I have two light switches that are sticking can't turn one on and can't turn one off.) One is in a room, and, one is in the hall. They are almost back to back, but the placement is about 6-12 inches different. Any ideas of the cause/solution? Thanks.

If a switch is sticking it is likely failing so just swap them out, about $3 each. Do not be temped to spray a lub into the switch, they do not work that way.

Bob,

Never heard this one before, recon these switches could have been painted?

Painted maybe but jovigirl did not mention that possibility.

Thanks so much for your quick answers. After seeing how worried we were about electrical problems, our 11 year old admitted to super glue. Thanks again.

So true:


Do not be temped to spray a lub into the switch,

WD40 is flammable, take my word for it, I learn everything the hard way.

Super glue? That's a new one!! Yep, you're going to probably need to replace the switches. (What a genius little girl, I ALMOST admire that!) I did this once, it's pretty simple. Don't forget to turn off the breaker ;) Good luck!

Glad the mystery has been solved:


our 11 year old admitted to super glue. Thanks again.

So will this affect the child's allowance for the repairs?

And is any punishment in order?

Superglue is NOT A TOY.

http://www.accumetricinc.com/boss/MSDS/BOSS181.pdf

Spontaneous Combustion ! - How To.... - Video (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/613004/spontaneous_combustion_how_to/)

***EDITED*** Changed girl to child

Now, who said the 11 year old was a girl?
Sounds more like something someone named TK or Bob would have done when they were 11 years old.

Yea, where the hell did I get girl from? I see you have had your coffee this AM HK.

Must have been subliminal from the posters name, superglue, fingernails. Beats me.

In any case, this is nasty stuff.

So you remind me of what I have done when younger, just about 11.

A small boat model kit came with a little electric motor you had to assemble, even wind the coils. Ran on one 1.5 volt battery. It worked OK. Moved around the tub.

Whoopie...

But, hmmm, I said to myself, what would happen if I plugged it into the wall socket?

Need more power.

So I took the motor out of the boat, stripped the wires and stuck both into the wall outlet.

That little motor ran really really fast for about 3 seconds till it poofed in my hand. How I did not blow my hand off I will never know.

Added that to list of what not to do. What a way to start a career in the electrical field. Hey, even Edison, Telsa, Volta, and so on, had to start somewhere, and I am sure they blew up some stuff.

Yea, like if I hold on to you and then touch the electric fence, you get shocked but not me. Never do that while standing on wet ground.

I see how you are;


Yea, like if I hold on to you and then touch the electric fence, you get shocked but not me. Never do that while standing on wet ground.

Amazing what we did as kids and still lived.

Then one time I changed a male plug on a two wire cord, one of the whiz wire type. Instructions said to strip wires and insert into tab on back side behind the prongs. It did not say one wire per hole. Or maybe it did, but who reads instructions anyway. So I plugged the plug into the wall socket, and again, poof, well more like POOF, flame, arc blast, smoke, singed hair black soot one foot in diameter around outlet. What a mess.

Nowadays we got to dress up like an astronaut just to take a voltage measurement.


Ahh the good ole days.

No super glue when I was a kid. My brother did convince me to stick a pair of scissors in a receptacle to get me to light up, he was right, I did.

I have no clue how I assumed girl. Probably because I had an incident with plumbers glue when I was a kid. Crank windows are super hard to open when you glue them shut. :D:D:D;)