House electricity - checking all plug outlet connections
2015-01-16
Turned off house electricity to the plug via turning circuit breaker off. Verified plug was not energized with voltmeter. Checked the plug that the clothes washer + clothes dryer are connected to. Removed cover plate. Unscrewed two little screws holding plug to wall. Only disconnected one wire at a time to do: Added heat-shrink insulation. 5/16inch diameter insulation seems a good size.
The two wires connecting to the plug were only straight and inserted straight into the screws of the plug. This is not a good idea, as then there is not much contact surface area between the wire and the plug, and under high-amperage use, could be unsafe.
So on each wire, when it was removed to add some heat-shrink insulation sleeving, used needle nose pliers to bend the wire ends into hook shapes (the normal way wires should be for connecting to an outlet plug). The ends now look like the letter 'u'. Connected the hooked ends such that they went in the same direction as when the screw would tighten, that they would not back out. Tightened wires back into the outlet.
Reconnected the plug back into the wall, added cover plate. Tested. Done. (Now I just need to methodically check all the other plugs in the house.)