How to Repair Domestic Electrical Equipments/Appliances/Gadgets?

Electricity is everyone's need these days. Either its home or industry; no machine, appliance or gadget can run without electricity. Oops...what if you are in hurry and your electrical appliance/gadget stop working at home.
Obviously, the next thing you would do is either you will wait till evening untill your "Dear " returns or look around for some help. Instead, the best thing is try yourself to troubleshoot the problem.

How can i troubleshoot; when i don't know anything about electricity? I am not aware of all the theories and formulas of electricity. If all these questions are hovering in your mind and putting you in dilemma, then read this blog where i will try to make you familiar with some basic techniques by which you can solve day-to-day electrical problems at your home without paying to electrician or waiting for your "Dear" return. But remember, don't try these methods on high voltage installations like transformers, capacitors etc. where volatge level is beyond 240v ( 120v in some parts of world). Here "V" stands for "Voltage".

Usually, all the domestic appliances like geysers, iron, TV etc. work at 240 v AC (120v AC in some parts of world). Here "AC" means "Alternating Current" (This form of electricity is different from "DC" i.e. "Direct Current" which is supplied by your car battery or torch cells). The electrical distribution company supplies electricity at this voltage level in the form of "AC" to your home. In this blog, the form of electricity i am dealing is "AC" only.

In this

Now, you might have noticed that there are three wires leaving from the plugtop and entering the appliance.

Basically, the description of the three wires is as follows:

1. "RED" colour wire is called the "LIVE" wire.

2. "BLACK or BLUE" colour wire is called the "NEUTRAL WIRE".

3. "GREEN" colour wire is called the "EARTH" wire. In some equipments, we don't find this wire. People remove this wire or diconnect this wire from the earth terminal of the plugtop or equipment. My advise to those who don't use this wire; is to stop this practice and always have this wire properly connected as it is required for protection of human against electrical shock. It is very important. ( In the next blog, i will delineate the importance of "EARTH" wire.)

These three wires are enclosed individually and collectively in a "Sheath" made of PVC (i.e. poly vinly chloride. In simple terms, a plastic like material) which is generally black in colour. Then as a whole, we call it "Three Core Sheathed" cable.

For the basic purpose of understanding, current always flow from "Live" to "Neutral"wire when we switch "On" the appliance. Current will flow from "Live" to "Earth" wire only in abnormal situation. (Here, the role of "Earth" wire comes!)

Hence, uptill now you might have understood that for operation of appliance current should flow only from "Live" to "Neutral" wire.

Now, what is the relation between "Voltage" and "Current"? In simple terms, "Volatge" is cause and "Current" is effect.

OHMS LAW:

Mathematically, as per "OHMS LAW":

V= I*R -------- (Eqn. 1)

where

V = Voltage ( On the nameplate of appliance, the proper volatge level required by the equipment for its functioning is always mentioned. It is measured in "Volts". "V" symbol of "Volts". It can be 240v or 120v depending on in which part of the globe you are residing.)

I = Current ( On the nameplate of appliance, the proper current level required by the equipment for its functioning is mentioned. Some appliance manufacturer don't mention it on the name plate. It is measured in "amperes". "A" symbol of "amperes")

R= Resistance ( It is defined as material/appliance opposition to the flow of current measured in "ohms". It is generally not mentioned on the nameplate. That means that if the resistance of appliance is "zero" then appliance will work properly. My answer is "NO". On the other hand, infinite amount of current will flow in the appliance as per Eqn.1 and will result in "Shortcircuit". This you may have noticed when foul plastic material burning like smell comes out of the appliance or in the form of sparks/fumes coming out of the appliance. On the other hand, if value of resistance is larger than the manufacturer prescribed limit then also the appliance will not function properly. The proper value of the resistance has to be as per the calculated value arrived while designing the electrical appliance.)

This means for perfect operation of electrical appliance:

1. First thing required is proper "voltage" i.e. for domestic appliances 240v/120v.

2. Then, when we switch "On" the appliance, proper amount of current should start flowing from "Live" to "Neutral" wire.

3. Proper value of resistance.

If any of the above mentioned conditions are not met; the electrical appliance will not work.

Now, after getting familiar with these basics are you ready for the next big steps!

Lets, begin the troubleshooting....but before that few words of caution:

1. Never touch any electrical appliance, if your body or any part of body is wet. If you are standing on the wet floor then also dont touch the electrical appilance.

2. If the appliance is wet, then first switch "off" the supply, remove the plugtop from the socket and then start further investigation.

3. Dont touch the naked wires with your hand/foot/any other part of body.

4. Wear dry shoes/slippers before touching the electrical appliances.

TROUBLESHOOTING BEGINS........

Now, we are ready investigating the trouble in our electrical appliance/gadget. Follow these simple steps to find out the root cause of problem:

1. Firstly, switch "Off" the power supply, remove the plugtop of the appliance from the socket and check the voltage level at the socket terminals by using multimeter( It is a device used to measure electrical quantities i.e. voltage, resistance, current etc.) or by using electrical tester.

2. If you are not having the above devices then simple method is plug the appliance in the another socket and switch it on. If it starts working there, then it means there is some some problem with the previous socket. It can be due to power failure, main fuse/circuit breaker is out of order or either of the wire i.e. "Live" or "Neutral" has been disconnected.

3. If the appliance doesn't work in new socket also then before preceding to next just check that your main fuse/circuit breaker. Because if they are out of order, tripped or blown up then it will lead to power failure and this will lead to the failure of required voltage level at the socket.

4. Now if all this are okay, then do the visual inspection of wire which is connecting from appliance to the plugtop. Search for any cut/ break in either "Live" or "neutral" wire . If that is the case then join the wire and cover the joint with insulation tape.

5. If step 4 is not the case, then there might be disconnection of the "Live" or "Neutral" wire inside plugtop or in the appliance. Connect these wires at the correct terminals.

6. Now, if all the above conditions are meeting then just smell the appliance. If you observe some kind of foul plastic material burning smell/fumes from the appliance then it can be that your applicance has "short- circuited". Then, i advise you to contact a qualified electrician for further repair.

7. Next, if you have observed some electrical sparks inside the socket/plugtop/appliance then this phenomena can be due to :

(a) Loose connection of wires at the terminals. Then just tighten the wires at the terminal.

(b) Because of "Short Circuit" inside the appliance/plugtop/socket. This can happen due to lot of reasons but at domestic level, the only visual sign from where you can guess "short circuit" occured is by visually looking that metallic part of either of the above mentioned three coloured wires should not touch each other. This can occur due to melting of the outer PVC sheath (i.e. in common words "plastic" like material.) and allowing the metallic part of the wires to touch each other.

In simpler terms, metallic portion of the wires ( either Live, Neutral Or Earth) should not touch each other. If this is the case, then isolate the wires from each other by covering it with insulation tape.

8. The occurance of the "short circuit" can also be adjuged from the fact that whenever you switch on the appliance the main fuse/ circuit breaker blow or trips. Then in that case, just follow the step 7 & if that way you are not able to locate the problem then i would advise you to contact a qualified electrician because it can be the case as referred in step 6.

While investigating the cause of electrical breakdown, follow these above mentioned techniques and become yourself "Home Electrician". For sure, you can locate & repair almost 80% of day-to-day electrical appliance troubles at your home.Hope, all these basic technical inputs will make your domestic electrical troubleshooting endeavour a innovative and satisfying experience without the want of anyone else help.

Auy Revoy :)