Electrical Me

My dear daughter came to me recently with one of her lamps and a request. It seems that the lamp had been flickering on and off, despite having a new light bulb put in. "Please, Mom, can you fix it for me? Pretty please?"

Well, how can I refuse such a nice request? And besides, it gives me an excuse to play with electricity.*

*Remember, play safely when electricity is involved. Make sure the cord is not plugged in and/or the circuit breaker is off.

Here we have the offending lamp. Experience has taught me that it is cheaper and less aggravating to simply change out the lamp socket when a lamp begins to malfunction. Life's too short to fuss over a fussy lamp.

Making sure that the lamp is unplugged, jimmy** the lamp shell out of the socket.

**This is technical jargon. Do try to keep up here.

By the way, it's always a good idea to have a replacement part at the ready. Did I not mention that?


Now it is time to loosen the screws holding the wires to the switch. It is important to keep the orientation in mind. For instance, this is the brass side, while the opposite side is the stainless steel side. It would not be a good thing to reattach the new socket backwards.


Why? Well, let's just say that the electrical gods would be most displeased. And you wouldn't want to displease them, would you? No, I didn't think so.




This is an Underwriter's Knot. It prevents the cord from being pulled down through the appliance. In this case I did not have to undo this and then redo it, but it is a handy knot to learn how to do.***

***Not to mention the fact that it can prevent a catastrophe in your home. How good is that?




Okay, and we are all wired back up. How easy was that?

The new sleeve goes back on the old socket.

And this old lamp now works just as it is supposed to. I'd say my work here is done.

Not bad for five minute's work, even while taking pictures!