Found 33 results for the keyword(s) ‘Electrical, Safety’

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  Fixing a bad wiring job.

  When you are working in an older house and pull down that ceiling light fixture, you may discover a wiring job that could be endangering your house. By code, and for good reason, all electrical connections must be made inside metal boxes that are accessible. That means that you don't cover junc...
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  Is knob and tube wiring safe?

  Knob and tube wiring is safe if it is in good condition and it is doing no more than it was designed to do. In fact it was an very good wiring system designed to keep the two wires far apart from each other and well protected as it ran through the house.What could make it unsafe?Rodents gnawing ...
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  Why can't I find electrical cheater plugs any more?

  One viewer caught our camera in a renovation store and asked why he saw electrical cheater plugs in Quebec but can't find them in Ontario?First, what is a "cheater plug"? That is the little gadget that was so common when we first changed from two prong outlets to three prong outlets. The idea wa...
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  Getting a good electrical connection with wires.

  Have you ever wondered whether you should push an electrical wire through the little connector holes in the back of an electrical outlet, or tighten that wire under the screw head? Keith Dusome is an electrician from Accurate Electrical in Aurora, Ontario who got me to take a couple of outlets a...
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  Is the wiring already in your house safe?

  Plastic covered wires that run along the top of your baseboards are dangerous, because they can easily be damaged. It is so easy to just add a wire like this that it is often done, with extension cords, or even regular wiring simply being nailed to the baseboards to keep them off the floor.If th...
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  Installing an outdoor electrical outlet

  My friend Keith the electrician from Accurate Electrical in Aurora, Ontario walked us through the installation of an outdoor outlet. Here are some interesting tips I picked up from him:On a brick wall, drill the wire hole and the screw anchor holes all on the face of one brick and not through...
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  Covering exposed kitchen wires

  Dorian from Toronto, Ontario is looking for ways to hide wires that run along the kitchen wall.There are several products on the market, from vinyl to metal, that will encase surface wires, keeping them clean and safe. Most of them will accept any paint to help them blend into the wall. Unfortu...
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  Power Management: surge protectors and electrical filters

  Ken Houseley from the Monster Cable company came into studio to educate me a bit on surge protectors, but mostly on how to clean up the electrical current within our house.We all buy bus bars with surge protection for our computers, maybe even our more expensive TV sets and sound systems. Some o...
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  How do you know which fuse protects which outlet?

  Traditionally, to find which circuit breaker or fuse controls which lightswitch or wall outlet, you would plug a loud radio into an outlet and then go to the main panel and unscrew every fuse, or trip ever circuit breaker, until the radio went dead. And then there's yelling... 'Is that the one?'....
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  Which way should the ground plug go on electrical outlets?

  Revised November 2, 2004Should electrical outlets be installed with the ground pin up or down?There is a lot of debate and few regulations on this question.The first time I got asked this question, it came from Newfoundland. You can see my answer to that question by searching for ""Outlets"" in...