I'm replacing just the ringer part of the doorbell (the type of doorbell with a transformer). Should I shut off the electricity when doing this, or since they are low-voltage wires is it OK to install it with the electricity on? Or is this a stupid question ;) The way the electricians wired our house -- I'm thinking I probably should shut off the power. But if I can avoid it, I'd like to.

Janie

It is never stupid to check before working with something that has killed as many people as electricity. I doubt many of them were only working with 24 volts.

You don't need to shut the electricity off, but it wouldn't hurt. You could slip, short the 2 wires together and burn out the transformer. You could also somehow touch the 115V to the transformer.

Depending on what else is on that circuit, it should be easy to just shut off the breaker. How new to the house and DIY are you? If the circuit breakers aren't labeled, it might be a good idea to label them. It might be a good idea to shut down your computer and other electronic things first. More and more of your stuff has battery backups to avoid resetting everything. Maybe replace the batteries first. The bigger ones usually at the top maybe 2 connected together will feed major loads such as air conditioners, stoves, etc. Turn each circuit breaker off, and see what doesn't work. Write it down somewhere. Turn that one on, and turn the next one off. When you are done, you may want to print them out and post it on the lid to the circuit breaker box. Most of them came with number spaces to write things in.

Glad you have your shower drain fixed.

On further thought, the circuit is already broken at the button. You shouldn't have power to the one side unless somebody comes and pressed the button. Even if the transformer is where the ringer is, likely the 115 V side doesn't exposed terminals to touch. Don't worry about it.

Thanks. Our circuits are labeled, so that does help. I noticed on the instructions that came with the ringer that it doesn't say anything about shutting off power and even indicates testing the ringer by touching the wires together.

I'm hoping the shower drain stays fixed. This site is great. I'm sure telling every DYIr I know about it :)

Thanks so much again
Janie