Hello, I need to replace a few fixtures. Once I remove an old fixture, I need to do some drywall/paint work since the new ones are smaller. I cannot leave the circuits for these fixtures off for an extended time b/c they are shared circuits. Is it sufficient to terminate each individual wire with it's own wire nut and stuff the bundle back in the wall until ready to install the new fixture? Thanks.
Sure, although in some cases you might need to splice the wires through, in the case of a receptacle or similar.
good luck
nate
Just disconnect the fixture wires from the building wires, leaving any splices together, then cap them
Just be sure to mark them if there may be any question later.
Don't ask how I know that. :-)
Since you only told JPE not to ask..........I will :-) So......tell us the story please :-)
Good point, and I will add that when you cap individual wires, you need the very small wirenuts (usually gray or orange), Large ones fall off single wires. If worse comes to worse, a small piece of electrical tape will hold them on. You want all hot wires capped securely. The neutrals are not as significant but still should be capped. The grounds do not need caps.
You can buy "pigtails" They are temporary lamp holders. This would allow keep light during the renovation.
Not a big story, but one I have done more than once. Start work on a job, get distracted and then go back to realize that I don't remember what they were. It waste a lot of time testing to make sure what is what.
It would have been a better story if I had just tried them to see what would happen. :-)
Well, I am sure most everyone has done this; including myself. Especially in the beginning years of starting a career, etc......this is how you learn though and to not make the same mistake twice. :-)
I guess my story is MUCH better then :-) Not working on house wiring , but electronics. Fried the freeking thing :-)
... unless this is a multiwire circuit (shared neutral). If these open under a load half of the installed stuff may blow up. Ceiling boxes are usually where they split out a multiwire circuit so be careful. You may still have power there with the breaker that turned the ceiling light off, switched off. I would be nervous about this if I saw a red wire and it wasn't going directly to the black in the light you removed. The other problem with neutrals is AFCIs, now installed in bedrooms, soon to be everywhere. If the neutral shorts to ground the AFCI will trip. That big cludge of white wires in the ceiling box is usually why people think ceiling fans trip AFCIs. It vibrates the wirenut and if there is a bit of copper showing that touches the hickey or ground wire ... pop.
Depends....
IMHO, if this was my house, I would try to first plan for time to get all the work done, so I don't have to face this. If not, I would cover all free-ends of conductors with wire nuts, and close up all boxes with 'blanks'. Now the wires are protected, and contained.
Remember, only qualified electricians should work on electrical systems. The cost of education, or paying someone, could be much cheaper than a fire, or ......
tom @
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