I was installing a new light fixture in one of the rooms of my house, and accidentally touched the white wire coming out of the fixture to the black wire coming out of the fixture.
Now the power in the room won't work. I know enough about electricity to install a new light, but that's about it...
What did I do, and how can I fix it?
If you don't know how to flip the circuit breaker, you shouldn't be installing a light fixture.
You should have gone into your basement or where ever your breaker/fuse box is and flipped it off BEFORE you even messed with the wiring. If a part of your body had been involved in the crossing of those wires you would have seriously hurt if not killed yourself.
What you should do now is cap off the wires you're working on, then flip the breaker back on in your basement, and ask someone who knows what they're doing for help.
A correct answer on LR? What has the world come to?
Maybe you could go for short-circuiting fifty rooms in fifty states...
Well you either blew a fuse or set off the circuit breaker, so there is no electricity to the circuit. Figure out which circuit it was, then fix the light, then replace the fuse or flip the breaker.
And I agree with No Way that if you don't understand this, you shouldn't be working on this.
So did you figure it out, or did you electrocute yourself?
Guys... He died. I think we should delete this thread now.
The Indianapolis Electrician wrote:
Guys... He died. I think we should delete this thread now.
Crap, Not again!
Right then...delete this thread. Hide any evidence that this conversation ever took place. Deny deny deny!
No Way wrote:
If you don't know how to flip the circuit breaker, you shouldn't be installing a light fixture.
You should have gone into your basement or where ever your breaker/fuse box is and flipped it off BEFORE you even messed with the wiring. If a part of your body had been involved in the crossing of those wires you would have seriously hurt if not killed yourself.
What you should do now is cap off the wires you're working on, then flip the breaker back on in your basement, and ask someone who knows what they're doing for help.
great letsrun post, or greatest letsrun post?
Watching Darwinism at work can be a beautiful thing.
This is actually pretty easy to fix.
You need two large gauge metal wires with all the plastic shielding striped. Insert each wire into separate leads/holes of a working electric outlet in the house with you bare hands. That'll make the electricity come back.
Gee! If you watch enough tv and movies, you should have known this fix by now. Remember the movie The Matrix that clearly explains that the human is a battery. With that understanding, if you hook a battery to a non-working batter/circuit, it'll jumpstart it, liking jumpstarting a car.
Thanks Dan
clarksonxc wrote:
No Way wrote:If you don't know how to flip the circuit breaker, you shouldn't be installing a light fixture.
You should have gone into your basement or where ever your breaker/fuse box is and flipped it off BEFORE you even messed with the wiring. If a part of your body had been involved in the crossing of those wires you would have seriously hurt if not killed yourself.
What you should do now is cap off the wires you're working on, then flip the breaker back on in your basement, and ask someone who knows what they're doing for help.
great letsrun post, or greatest letsrun post?
Find the short and separate the wires.
call an electrician
Put your tongue on the wires to see if there is electricity flowing through them before attempting to fix the problem.
Amazing how we use electricity all the time and it is absolutely ubiquitous, yet many of us know jack-shit about it - other than to not stick a fork in an outlet, or to not hold up a 9 iron in a lightning storm.
It ain't that complicated - do some reading prior to touching anything more than a light switch from now on.
If there was ONLY a black and white wire (and ground) I doubt it was a 3-way switch. The quicker way would have been to turn off the switch BEFORE you started working. But if there was a red wire or "traveler" then you still may have been working hot.
But the best way to go would have been to turn off the breaker. Problem is, contractors often do not label the breakers with a lot of detail.
Odds are the place where you bought the light fixture (HD or Lowe's) also had:
1) a circuit tester
2) a homeowner's guide on electrical wiring
Also - the instructions that came with the light probably had a enough information to keep you from doing this.
You are not dumb, you just did not think. Perhaps you are not cut out to do any time of home repair. But if you stop and think a little and take the time to educate yourself you could have done this right.
As far as what to do:
1. Read the instructions that came with the fixtures
2. Keep the 2 wires away from each other and still assume they are hot.
3. Go to the electrical section or HD and get yourself a circuit tester.
4. THEN use it to check to see if the wires are hot (the black wire is the hot wire, white is neutral)
5. Even if you think they are not hot (ie the little light on the tester does not blink) take the tester and verify that it works by checking an appliance cord or an outlet in another room that you did not disable.
6. Check again with tester to see that the wires you effed up are not hot. Check the white wire too, some bone head may have reversed them.
7. Check breaker box or fuse box. If a fuse box and if you blew a fuse you should see a fuse with blackened glass and no silver bar going across. DON'T replace it YET.
8. If breakers, one of the breakers will be just a little away from the on position but not all the way to off. Once you find this breaker, flip it all the way to off.
8. Now go back and check the wires you effed up Not hot? BRAVO, the power is dead.
9. reread the instructions.
10. check again to see the wires are dead with your tester.
11. DEAD? BRAVO!! Now be sure the light switch is off. Cut back the burned or melted copper to clean copper, strip per instructions, install fixture per instructions.
12. go back to breaker box, turn on breaker.
13. turn on switch - LET THERE BE LIGHT!!
Hazel?
I thought you and Weston were in Knoxville!
Call an electrician.
unless the OP was standing in a bucket of water, touching the black and white at the same time would have given him a little shock (enough to let go very quickly) but very doubtful it would have been fatal unless another condition was present beforehand.