- View ChannelsFeatured: Finance
- View ShowroomsFeatured: Radiantec - Radiant Solar Heating
How to Replace a Ceiling Light
DIFFICULTY RATING:
Clip Transcript For:
How to Replace a Ceiling Light
computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate
" A new ceiling fixture can improve the look of any room. Exchanging one fixture for another is simple. Here's now. Safety first. Turn off the circuit for the ceiling fixture at the fuse box. Remove any glass parts that might break including light bulbs. Next, remove the screws or nuts holding the bracket cover plate in place. Remove any electrical tape and unscrew the wire nuts, exposing the twisted pair of wires, being very careful not to touch the bare wire ends until you test that no voltage is present. Carefully test the circuit with a voltage tester, simultaneously touching the black and white wires with the tester to make sure the circuit is dead. Once you've made sure that no voltage is present, separate the wires, and remove the old fixture. Often, the wires go through the center of the support and would have to be pulled out. Unless they are identical, remove the old lamp bracket and replace it with the bracket that came with the new light. This new lamp will hang by a chain from the mounting bracket, so the next step is to determine the length of the chain we'll need and add the number of links required for the correct hanging distance. The links can be pulled open and closed using pliers. While somebody supports the new fixture for you, work the wires up through the hanging bracket tube. This is typical for lamps that hang with a chain. Other ceiling lights may have different instructions. Being careful not to cut the insulation. Pull the wires through the hanging bracket tube and wrap the bare ground wire around the green ground screw. Now, wrap the bare ground wire from the ceiling around the green ground screw and tighten the screw securely. Strip 1 inch of insulation from each of the new lamps wired and use the wire nuts supplied with the new fixture to twist the wires together, white to white and black to black or as indicated by the instructions. Wrap electrical tape around the bottom of each wire nut to seal the wire nut to the wires. When you're done, double-check your connections, and then following the specific instructions that came with the new lighting fixture, secure the new fixture to the hanging bracket. Continue to follow the instructions to install any glass globes, shades, or other lamp parts. When you're done, screw in the light bulbs and turn the circuit breaker back on. Your new lighting fixture is ready for service."
