On 11/17/2010 6:24 AM Jonathan Sachs spake thus:

Andy wrote:

I would first turn the light on.... Then start flipping breakers
until it goes off....

Thank you for pointing out a problem I hadn't considered. I'm
replacing the switch because it is broken. Because it is broken, I
can't turn the light on! How can I tell when I've found the right
switch?

I can test the potential across the terminals with a volt meter, but
it's a three-way switch, and I'm not sure how the test works with
them... at least, not sure enough to want to bet my life on it.

Then use a sheetrock knife and cut a small border around it. You
may find some mounting screws.

Maybe I will. But the switch frame is exactly the size of a standard
cover plate, and if I do that I'll have an open hole around the cover
plate when I'm done. I guess I could cover it with an oversize plate,
but that seems like a heck of a way to treat my house. My wife will
see me doing this -- I got a reputation to protect!

I don't think that advice (to cut a hole in the drywall around the
switch) was very good. At least not until you've exhausted other, less
destructive approaches.

I would ass-u-me that either the rocker or the plastic frame around it
is removable, so as someone else said here, try to get something
underneath and pop it off. One or the other probably snaps in.

Think of it this way: someone had to install the damn thing, right? They
had to be able to pop something in to hold it, so the reverse--popping
it out--should work too.


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)