Electrical- Securing live wires between removal and installation (2 weeks)

[Gator95]

Just starting remodel of a downstairs half-bath. This is probably the first of many posts .

Wife is taking off the old wallpaper now, and we'll be replacing the old nasty gold-trimmed wall-mount light with something that fits with this decade. I'll need to take the fixture off and remove wallpaper around it, and then skim-coat, then paint, before I put the new light in.

How should I secure the wires in the time between light removal and new light installation? Maybe it's a stupid question and all I need to do is wrap the ends of the white and black wires with electrical tape and leave 'em hanging out of the wall, but just want to check here.

[Daryl]

I would cut the wires back to the insulation, cap with wire nuts and then fold the ends back into the wall, just make sure you don't loose them in the wall.

[LCHIEN]

electrical tape is OK, but just put an appropriate sized wire nut on the live ends, its much easier and neater, less likely to fall off and won't leave adhesive all over the wires. You can even reuse the wirenuts later.

P.S. you'd normally use the yellow or red wirenuts to tie two or more 12-14 ga wires together but if you're only capping ends of single wires you might need to use the blue or orange wirenuts for the smaller dia. wire.

[Hellrazor]

Use wirenuts to cap the wires. Tape only isn't up to code and you can poke the wires through the tape if you aren't carefull.

[kevincan]

I would use the wire nuts to cap off the wires. If there is a junction box where they come out I would put them in the box while you remodel. If there is no box I would leave them hanging out. If you luck is anything like mine when you go to pull them out they will not be reachable.

[RAFlorida]

Use wire nuts only.

The proper size wire nut will stay on the wire if you leave some of it bare. Orange or small blue nuts should do it. (also, in some jusridictions, the use of only electrical tape to protect the wire will get the IHJ on your case.)

[newbie2wood]

Your wires should not be live when you remove the fixture. Turn off the power at the breaker panel. You can cap off the wires for a extra margin of safety.
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WATER PIPES

[Hellrazor]

Your wires should not be live when you remove the fixture. Turn off the power at the breaker panel. You can cap off the wires for a extra margin of safety.

You take all of the fun out of electrical work

[Tom Slick]

as a combo of all the above, install the wire nuts then tape the wire nuts to make sure they can't fall off. sort of a belt and suspenders situation.

[master53yoda]

If possible install the electrical box secure the wiring and then wire nut Orange nuts on single #14 or #12 wire. Shut off the breaker while installing the box, if you need the breaker on latter it will be save if the wire nuts are installed. Also verify that the hot wire is being switched not the neutral. I would also look at installing a GFI plug in the bathroom during the remodel.

Yellow nuts on up to 3 #14 or 2#12 red on higher quantities. Do not use to large a wire nut as it can cause loose connections and heating.

[billwmeyer]

I am with Tom. Use a wire nuts and tape. then if there is a box, stick them back in the box.

Bill

[Gator95]

Your wires should not be live when you remove the fixture. Turn off the power at the breaker panel. You can cap off the wires for a extra margin of safety.

I'm slow, but not that slow. Breaker will be off when removing fixture, but breaker for that fixture also powers other fixtures that I'd not want to be without for 2 weeks.

So wires will be live once I cap with wire nuts, secure with electrial tape, and stuff back into the box that is already in the wall, and taped to the inside of the box so they don't murphy themselves through the box and into the wall.

Thanks all.

[docrowan]

I've had to do this before as well, and I used tape. I like the wire nut idea better. Another thing I did is turn the light off at the switch and tape over the switch as an extra precaution.

I'd like to reiterate what someone else posted - if your switch breaks the neutral instead of the hot FIX IT! I am extra cautious around electrical work, but many people assume if you turn off the switch power is cut to the fixture. Picture your wife changing out a light bulb and the bulb breaks off at the base. Her next step is to grab a pair of needlenose to remove the bulb base. She's turned the switch off, so in her mind it's safe.

I've owned three homes where I could have been electrocuted if I had not doublechecked. The first time made me sweat when I realized what could have happened. Do yourself and especially the next homeowner a favor and fix it while you are working on it.

[crokett]

I'd like to reiterate what someone else posted - if your switch breaks the neutral instead of the hot FIX IT! I am extra cautious around electrical work, but many people assume if you turn off the switch power is cut to the fixture. Picture your wife changing out a light bulb and the bulb breaks off at the base. Her next step is to grab a pair of needlenose to remove the bulb base. She's turned the switch off, so in her mind it's safe.
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Depending on how things are wired it doesn't matter if the switch breaks the neutral or hot. If the power comes into the switch box, then switching the hot is safer. If power comes into the light fixture box, then whether or not the switch is off, there is still power at the light. Personally, if I am ever sticking pliers into a light socket I am turning the breaker off first.

[master53yoda]

Depending on how things are wired it doesn't matter if the switch breaks the neutral or hot. If the power comes into the switch box, then switching the hot is safer. If power comes into the light fixture box, then whether or not the switch is off, there is still power at the light. Personally, if I am ever sticking pliers into a light socket I am turning the breaker off first.

The NEC National Electrical Code REQUIRES that the hot line be switched even if the feed line enters the light box and the switch leg goes to the switch and back to the light, switching the hot line leaves the light fixture unpowered. If the neutral is switched the light fixture is hot to all grounded locations and in a bathroom that is almost everything because of the close proximity to the plumbing.

The NEC also requires all electrical receptacles in the bathroom be run through a GFI circuit which monitors the current flow between the hot line and the neutral line and if they are not the same will break the circuit in 120th of a second.

In the professional world of electrical, wire nutting and inserting into the box is all that is required. If a circuit is hot you would also put a blank cover over the box with a cautionary sticker included.

In the field working I have seen many neutral switched lights and on a commercial control system that I was involved in investigating a switched neutral went to ground and raised the I-90 floating bridge in Seattle and killed a couple that hit the rising bridge at 60 miles per hour. Never ever switch a neutral, the results can be deadly.