With This Home Depot Tool Under $60, You Can Test Your Outlets Before Calling In A Professional

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There are many electrical projects you shouldn't try to do yourself because they're far safer for a professional to tackle. Most municipalities require permits to perform electrical work (like putting in new wiring and installing circuit breakers), and local regulations usually say that only pros can obtain those permits. Unfortunately, it's not cheap to hire an electrician. Costs per hour of work can reach up to hundreds of dollars, depending on the complexity of the job and your location.

If you have a problem with an appliance, electrical outlet, or lamp, you might dread the cost of hiring an electrician, especially if you aren't sure whether you actually need one. Home Depot has an electrical testing kit that can help you perform some basic checks yourself and give you more information about what might be going wrong before calling an electrician. The Klein Tools Premium Electrical Tool Set ($60) includes a multimeter, non-contact voltage tester, and GFCI receptacle tester.

Compared to the cost of having an electrician make a service call, the Klein Tools kit can be an affordable way to perform some basic electrical checks around your home. For example, if an outlet suddenly stops working, the kit can help you check for voltage or identify certain common wiring faults. You could also test the outlet of a malfunctioning appliance to determine whether the receptacle is receiving power or displaying a detectable wiring fault. If the outlet tests normally, the appliance itself could be the source of the problem rather than the receptacle. (You may need to replace or repair the malfunctioning appliance instead.)

Although you may be more comfortable calling an electrician for every job involving wiring at your house, there are a few jobs you can manage as a DIY-er. Upgrading an old ceiling fan at your home is a job some people prefer to do on their own, for example. To do this job as safely as possible, after shutting off the appropriate breaker, you can use the kit's non-contact voltage tester as an additional check for voltage before touching the wiring. "This is a great set for a homeowner," one Home Depot reviewer said. You "don't need to be a rocket scientist to use the voltage tester."

Although a GFCI outlet is important to have in your home for protecting against potential electrocutions, it can be frustrating to use if it constantly trips. If you want to check a GFCI outlet, the kit includes a receptacle tester with a three-prong plug that's designed to test GFCI operation and identify several common wiring faults. After you plug it into the outlet and initiate the GFCI test, the backlit LCD display can show the time it took for the GFCI to trip. The data remains visible on the screen for 10 seconds, thanks to the unit's AAA batteries. "If you cannot conveniently see the display, you can unplug the tester and look at the screen," one Home Depot customer reviewer said. It also has an easy-to-use test button and lights that will clearly show you when a fault occurs. If the tester indicates a wiring fault, you continue getting unusual readings, or you're simply unsure what the results mean, that's a good point to stop troubleshooting and call a licensed electrician.