Loose Electric Wall Outlets

[babutiger]

Quick question that I googled and got me no where:

My electric outlets are really loose and whenever i plug anything really(especially heavier devices like chargers) they come loose and tend to fall out. I took off the plate and looked for something to tighten but nothing immediately leaps out. What needs to be done in order keep my outlets from being loose?

Cheers!

 

[d33pt]

replace them

 

[Ornery]

No kidding. You can buy a package of ten at Home Depot for about $12.00!

 

[DurocShark]

Shortcut fix: Bend the prongs of your plug/wall wart/whatever out a bit. That will cause them to apply more pressure to the worn outlet. This is NOT an elcectician-approved method, so if you burn your house down, don't expect to sleep on MY couch. LoL

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: d33pt
replace them

yippers, they cost less than $0.50 at a home stuff store

just turn off the power first!!!

 

[CraigRT]

WTF? outlets just don't come loose. there must be a tension screw in there.. on the wall outlets in my house, there is one screw in the middle of a double plug that holds it all in. you didn't see this? sometimes there is one at the top and at the bottom.
best bet would be to cut all juice, and take a few hours, install some new outlets.

 

[LAUST]

I went to Lowes and bought 2 Contractor 10 packs for $3.89 each.

 

[Hrochard]

Originally posted by: LAUST
I just bought a house built in 1949, many of the sockets were still old ceramic no ground socets.

I went to Lowes and bought 2 Contractor 10 packs for $3.89 each.

Turn off your breaker in each zone, test, then replace, takes 1 minute a plug (unless you have cotton covered aluminum like me :| which gets replaced this summer)

But is it a two-wire house? Are you leaving the sockets ungrounded?

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: d33pt
replace them

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

yep replace them.

If you need a bit of electrical education, then there is a Home Depot Wiring 1-2-3 book that is decent for this type of project.