How to Maintain a Trailer

Operating and storing a trailer through various weather conditions will eventually lead to wear and tear that can make operating it dangerous.  Perform these routine maintenance steps to keep your trailer at its optimal performance level.

Do a walk around inspection of your trailer each time you hitch it to a vehicle.  Check for visible damage to the walls, floor, tail lights, tires, and to the wiring harness.  Look under the trailer to see if there is anything hanging down that may drag the ground.  If the walls or floor of the trailer are made of wood, keep the wood treated to avoid rotting.  If you find rotten boards, replace them immediately.  If the majority of the trailer is metal, apply a fresh coat of paint at least once a year and touch up scratches or exposed metal to help prevent rust.

Check the wiring harness for breaks or brittle wires.  Replace any corroded wires or connectors and try to run them through a piece of conduit if possible.  Ask someone to assist you with checking brake lights and turn signals.  Replace any burned-out bulbs.  Verify that the license tag has an up-to-date renewal sticker and that the registration for the trailer is in the glove box of the vehicle which will tow it.

Inspect the trailer hitch and be sure the ball is attached tightly.  With the trailer attached to the hitch, test the connection by pulling up on it aggressively, but be careful not to strain your back.  The safety chains should be clean and rust-free and they should be attached each time the trailer is used.

Use a tire pressure gauge to check the pressure in the trailer’s tires.  Do not load too much cargo onto the trailer as to exceed the recommended towing capacity.  If you are not sure about this limit, check the trailer manufacturer’s website for details or look in the owner’s manual if you have a copy.  Do these routine checks to ensure the safety of your cargo as well as everyone who will be traveling on the same road.

How to Fix Christmas Lights

You just finished decorating your Christmas tree with ornaments and Christmas lights. Suddenly, you notice a few bulbs are burned out. No problem; you have several spare bulbs in a drawer that you saved just for this moment. Wait, these are old bulbs from several years ago and the base of the bulbs won't fit into the socket of the burned out lights. What now?

Remove the burned-out Christmas light bulb from its socket. Do this by carefully applying upward pressure on the plastic base just below the glass bulb. It helps to have fingernails when doing this. Try not to pull on the glass bulb.

Once the old bulb has been removed, compare its base with that of the replacement bulb. If it matches, then you should have no problem easily just inserting the new bulb into the socket. If the bases do not match, then you will need to remove both bulbs from their sockets and swap them.

You will probably need to straighten the wires so that they will fit into the holes of the socket.

To remove a Christmas light from its socket, find the two copper wires at the base of the bulb. Push both wires downward so that if the tip of the bulb is pointing at the ceiling, then the wires will point towards the floor. Firmly pull upward on the glass bulb and it should separate from the base. Do the same thing with the replacement bulb.

With both copper wires from the new bulb pointing straight down, insert the new bulb into the old bulb's socket and try to align the copper wires with the two holes at the bottom of the base. Once the wires have been inserted, press the bulb completely down into the base. Push both wires upward so that they follow the groove on each side of the bulb base. Now they should be facing the same direction as the tip of the glass bulb. Insert this new arrangement into the empty light socket and the bulb should illuminate!

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful when working with electricity! If possible, wrap a small piece of masking tape around the base of the burned-out bulbs to mark them and them perform the bulb replacement with the Christmas lights unplugged.

How to Determine which Wire is “Hot” in Household Wiring

Your home repair project involves installing a light fixture and an electrical outlet.  You flipped the breakers and disconnected the existing fixture, but now you’re uncertain which wire is the “hot” one.  What now?

In the United States, household wiring code offers us a clue as to which wire SHOULD correspond to what.  Extreme caution should be used, however, when dealing with electricity, even if you feel certain that you know which wire is which.  The possibility exists that a misguided handy-man who came before you made the wrong choice connecting the wires.  You can never be too careful when your life is at risk.

According to code, the black wire is always the “hot” or “live” wire, meaning, it is connected to a source supplying 110 VAC.  If you are connecting this wire to an electrical outlet, this wire should connect to the narrow spade, or brass colored terminal.  If you have not switched off the breakers like you’re supposed to and you grab the copper conductor of this wire, you will probably feel an unmistakable tingling sensation quickly travel up your arm.  If you do feel it, let go of the wire because this sensation is not good for you.  If this happens to you often, be sure to have someone around who knows CPR and first aid when you do home repairs.

The green wire is your friend.  This is the ground wire.  Its sole purpose for existing is to save your life by providing electricity an alternate path to ground.  In the case of a short circuit, the current passes through the ground wire and overloads the breakers, causing them to trip.  Sometimes this wire will also have a yellow stripe.  Be sure to connect the ground wire properly when performing an electrical repair.  If the copper conductor of the “hot” wire that we just discussed were to maneuver it’s way over to the metal casing of, for example your ceiling fan, and make contact with it without the ground wire attached, you would be in for a nasty surprise when you touched the metal casing of the fan.

The white wire is known as the “neutral” wire.  In any circuit, whether AC or DC, there has to be a complete path in order for the electrical current to flow.  The white wire alone should not have a charge and should not hurt you if you touch it.  If installing an electrical outlet, this wire connects to the wide spade or silver colored terminal.

Sometimes, you will find a red wire living side-by-side with the black, white, and green wires.  This wire is known as a “traveler” wire and is used to connect power between 3-way light switches.

Always use caution when working with household wiring.  Turn off the breaker that corresponds to the circuit that you are working on.  If you are not certain which one is which, switch off the main breaker.  Even then, it is a good idea to test the wires with a multimeter to be absolutely certain that the wires are not “hot”.  It’s a good idea to test between the black wire and the white wire and then between the black wire and the green wire.  It is important to note that when reading AC voltage with a multimeter, if you connect your probes between two wires that are both “hot” (110VAC) the reading will be 0 volts. (A lesson that I learned the hard way!)  Always know what you are doing when dealing with electricity.  Small mistakes could prove to be fatal.