My Temporary Fix

On Sunday July 27 2014 at 8 PM  I had entered my bedroom and tought I had to get an new 110 volt 15 amp air conditioner, but I also notice that I wasn't getting any power to my answering machine. Only half my room had power. The cause a worn out outlet.

Fortunely the weather was cool due to below average tempertures and I had wire nuts on hand and made a temporary fix until I can buy an another outlet.

The outlet I was working on gets it power from a piggy backed outlet and the outlet I was working on had an another outlet connect to it.

Now I only buy outlets that are UL (United Laboratories) even tough they may cost three times much more than the cheapy ones, and I buy wall plates with UL listing as well.UL test products to make sure they are safe.

Now an outlet is not an outlet ,a person must read the amps stamped on the outlet to see if they are  15 amps or 20 amps. 20 amps are for use in the kitchen. 15 amps bedroom and living room.

The hot wire (red,blue or black) must be connected to the small slots of an outlet (usually copper screws) and the neutral (white) to the long slots (usually silver screws), and the ground (bare wire or green) must be connected to the ground screw that is either on top or bottom.

Now sometimes on an outlet it may have copper screws on both sides so what do we do ?  We look for the ground screw (top and bottom)  or look for the side that has the longer slots on the front of the outlet , that will be the side where we connect the neutral (white) wire.

Now I take my time when it comes to wiring outlets if it takes an hour  or more, it takes an hour and more,and I always make sure the power to the room is turn off or I may turn off my main power and turn my whole house off until my work is done.Food in refridgerators will keep for 24 hours as long no one opens the refridegerator door. 

Sometimes wires on the old outlet may have to be snip off for easy removal and make wires inside the outlet box too short.
In this case we connect extra wires to the new outlet first then twist them to the wires inside the electrical box then use wire nuts that we twist on until tight. 

Just because an outlet is working does not mean it is wired right. Notice the long and short slots of this outlet and the ground. 

One with the small slots should always be connected to  hot wire(s). Large slots netural wire(s)  and the ground (bottom). 
Do not defeat  any of these safety features.>>>>

This is the tester I use after I had wired outlets if just two yellow lights are on it means the outlet(s) (is/are) correctly wired. Basically  if the red light is not on it is wired correct.

Now this tester will use red and yellow light codes to tell you why the outlet is wired wrong which can be read on top of the tester.(5 basic mistakes)

And finally here is my temporary fix  which I can add an outlet later. Notice the four wires that is because it is piggy backed to other outlets going to and from.

These are a bag of electrical wire nuts I fortunely had on hand.


                

Here is how the outlet looks now. August 1 st. 2014. I started at 11:30 am and had the job done at 12:37 PM.

Notice the two yellow lights are on and no red light meaning the outlet is wired correctly.
Job done :) .

Most homes in the U.S.A use wire size 14 with ground for their "inside only"  15 amp wiring. Different  amps use different wire sizes.Smaller the wire number bigger the wire.