A phone extension can make life easier

As long as there is a working master phone extension socket in the home, which has been installed by a service provider, it is possible to connect extra phone points in different rooms around the house to the master socket. With the help of a kit which is available to buy in DIY stores, phone retailers or any electrical store this is a job most landlords can accomplish on their own. If the master socket is a very old one, it may need replacing with an updated version that will accept the new plugs. As a safety measure the master socket should be less than 50m (which is more than enough for the average home) away from the first extension socket. Also, the furthest extension socket should be no more than 100m away from the master socket. Other safety measures to consider are; never fit an extension in a bathroom and phone wiring should be kept at least 2in/5cms away from any other electrical wiring. Landlords will be aware that landlord insurance is always a good thing to have when jobs like this are undertaken.

To install the first extension socket, cut  the phone wire long enough to go from the master socket to the first extension socket, remember to leave about leaving 3in excess as it is better to have too much instead of not enough. Plan the route for the wire to go from the master socket to the extension socket. There will be a converter on one end of the cable and this should be placed by the master socket, ready for it to be connected later.

The next job is to fix the cable wire along the skirting board, securing it with little tacks at regular intervals. Take the extension socket and unscrew the face-plate. Push out the little tab that is covering the entry hole for the cable. Position the extension box against the wall and with a pencil mark where the screw holes will be going, then drill the holes and place plugs into them. The box will be screwed to the wall after it has been wired because doing it this way is much easier.

The wire in the cable must now be exposed, it will need stripping 1 1/4in from the end with a sharp knife, then separate the colour coded conductors. These conductors will be connected to the phone extension box by pushing the conductors into brass blade terminals. The conductors will need to be connected as follows. Terminal 1- Green conductor with white rings. Terminal 2- Blue with white rings. Terminal 3- Orange with white rings. Next going from bottom upwards, the white connector with orange rings will go into terminal 4, white with blue rings will go into Terminal 5 and finally the white with green rings goes into Terminal 6. Sometimes there will only be four conductors, if this is the case then leave terminals 1 and 6 empty.

Now fix the extension box to the wall and fix the face-plate onto it, plug the converter into the master socket.     And the extension is ready to use.

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