The way to Ground a Chandelier

Despite their outwardly verdant outside, a chandelier is little more than a typical light fixture in an elegant package. A chandelier requires a hot lead, a neutral and a ground wire connected to the light switch to be able to operate. The bottom on a chandelier is linked to a copper cable within the junction box that connects back into the grounded bus pub within a breaker panel. You can ground a chandelier to the bottom wire in the junction box in a couple of minutes using some hand tools.

Turn off the main circuit breaker into the home. Remove the switch cover at the wall switch with a screwdriver, and also hold a non-contact electrical tester to the wires around the side of the chandelier’s wall switch. If the light on the tester illuminates, the circuit still has power.

Remove the cover to the electric breaker panel and locate the circuit for the chandelier. Follow the black wire from the breaker into the perimeter of the breaker panel to discover the electrical cable from which this black cable is separated. Follow the bare copper cable of this cable into the bus bar, and verify the grounding wire is securely attached to one of the screw terminals in the bus bar. Alter the breaker panel cover.

Loosen the mounting screws and pull the switch into the chandelier. Check to see that the bare wire from the breaker panel and the bare wire from the chandelier are linked, so the green grounding screw to the body of this switch is also tied into this link. Alter the switch and switch cover.

Place a stepladder beneath the chandelier. Loosen the canopy nut and slide the canopy down the chandelier’s chain. Locate the green grounding screw to the chandelier’s mounting flange (attached to the junction box). Verify that the green wire from the chandelier and the bare copper cable from the switch are linked to this green grounding screw. Tighten the screw with a screwdriver if needed, then slide the canopy into position and tighten the canopy nut.

Turn on the main circuit breaker and test the chandelier.

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