Changing electrical sockets - what am I missing

Quorden

On the home run now to finishing my daughters flat renovation and after some advice regarding an annoying problem I've run into.

Thought it'd be a simple thing to swop over the electrical sockets however I'm having a bit of a mare re-attaching them and wanted to check if I'm missing something obvious.

 I can't seem to fix the screw back into the red insert (?) on any of the sockets as it's not fixed in place (seems to be on a slider) and no matter what I do I can't hold it in place to re-attach the socket using the original screws, all that happens it the red thing (must be a proper name for that) gets pushed to the back of the box and I can't get any thread going.

I'm thinking perhaps a longer screw would be the simplest solution but wanted to check I'm not missing something about how to fix those red things in place as obviously whoever installed it in the first place was able to do it.

Any advice appreciated as always.

grumbler

These 'sliders' typically have some sort of ratchet that locks them in the closest to the plasterboard position. Try pulling them harder first. If this doesn't work, I'd try to put something between them and the back wall, e.g. some wooden wedge or a piece of blutack or combination of both.

Bendy_House

As Grumb says, they should click as they are pulled forward, and remain there. That ratchet does fail, tho', and they tend to become loose.

All you need is something to temporally hold them at least part-forward so the screw can catch - Blutack, a dab of glue, a piece of tape. Then try and initially engage the screw by hand and not with a screwdriver, so you can apply just a gentle forward pressure. Once the first thread catches, you're good to go.

Longer screws would obviously work too, but try not to use ones that are too long and will go right through and connect with the back of the actual box!

Section62

grumbler said:

These 'sliders' typically have some sort of ratchet that locks them in the closest to the plasterboard position. Try pulling them harder first. If this doesn't work, I'd try to put something between them and the back wall, e.g. some wooden wedge or a piece of blutack or combination of both.

Having pulled the red parts as far forward as possible I'd then use insulation tape attached to the 'wings' to hold them in place.

A wooden wedge or blutack would no doubt work, but potentially risks cable damage.

Quorden

Many thanks all for great advice, think I'll be trying a combination of all of the above. Cheers

prowla

I was changing some sockets and I just bought a pack of longer replacement screws on ebay.

Problem solved!

Risteard

If the wall has been double sheeted then the flange won't pull far enough forward to click and can be awkward to catch the lug. Drylining backboxes can be a bit of a !!!!!! (female dog) that way.

Another_Level

Thats a deta (manufactured drywall box)  there ok  but supplied for contractors.

The red portion that receives the 3.5mm (dia) screw is so easily pushed back when blindly poking the screw in something to do with the retaining groves not holding the red part firmly but thats not a problem for contract use.

Try 40mm screws or a 60mm screw to pull the red part forward enough to use a 30 or 40mm screw.

Thanks to cef for supplying me with loads of deta products for an ongoing project