles, fans, etc. What many people donot realize is that the installation requires finesse correct connection of the conductors, grounding and makeup will keep you from a fire.
Another thing is that there may be multiple home runs or seperate circuits running to multiple breakers could be running through 1 j-box which means you may be working live even if the breaker appears off. In addition, in residential 2 circuits share 1 neutral the white wire, meaning the shared circuit could be energized through the neutral.
3 way switches- have travellers conductors and there are many ways to wire a 3 way circuit so the terminals on the 3 way switch must be connected correctly or it will not operate and may cause a fire risk.
Ceiling fans- if you replace a lighting ceiling fixture with a fan the electrical box must be uninstalled, and a new fan rated braced design 3-0 box installed in it's place attached to the joists on both sides. A standard lighting box cannot hot the weight of a fan and may fall hit you and cause a fire.
Plumbing, anything with supply water lines, valves, connections, have heavy water pressure and can flood you home within a few minutes. without proper tools as well as glues, putty, pipe dope you are asking for a leak. In addition, the water connections must be checked after installation or repair with hot water flow, and a follow up to tighten connections. If you have a major leak that is not dried out in time can cause serious mold, which puts you at risk for sickness as well as lowering the value of you home, and have to disclose mold upon selling the property.
Many property insurance companies will also refuse insurance due to fire or flood if the work was not done to code and by a licensed contractor.
Hopefully this will give you some insight on safety and options.
There have been a few experienced posts here on this subject that are valuable but most would ignore, just because someone can physicall install or repair something doesn't mean they are qualified. You may never have a problem doing repairs yourself, but it is the small thing you may miss that could cause damage.
