Replace your old mobile home light switches for safer electrical connections.
Choose safety when replacing a self-contained mobile home light switch with a single-pole switch and an "old work" box, and save money too, according to Morgan Services, a mobile home repair service. Wires attached to screws in a single-pole switch are more secure than in a self-contained mobile home switch. And installing a single-pole switch and electrical box can be much cheaper than replacing a self-contained mobile home switch. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Turn off the electricity at the panel by flipping the main breaker to "Off."
2. Remove the self-contained mobile home switch from the wall. Mobile homes are made with self-contained switches that combine the electrical switch box and switch into one unit. Use a screwdriver and turn the screw at the top and the bottom of the switch to the left, releasing the self-contained switch by loosening the wings that hold it inside the wall.
3. Disconnect the wiring from the self-contained switch. Access the wiring inside a self-contained switch by removing the snap-on back cover. Locate the two white wires (neutral) connected by a wire nut. Remove the wire nut by twisting it counterclockwise and pull the white wires apart. Locate the connected ground wires (bare copper) and disconnect them. A self-contained mobile home switch contains a series of copper wedges and connectors where the black (hot) wires connect to provide electrical power to the switch. Pull these black wires from the copper wedges and connectors to release the self-contained mobile home switch from the wall. You now have an empty hole in your wall with two sets of three exposed wires--black, white and bare copper.
4. Trim and strip the black wires you removed from the old switch. Use wire cutter/strippers and strip ½ inch of insulation off the ends of the two black wires.
5. Install a shallow "old work box" for the new switch. Pull the wires you removed from the old mobile home switch through the knock-out holes at the top and bottom of the old work box and place the box in the wall, following the manufacturer's directions. Should your old work box be too large for the existing hole in your wall, lay the template provide with your old work box over the existing hole and trace around the template. Use a keyhole saw to cut along the trace lines, enlarging the original hole.
6. Connect the pairs of white and bare copper wires inside the old work box. Twist a wire nut onto the two white wires to connect them, and connect the bare copper wires the same way. Push these two sets of wires to the back of the old work box.
7. Wire the new single-pole light switch into the old work box. A single-pole light switch interrupts the flow of electricity to the fixture it operates. Wrap the black power supply wire around the bottom screw on the right side of the single-pole light switch and tighten the screw. Wrap the black wire that connects to the light fixture around the screw at the top right of the new switch and tighten that screw. The power supply wire will be the black wire that connects directly back to the breaker panel.
8. Attach the new light switch to the shallow old work box. The switch will attach at the bottom and the top of the box with screws that came with the switch.
9. Cover the switch and the wiring with a switch cover plate. It will attach with two screws that came with the cover plate above and below the exposed toggle.
10. Turn on the electricity at the main panel by flipping the main breaker to "On."
Tags: mobile home, home switch, mobile home switch, self-contained mobile, self-contained mobile home, bare copper, black wires
