There is a debate between water and electrical "do-it-yourself" projects because the former can cause serious damage, is usually a dirty and wet job, and hard to work with; however, the latter poses the risk of electrocuting yourself and it is harder to tell where the problem is.
Our motion sensor front porch light didn't actually work. After you flicked the switch a few times it would turn on and stay on for a while. So, a few months back I replaced it with a cool Brinks latern (not too pricey, only $30) with motion or photo sensing. I loved the photo sensing because I never had to worry about it being on in the late evening hours. Otherwise our house gets pretty dark. It only worked for a few months. But since it was new I was worried the problem lay in the house wiring. Finally, since I have a girl friend coming over tonight for a movie I figured I should check it out. Not knowing what the problem is, I talked myself into getting a $4 jar style light at Walmart just to test replacing it. Save myself a whopping $10 off a latern one (without fancy features) just in case replacement didn't work. Obviously, if the house was the problem the "nice" Brinks one would work. Well, it was the stupid cheapo Brinks fixture and the really cheapo one from Walmart works fine. BUT IT LOOKS LIKE A $4 FIXTURE FROM WALMART. Too small and not nice looking at all. So, if you come over before I buy a nicer one you know why it is there. Kind of like a cheap electrical tester light, as opposed to having an electrician use an actual tester. So there.
Grammy and Grandpa- I may be prepared to fix your "spooky" office light situation... if I don't electrocute myself first! :)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Stupid Electrical Projects
Posted by Jules at 2:53 PM
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2 comments:
Grammy and Grandpa are doing something about their electrical problems. Fortunately, electrical is covered by our home warranty, so even though the first guy they sent out a month ago couldn't do anything, they are now going to send someone else. The "problem" when the last repairman was here was simply that the problem decided to not appear. That is, everything worked fine, But it hasn't worked fine since, so we hope it will continue to misbehave until the next repair person comes. And good luck with your projects, too.
Re. your comment about how water problems can be hard to fix--it's so true! Our neighbor (the plumber) says he can't count how many long jobs he has b/c someone decided to try and fix something themselves and they end up with a much bigger problem! (of course, it's mostly the men that do this:-)
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