Pro Handyman Blog

A pull chain light fixture is a no frills light fixture. It’s cheap and is easy to install. You usually find these in an attic or a utility room. Pull the chain to turn it on, and pull the chain to turn it off.

As you might guess, since they are cheap, they don’t stand up to much abuse. If you pull the chain too hard, it may come right out of the fixture. The fixtures come in plastic or porcelain, but I would buy the porcelain as it will hold up a little better.

Make sure the power is off and loosen the two screws that hold the fixture to the box and remove the light fixture. Remove the wires from the fixture by loosening the terminal screws and grab the new fixture. The new fixture will be wired the same way as the old fixture. The black hot wire gets secured to the brass terminal screw and the white neutral wire gets secured to the silver terminal screw. Wrap the wires clockwise around the screw terminals and tighten firmly. If you have a ground screw terminal, attach the green or bare copper wire to it, although some of these fixtures don’t have a ground screw.

Place the fixture up to the box and secure it with the two screws and then turn the power back on.