I've been looking at my Electrum wallet but hesitant to tinker with the settings. Kinda feel I may disrupt its functionality. How do I send BTC using lightning network on ELectrum since I learnt that it is quite cheap? Are there risks involved in sending via the LN?
You can't with your initial wallet setup (
without additional settings or other setups done),
You'll have to setup your payment channel first which involves funding it with your on-chain BTC which will essentially "
move" some balance to your lightning funds that you can't use on-chain until you close the channel.
Before deciding, take note that the minimum amount to open a channel is 0.002BTC (
+txn fee) or higher depending on the remote node of your choice.
If you decided to proceed, read this thread for the almost-complete Info and FAQ about using lightning in Electrum:
/index.php?topic=5259973.0TL;DR: Electrum's lightning is self-custodial, you'll have to manually setup your channel(s) and manage liquidity (
send and receive capacity).