How to Check a Wall Receptacle
One of the most common electrical devices to fail in a home is a light switch or receptacle. Before making repairs or even inspecting the receptacle, it is necessary to first cut off the electrical power to the unit. All receptacles are controlled by main circuit breakers. These circuit breaker might control a wall or an entire room. However, it is a safe practice to check a wall receptacle once you turn off power to ensure that no power is going to the wires. The best way to check the receptacle is with a multimeter. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Multimeter
- Flat-head screwdriver
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Instructions
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Turn off the circuit breaker to the wall receptacle. The circuit breaker is in your home's electrical panel box. Sometimes the wall or room circuit breaker is identified on the paper schematic on the inside door panel, and sometimes it is written beside the circuit breaker. If the receptacle is also operated by a wall switch, turn the wall switch to the "off" position.
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Adjust the scale on your multimeter to read AC volts. Adjust the settings to read up to 200 volts, if you have a manually adjusting multimeter. Most digital multimeter are now self-ranging, eliminating the need to adjust the voltage range.
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Plug the black probe lead into your "Comm" port on the multimeter and the red probe lead to the "V," or volts, port. Depending on your multimeter, the ports for connecting the probe leads are on the front bottom or bottom edge of the unit.
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Hold the probes on the plastic portion with your fingers, and insert one probe into each of the outlet slots. This is perfectly safe as long as you only hold the probes by their plastic coverings. Do not, under any circumstances, touch the metal portions of the probes when inserting or removing them from the receptacle. The reading on the multimeter should be between zero and less than one volt.
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Remove the screw securing the receptacle cover with a flat-head screwdriver. Pull the cover away from the wall. Find the terminal screws on each side of the receptacle. Touch one probe to each of the terminal screws. If the power is truly off, the scale will return a zero value.
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Tips & Warnings
Look at the settings on your multimeter to ensure the unit is set to read AC volts and not DC volts. Check the terminals once more to be sure the power to the receptacle is off.
Refer to the owner's manual of your multimeter for making further electrical tests to your receptacle.
There are also plug-in testers available that simply use lights to determine if power is running through the receptacle.
Never touch bare electrical wires before testing to be sure power is off.
Never trust the information written on the circuit breaker box as correct, only as a guide.
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