Solving an Electrical Problem

You can tell when the fluorescent light ballasts are going bad in your restaurant's kitchen when the lights start to dim, flicker, and change color. Bright lights are necessary in the kitchen to make sure the food is prepared well, the kitchen is kept meticulously clean, and the workers can see what they are doing. If the ballasts go all the way out, no one will be able to see well. You need to change the ballasts as soon as you see signs of deterioration. This is a project most people who know how to work on a step ladder and change the long fluorescent tubes in the lights can do by themselves. If the fluorescent light ballasts are going bad in your kitchen, here is how you can change them on a fixture with two or more tubes.

Turn Off the Electric

You want to turn the circuit for the lights off at the main breaker panel. Place a piece a red tape on the circuit breaker to alert employees that something is wrong so they don't switch the circuit back on while you are working on the ballasts.

Set Up Floor Lamps

Run an extension cord from another room if the outlets in the kitchen also go off when you turn off the circuit breaker. Plug a floor lamp into the cord and shine it up at the light you are working on so you can see well.

Remove Ballast Cover

Remove the plastic cover protecting the fluorescent light tubes. Remove the fluorescent tubes. In the middle of the light fixture is a metal cover. The metal cover protects the ballast. Squeeze in the sides of the metal cover in to release it from the tabs on the light fixture and take it down.

Cut Ballast Wires

Cut all the wires connected to the ballast with a wire cutter and trim the ends of the wires connected to the fixture and sockets. You want to trim about a half an inch off of the insulation at ends of the wires.

Remove Ballast

The ballast is the black part shaped like a gold bar. There is a bolt at both ends of the ballast. Remove the bolts with a socket and ratchet. Make sure you hold onto the ballast when you remove the last bolt. Ballasts are heavier than they look and you don't want one to drop on your head.

Replacement Ballast

There is a label on the old ballast that lists the specifications for the ballast on it. Make sure the new ballast matches the specifications of the old one. Screw the new ballast into position. The ends of the wires on the new ballast should already have the insulation removed, but if not, trim about a half of an inch off of these wires, too. Connect the same colored wires together on the ballast and the fixture and twist them together wire nuts. Do not mix different colored wires together. Replace the metal cover, tubes, and plastic light cover. Turn the power back on and turn on the lights. The lights will work like new now.

For more help and information on how to replace your ballasts, contact a local electrician, like those at Beckstoffer-Welsh Inc or a similar location.