On Sep 8, 6:59*pm, J Burns wrote:
On 9/8/10 4:16 PM, wrote:



I live in an old house and the light in the bedroom has a pull string
and not a switch. *I wanted a switch so I found the outlet nearest the
door and I removed the outlet and replaced it with a switch. *Its kind
of low to the floor for a switch (about 18 inches), but thats better
than no switch at all. *There were 2 wires in there, one black one
kind of a gray color. *I put one wire on each screw on the switch.
Then I bought a switch cover because the outlet cover would not fit on
the switch. *Whenever I turn on the switch, the fuse blows. *I have
bought 3 boxes of fuses this week alone and that's getting expensive.
I even tried a larger fuse after the hardware store guy told me to try
a 30 instead of a 15. *He said I'd get twice as much power. *Them
fuses blows too when I turn on the switch. *I then tried reversing the
wires on the switch screws, but it still blows the fuses.

Is the problem because the switch is too low to the floor?
What should I do?

Thank You.
Mark Lesko

You have a short circuit. *I've had a short circuit with an outlet four
feet from the floor. *You can make the circuit longer by using an outlet
farther from the door, not the floor.

What has the outlet too close to floor got to do with short circuit?
Inquiring minds...

HB