Expert: Jamie Yocono - 12/2/2006

Question
i hope i have written to someone that can help me.i have a floor cabinet with a tv.  i love the cabinet but the tv is "going".  how can i remove the "tv guts" and replace with a new tv?  thank you, virginia barlag  Zchsgrm@aol.com


Answer
Hi Virginia,

While it's a little difficult to tell you definitively if your old TV "guts" can be removed and replaced with a new TV, I have to tell you a funny story. Well, it wasn't funny at the time.

My father was a typical do-it-yourselfer, and he always encouraged me to repair whatever broke down, be it a clothes washer, or a TV, or whatever. He just really didn't believe in paying someone to repair something when he could do a little research and fix something himself. It must have been a generational thing, as he was a child in the depression years.

Anyway, when I was in college, I had an old TV that quit working and I either needed to fix it, or buy a new one. As a poor college student, there was no way I could afford a new one. Now this was an old TV, the kind that had TV tubes in it. So it's possible that it might have been easy to fix. My dad told me to poke around in the back of it, and look for a tube that was darker than the others. So I took the back of the TV off, and started poking around.

The next thing I knew, I was blown about 8 feet backwards, all the hair on my body was sticking straight up, and I barely remember anything but that initial POP of electricity.

I called my dad up and said- "don't you EVER suggest I repair anything electrical again!"

All this is to say- TV's and old computer monitors hold electricity in them, from what I understand, they can hold this charge for a long time, like months.  In fact, if you've ever seen anything written about working on computers, they say to take special care to not touch the monitor, as you WILL get shocked.

Unless you have some experience with electronics, I recommend that you don't go messing around with your TV "guts."  

Now that's not to say that what you want to do with the TV can't be done, it probably can. But you need to be very careful about the possibility of an electrical shock.  In fact, I just Googled this subject and found some pretty serious warnings about electrical shock. SERIOUS. Cut and paste this in your browser and you'll see what I mean:

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/tvfaq.htm

After reading this, I'm afraid I have to tell you that I don't recommend removing the TV "guts" and replacing it. It's dangerous, and probably best do only by a professional. I'm sorry if this disappoints you, but I think it's better to be disappointed than electrocuted!

Sorry!

OK, good luck, I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back if you have any further questions after reading this. And if this answer was helpful... please take a minute and rate my service. Thanks!

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com