You would be surprised at just how most individuals nowadays do not understand how to renew a plug socket. Evidently, the better way to get it done right is to pay an electrician who can perform the job on your behalf! However, for those who do not plan to hire one, or anyone else for which matter, you could potentially change an electrical plug socket ones self. In the grand scheme of things, it is a minor task. But which small chore may grow to be a significant disaster if it isn't handled properly because playing around with electricity is actually very dangerous. Here is a guide which you can follow to carefully change an electrical plug socket.

Do not forget that safety is an important concern here. Before you start anything whatsoever, make sure you shut down the power to the socket which you are planning to change. Go to the main circuit breaker box and trip off the breaker that provides power to that specific socket. You can only do that and select the correct breaker if the main breaker box is correctly marked, otherwise if you do not want to test each breaker until you discover the right one, you will have to switch off all the breakers to make sure. Now go to the socket in question and test for power. Just plug an electrical appliance like a vacuum cleaner to check whether the power remains on or use a multi-tester if you have one. Multi-testers come supplied with operational manuals so everyone can use one.

Carry on only when you're completely sure that there is no power to the socket that you're going to work with. Now, use a screwdriver to take out the screws holding the face plate and remove the face plate. Take off the screws securing the socket to the receptacle box. Pull the socket as far out as it can move out of your receptacle box, taking care not to contact any wires.

Now, pay attention to precisely how the wires are connected to the socket because you will want to reconnect them later into the fresh socket in the same way. You should see two or three wires attached to the socket and they are usually colour coded. The brown being the live wire, the other two are for neutral and earth. If you wire them up exactly the same way, you don't need to worry regarding the colours. That is very crucial. A multi-tester will be invaluable here should you get stuck.

Undo the wires from your old socket. Check your notes and reconnect the wires in to the brand new socket's terminals. Tighten all of the screws and make sure that no wires with another colour are touching each other. When all of the wires are properly fastened into place, press the socket back into the receptacle box and secure it with the screws you had taken out earlier. Then replace the faceplate. Turn on all of the breakers inside your main breaker box and plug an electrical piece of equipment into the new socket to test if it's operational.

Brilliant. You have just learned how to successfully change an electric plug socket.