As submitted to http://acanac.org/blogs/geek/

I've always been the guy that wants to figure out how things work.  With wiring, it started simple.  Phone lines were my first introduction.  Most people don't know this, but you can get a pretty good zap if you are removing the insulation from telephone wires with your teeth... while the phone is ringing.  Trust me - it can happen, I have had a few.

Eventually I graduated up to house wiring.  I don't remember what my first adventure in electrical wiring was.  It might have been just replacing some plugs that were out-dated.  I guess it doesn't matter.  I'm going to share some tips, tricks and stories that I have encountered along the way.

The first tip is going to be coined common sense, but you would be surprised how many people lack it.  Don't attempt to mess with electrical wiring if you have no idea what you are doing.  Do some reading, take some classes, study the building codes for electricity.  If you can't do that, hire someone.  You can very easily kill yourself, or burn your house down if you do something wrong.  Electricity is no joke.

Tip number two, and this is very important, make sure you have good tools.  Tools that are well insulated can be your best friend.  A couple years ago, I was putting a new furnace into my home.  When I bought the house, I discovered that half of the wiring was aluminium.  Every chance that I get, I replace some of that wiring.  Aluminium can be a huge pain and a heavy liability.  Many insurance companies won't insure you if you have that type of wiring.  Sorry for the rant there.  Anyway, I was cutting up the old line, that was disconnected from the panel, to make it easier to remove.  I guess I wasn't paying enough attention and BAM!  It sounded like a shotgun went off and the lights went out.  Turns out, I cut the wrong wire.  My tools saved my life. 

The last tip for today is to always recheck your work.  This week I have been replacing many of the lights in my basement.  I had just completed a simple switch replacement and turned the power back on.  Lights came on, so everything was good.  However, I decided to go back and check the switch and as I pulled it out I smelled burning.  No idea to this day what was burning, but everything looked fine.  I decided to replace the wiring and the switch.  You can't be too careful.  The last thing you need is for your house to burn down because you wired something wrong.  The insurance company will fight tooth and nail to stop the payout.

Be smart, be safe.