Electrical Outlet With 3 Sets Of Wires

Outlets come in many styles and colors but all outlets operate with the same basic principles.

Electrical outlet with 3 sets of wires.

One pair labeled line is for incoming power for the gfci outlet itself. A black power wire a white neutral wire and a green or bare grounding wire. With this method only three wires are connected to the receptacle as opposed to five wires with the direct wiring method. Electricians hardly ever wire outlets this way but it s good to know about it because it gives you near 100 percent assurance of circuit continuity.

In most cases you see a red wire in an outlet box only in special circumstances. Here 3 wire cable is run from a double pole circuit breaker providing an independent 120 volts to two sets of multiple outlets. They have two pairs of terminals. The most common electrical outlets are 15 amp duplex receptacles 15 amp outlets are designed to accept standard plugs for most small appliances and lamps.

One is that the outlet is a 240 volt one which requires an extra hot wire. Another is that the box is on a circuit three way switch loop. Get the amp rating off the outlet and pick up a replacement with that rating and the same configuration and number of holes. It s a good way to wire a gfci outlet if you want outlets after it in the chain to stay on when the gfci trips but be aware that those outlets won t have ground fault protection.

In standard 120 volt wiring the hot wire is black but it can also be red. The tester will sound an audible alarm and turn on an indicator light if electricity is present in the outlet box. The outlet addition methods we show here are based on the most common wiring 14 gauge wire on a 15 amp circuit and an 18 cu in. The other set is labeled load and provides protection for downstream outlets.

Gfci ground fault circuit interrupter outlets protect you from a lethal shock by shutting off the power when they sense slight differences in current. When replacing a three wire electrical outlet you disconnect the existing outlet then follow a. The neutral wire from the circuit is shared by both sets. Why pigtailing is preferred one drawback to direct wiring through a receptacle is that the receptacle is in the middle of the circuit and any trouble in the receptacle spells trouble for any devices downstream.

Electrical outlets in the united states come in 110 volt with three wires. Hold a noncontact electrical tester near the black wires inside the outlet box. Box typical inside dimensions are about 2 in.