Replacing an electrical outlet with 3 sets of wires

Hi -- I need some help!

I am trying to replace an old electrical outlet in my home, because it's so loose that plugs barely hold in the outlet. I turned off the power, unscrewed the outlet, and removed the wires, but I made the mistake of not labeling the wires before taking them out. Now I am stuck, because there are a total a 7 wires coming out of the outlet

--- 3 sets of black/white wires and one bare (ground) wire. I don't know where to connect each wire! This is the first time that I'm trying to replace an outlet, and this configuration doesn't make any sense to me. Can somebody help?

Thanks,

Will C.

Reply to
pianistwill
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will, were all of the wires used in the previous installation, and were they all actually attached to the outlet?

Reply to
talkinggoat

see:

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Reply to
buffalobill

You do have to know how the existing outlet was connected. If there were no wire nut splices on any of the wires, they must have all been attached to the outlet. Provided that neither of the receptacles on that outlet were controlled by a wall switch, it is probably safe to assume all the white wires and all the black wires are in parallel. The best way to do this is to splice the whites together with a pigtail wire which will connect to the silver terminal of the outlet. Splice all the black wires together with a pigtail to the brass terminal of the outlet. Install the bare wire on the green ground terminal

Reply to
RBM

if your outlet isnt switched and all wire were attached, i would recommend to you to put 2 blacks on the gold screws 2 whites silver screw the last white and black should be able to be pushed into small holes on back of outlet. i myself dont use those, but due to your lack of experience if would think it a safer route than trying to make pigtails. loose connections can cause fires.

Reply to
sym

replying to sym, sparky wrote: Bad idea sym. NEC does not allow the use of both screws and the back push holes on the same outlet.

Reply to
sparky

You replied to a 10 year old post.

His house long ago burned down.

Reply to
TimR

... and gave a bad answer to boot. The NEC is silent on the issue and U/L simply said the use had not be evaluated (as of the white book a few cycles ago. I have not looked recently) I would really be more concerned about box fill because this usually indicated an extra cable was added.

Reply to
gfretwell

I have used a few like those in the last few years. There are also some similar called something like walnuts. Those have a lever at each position so they can be reused very easy.

I wish they had those out when I was working or atleast I wish I had known about them. Used thousands of wire nuts replacing ballasts. With around 6 to 8 per ballast you use a lot.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

They roxor. Aka, quick ports. Possibly slang.

Reply to
Diesel

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