Electrical outlets in my apartment?
Question:This might be a ridiculous question, but it is driving me insane. ALL the outlets in my apartment are messed up, they are too big for normal sockets. Everything falls out of them with the slghtest touch. Why is this and how do I get it fixed? I don't think my managment will do anything about it, I am pretty sure it is going to be up to me.
Answers:
The outlets are simply worn out. The 'residential' grade of outlets wear out fairly quickly compared to the slightly more expensive commercial grade ones.
Electrical outlets are part of the building and not something a renter can legally alter without written permission of the owner or agent.
I would ask the building management to come see what you are talking about. Replacing outlets is a fairly easy job and I'm sure they have people who are qualified to do it.
If they are not willing to maintain their building, it may be time to start looking for a better place to live.
get in touch with the management company and tell them it is a fire hazard. If they won't do anything, look in your phone book in the government pages and find something to do with rent control.
If you know what you are doing it's easy and cheap.
Any hardware store can sell you replacement outlets.
Cut the power
Unscrew the plate from the wall
Unscrew the outlet from the socket it's resting in
Unscrew the wires from the outlet one at a time; note which ones go where
Swap and put it back.
spread the prongs apart a little before you plug something in. that can help a little. Otherwise, you need to have the outlets replaced. If you know how to shut off the electricity, its not hard to replace them. just find someone who is handy and doesn't mind having curly hair. ;)
That's odd, I've never encountered it. I'd call the management and talk to them about it, if they do have you fix it yourself, ask for it to be taken off your rent, since when you move the outlets stay and you were the one to fix them.
ask your friends if any of them know how to change outlets. it'll only cost you a couple of buck to change them and get new plates. its safer to hve them so they are snug, so have someone show you how to change them, and change the most used ones..
I'm pretty sure the law requires in all states that if you rent then they have to repair problems especially something that could burn the place down. If it is totally up to you then you can buy new outlets from home depot for fairly cheap; if I owned the apartment I would not want anyone who wasn't sure about this type of thing to just go do repair work of this magnitude ( not that it's difficult just risky)
Probably the person before you had a device with bent plug and wallowed them out and they have lost their spring tension. I would complain to the management. Replacements are available at a store like Menard's for under a buck however this not a job for an untrained person to do.
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