Anyway, B had asked for help putting some lights in his attic and basement so that they could see better. I volunteered to go to Smithfield and help him learn that basic wiring is not as difficult as he imagined.
The first lesson that was taught was: Make sure the power is OFF before working on anything. We flipped breakers until we made sure the power was off in the circuits we were working. We also caused most of the alarm clocks, microwave and DVD players to blink, but better to reset them than unintended electrical shock.
In the attic, there was one 40W light bulb on a pull chain, now there are 5 with a conveniently located switch. It took us about 3-4 hours to perform this work and B is really happy.
We next tackled the basement. In B's basement, B has a chest type freezer. The closest outlet to the freezer is operated by a switch located at the door. At one point, either B or K accidentally turned off the freezer, ruining some food, so B wanted to put an outlet right next to the freezer, dedicated to only the freezer. There was also only one 40 watt light bulb here as well, so B wanted extra lighting.
After turning off the power, I supervised B doing the work (so he could do other things later) and this took about 3 hours. It was relatively straight forward as there was a junction box near the switched outlet, making for easy wire connections. There is now proper lighting and electrical outlets for the freezer
The final thing that B wanted to correct/change was a switch that controlled an outlet to a fish tank. B wanted that outlet to be powered all the time, to prevent accidentally turning off the air/light to the tank. After discussing the way to fix the issue, B got a quick lesson in why Rule#1 is important. B forgot to turn off the power, and got a startling reminder. With nothing injured but his pride, B went and turned off the power to the switch, making the change in about 10 minutes.
Below is a pic of B and K, and of their saltwater fish tank. K was just about to leave to go to work.
The blob in the upper left corner is a star fish. It is a neat tankGreat seeing you B and K!
1 comment:
Boy,D! I wish you lived close enough to us to do some around-the-house stuff with UJ! Sounds like you were a good teacher, and B was a good learner. The little shock will serve as a good reminder to B.
It was also good to see a pic of B and K. Thanks.
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