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Replacing An Electric Lamp Cord

  
  
  

electric cordReplacing an electric cord on a lamp is very straightforward. Cords get pinched by furniture and flooring and can get damaged. Don’t try to repair a cord as it’s safer to replace it.

After unplugging the lamp, remove the shade, bulb, and socket. The socket should pop off, but you may need a screwdriver to goose it out of its base. The cord will be attached to 2 screws at the base of the socket. Remove the cord from the screws. Rather than pulling the old cord out of the bottom of the lamp, cut the plug from the old cord and tape the old cord to the new cord wires with electrical tape. Now you can pull the new cord into position using the old cord. This eliminates the aggravation of trying to fish the new cord up the body of the lamp.

With the new cord in place, strip ½ inch of insulation from the new cord. If you bought a polarized cord (and you should), the wider blade on the plug is the neutral. Follow this blade into the cord and you will see that the neutral wire of the cord will be ribbed or striped. You can separate the cord wires at the socket to allow you to tie a loose knot (called an underwriters knot) in the wires. This will prohibit the cord from being pulled out of the lamp, which will keep the wires connected to the socket’s terminals. After you connect the wires to the appropriate socket terminals, you can reassemble the lamp.

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