How Do I Find Electrical Wires In The Wall

I have taken the front plate off and the switch works.

How do i find electrical wires in the wall. Or the previous owners may have buried the wires behind drywall an extremely dangerous practice. There is electricity on the wires leading out of the box when the switch is on. When you remove or open a wall or a ceiling you may encounter stray electrical wires the wires may have lead to an outlet or a light that has been taken out of commission. Turn the electronic stud wire finder on and slowly move it left and right until the detector beeps indicating it has found an electrical wire.

When a wire is shorted out or is broken inside a wall and you need to locate it then a electric circuit tracer should help to find the wire. Tracing electrical wiring can be tricky and involved. If possible mark the location of suspected cables on the wall in pencil. If the sectioning off part of the wall is in the process another way around the issue of electrical wires should tracers or scanners not be available is by using a drill and a 3 8 or 1 2 9 or 12 mm drill bit.

Before drilling find out exactly where the wiring is. To take the proper precautions use a wire or circuit tracer to find the exact location of an electrical wire in your wall. How do you trace electric wires in a wall without tearing the wall apart. If the wires run up the wall then you should know roughly where the cables will run.

I have a wall switch that i can t figure out what it is to. Start in an area on the wall that is close to a switch or outlet move the detector up the wall and mark the wall to form a trace line of where the electrical wire is located as the detector beeps. These devices use a transmitter which generates an electronic signal and a receiver that uses this signal to test the wall for wires. You can also buy circuit and wire tracers made specifically for the purpose of locating electrical wiring behind walls and underground.

After getting everything ready the approximate size of the opening is traced on the wall. For example switches and outlets must be connected to cables as must wall lights and appliances so if you find one start there. If there are no obvious clues start in a convenient corner. The price range for a circuit tracer does vary however there are some fine stud sensors that have a built in feature that allows live circuits to be detected inside the wall behind sheet rock.

Step 4 detect wires.