Home Electrical
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Chicago
Glad you're OK. This is definitely why I recommended you in particular pay someone.
A few years ago my dad and I were working on some wiring in his house. We had pulled the fuse and thought the circuit was dead, but the idiot who owned the house before him had wired it wrong and the circuit was still hot.
The escapade ended up with a dark house, a blown 60A whole-house fuse, and one of my dad's screwdrivers had its tip blown clean off in the resulting electrical conflagration.
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From: Space Coast, FL
Yesterday I confirmed why I will definitely PAY someone to do any electrical work at my house...
I was in the gargae working on the bike when I tripped the GFCI in the only outlet. Pressing the reset button was not working.
Time to open up the outlet and see what the problem was.
Off comes the face plate, nothing unusual.
Out comes the outlet assembly. I notice that in the 120 plus degree heat, one of the black wires had worked it's way out of the screw-in terminal. No biggie, just re-insert it and tighten down the screw. What I failed to notice was that as I tightened the screw, a small bit of the exposed wire came back out of the insertion point.
Now, ordinarily this would not be a big problem since any sane person would have shut the power off at the breaker, but clearly I have a proclivity to do dumb things around the magical force known as electricity, so I left it hot.
As I was working the outlet assembly back into the wall box, I needed to apply a little cajoling, and in doing so grabbed it on the sides to wiggle it back in and force the excess wires in the back to compress.
ZAP!
I touched the exposed black lead and went for a 1-2 second ride on the volt-coaster. My neighbors heard some choice words, and I hope the kids were all indoors.
After my internal organs rebooted, I was fine but I have realized that I should probably leave everything besides changing light bulbs to professionals.
I was in the gargae working on the bike when I tripped the GFCI in the only outlet. Pressing the reset button was not working.
Time to open up the outlet and see what the problem was.
Off comes the face plate, nothing unusual.
Out comes the outlet assembly. I notice that in the 120 plus degree heat, one of the black wires had worked it's way out of the screw-in terminal. No biggie, just re-insert it and tighten down the screw. What I failed to notice was that as I tightened the screw, a small bit of the exposed wire came back out of the insertion point.
Now, ordinarily this would not be a big problem since any sane person would have shut the power off at the breaker, but clearly I have a proclivity to do dumb things around the magical force known as electricity, so I left it hot.
As I was working the outlet assembly back into the wall box, I needed to apply a little cajoling, and in doing so grabbed it on the sides to wiggle it back in and force the excess wires in the back to compress.
ZAP!
I touched the exposed black lead and went for a 1-2 second ride on the volt-coaster. My neighbors heard some choice words, and I hope the kids were all indoors.
After my internal organs rebooted, I was fine but I have realized that I should probably leave everything besides changing light bulbs to professionals.
How did you feel getting jumpstarted?
Next time wear rubber gloves or just turn off the outlet from the breaker and confirm with a multimeter!
Registered but harmless
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,889
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From: Los Angeles, CA
Well, at least you didn't prove up the second smiley- "RIP" - mentioned in the second post in this thread.
Glad you're still alive and have learned not to mess with electrical wiring until you learn a little more about it.
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Phoenix, AZ
S E L L
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 12,768
Likes: 51
From: Modesto, CA
Yesterday I confirmed why I will definitely PAY someone to do any electrical work at my house...
I was in the gargae working on the bike when I tripped the GFCI in the only outlet. Pressing the reset button was not working.
Time to open up the outlet and see what the problem was.
Off comes the face plate, nothing unusual.
Out comes the outlet assembly. I notice that in the 120 plus degree heat, one of the black wires had worked it's way out of the screw-in terminal. No biggie, just re-insert it and tighten down the screw. What I failed to notice was that as I tightened the screw, a small bit of the exposed wire came back out of the insertion point.
Now, ordinarily this would not be a big problem since any sane person would have shut the power off at the breaker, but clearly I have a proclivity to do dumb things around the magical force known as electricity, so I left it hot.
As I was working the outlet assembly back into the wall box, I needed to apply a little cajoling, and in doing so grabbed it on the sides to wiggle it back in and force the excess wires in the back to compress.
ZAP!
I touched the exposed black lead and went for a 1-2 second ride on the volt-coaster. My neighbors heard some choice words, and I hope the kids were all indoors.
After my internal organs rebooted, I was fine but I have realized that I should probably leave everything besides changing light bulbs to professionals.
I was in the gargae working on the bike when I tripped the GFCI in the only outlet. Pressing the reset button was not working.
Time to open up the outlet and see what the problem was.
Off comes the face plate, nothing unusual.
Out comes the outlet assembly. I notice that in the 120 plus degree heat, one of the black wires had worked it's way out of the screw-in terminal. No biggie, just re-insert it and tighten down the screw. What I failed to notice was that as I tightened the screw, a small bit of the exposed wire came back out of the insertion point.
Now, ordinarily this would not be a big problem since any sane person would have shut the power off at the breaker, but clearly I have a proclivity to do dumb things around the magical force known as electricity, so I left it hot.
As I was working the outlet assembly back into the wall box, I needed to apply a little cajoling, and in doing so grabbed it on the sides to wiggle it back in and force the excess wires in the back to compress.
ZAP!
I touched the exposed black lead and went for a 1-2 second ride on the volt-coaster. My neighbors heard some choice words, and I hope the kids were all indoors.
After my internal organs rebooted, I was fine but I have realized that I should probably leave everything besides changing light bulbs to professionals.
S E L L
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 12,768
Likes: 51
From: Modesto, CA
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...&blockType=G15
It starts beeping and flashing rapidly whenever it detects voltage, works great!
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 27,921
Likes: 1,080
From: where the weather suits my clothes
I need to replace the wiring on my stove (genius hardwired it to a junction box in the basement and didn't leave enough slack to pull the oven out. Going to put in a suface mounted box so I can plug the stove in.
It's 220 so you know I will be shutting off the breaker.
My Dad was putting in a 220 line for his surface planer and while putting in the breaker, he tapped the bar inside the box with a screwdriver. Needless to say, the screwdriver was arc welded. Nice big chunk taken out of it.
It's 220 so you know I will be shutting off the breaker.
My Dad was putting in a 220 line for his surface planer and while putting in the breaker, he tapped the bar inside the box with a screwdriver. Needless to say, the screwdriver was arc welded. Nice big chunk taken out of it.
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Another electrical question...
I have an outlet a few feet form my kitchen sink that is marked "GFCI Protected" but does not have a reset/test button. It has two hot and two neutral lines (and a ground) so I am sure it is part of a GFCI circuit.
I want to replace this outlet with an outlet that has USB along with a standard plug but I cannot find ANY USB outlets that are GFCI. None.
Is there a way to make this work without disabling the GFCI circuit?
I have an outlet a few feet form my kitchen sink that is marked "GFCI Protected" but does not have a reset/test button. It has two hot and two neutral lines (and a ground) so I am sure it is part of a GFCI circuit.
I want to replace this outlet with an outlet that has USB along with a standard plug but I cannot find ANY USB outlets that are GFCI. None.
Is there a way to make this work without disabling the GFCI circuit?
Senior Moderator
Joined: Apr 2010
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From: SoCal, CA
Another electrical question...
I have an outlet a few feet form my kitchen sink that is marked "GFCI Protected" but does not have a reset/test button. It has two hot and two neutral lines (and a ground) so I am sure it is part of a GFCI circuit.
I want to replace this outlet with an outlet that has USB along with a standard plug but I cannot find ANY USB outlets that are GFCI. None.
Is there a way to make this work without disabling the GFCI circuit?
I have an outlet a few feet form my kitchen sink that is marked "GFCI Protected" but does not have a reset/test button. It has two hot and two neutral lines (and a ground) so I am sure it is part of a GFCI circuit.
I want to replace this outlet with an outlet that has USB along with a standard plug but I cannot find ANY USB outlets that are GFCI. None.
Is there a way to make this work without disabling the GFCI circuit?
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Except the current outlet has two hot terminals and two neutral terminals, and the USB outlet only has one of each.
Last edited by stogie1020; Oct 2, 2017 at 02:10 PM.
Senior Moderator
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From: SoCal, CA
They're just like that to be in parallel with another outlet down the line.
Leviton Decora 15 Amp Combination Duplex Outlet and USB Outlet, White-R02-T5632-0BW - The Home Depot
If you look on the back of this one for example, you will see that there are 2 pairs (4 total) areas were you can insert the existing 2 hot and 2 neutral wires
Leviton Decora 15 Amp Combination Duplex Outlet and USB Outlet, White-R02-T5632-0BW - The Home Depot
If you look on the back of this one for example, you will see that there are 2 pairs (4 total) areas were you can insert the existing 2 hot and 2 neutral wires
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,963
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From: NJ
https://www.snappower.com/snappower-chargers/
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
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From: Phoenix, AZ
They're just like that to be in parallel with another outlet down the line.
Leviton Decora 15 Amp Combination Duplex Outlet and USB Outlet, White-R02-T5632-0BW - The Home Depot
If you look on the back of this one for example, you will see that there are 2 pairs (4 total) areas were you can insert the existing 2 hot and 2 neutral wires
Leviton Decora 15 Amp Combination Duplex Outlet and USB Outlet, White-R02-T5632-0BW - The Home Depot
If you look on the back of this one for example, you will see that there are 2 pairs (4 total) areas were you can insert the existing 2 hot and 2 neutral wires
I'd hate to see you fry yourself trying to figure this out, so just
https://www.snappower.com/snappower-chargers/
https://www.snappower.com/snappower-chargers/
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Currently, I think the only way to make this work will be to add a second outlet with USB next to the current GFCI outlet and make sure the USB one is downstream (load) from the GFCI protected one. Didn't want to have to open drywall to add a second box, though.
Last edited by stogie1020; Oct 2, 2017 at 03:11 PM.
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From: SoCal, CA
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that.. Read my post about GFCI protection.
The 2nd and so on circuits are the ones you're looking at. That's why someone put a GFCI protected sticker on them: they are protected by the one GFCI outlet. If you press the Test button on the GFCI outlet in your kitchen (and it's all wired properly), the remaining circuits should not have power (aka GFCI protected) You adding a new USB outlet or even the Snappower USB guide light or charger plate won't affect the "GFCI-ness" of the circuit.
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From: SoCal, CA
Originally Posted by stogie1020;16105662
I have an outlet a few feet form my kitchen sink that is marked "GFCI Protected" but does not have a reset/test button. [b
I have an outlet a few feet form my kitchen sink that is marked "GFCI Protected" but does not have a reset/test button. [b
It has two hot and two neutral lines (and a ground) so I am sure it is part of a GFCI circuit[/b].
It means it's just not the last outlet in the circuit and there's an additional parallel run to another outlet. Again refer to above diagram (2nd outlet in the pic)
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From: SoCal, CA
While we're on the topic of GFCI receptacles, the rule of thumb is that GFCI should be replaced ~10 years. If it's been longer than that, may be a good time to replace it as well.
Don't forget to turn off the breaker ! Also get some testers: non-contact and plug-in:
Don't forget to turn off the breaker ! Also get some testers: non-contact and plug-in:
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,963
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From: NJ
It won't work with a gfci outlet because they're shaped differently and the prongs won't line up. The way you've described it is this is a standard outlet on a gfci circuit, in which case it should work fine.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,963
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From: NJ
While we're on the topic of GFCI receptacles, the rule of thumb is that GFCI should be replaced ~10 years. If it's been longer than that, may be a good time to replace it as well.
Don't forget to turn off the breaker ! Also get some testers: non-contact and plug-in: https://www.amazon.com/KLEIN-TOOLS-N...s=klein+tester
Don't forget to turn off the breaker ! Also get some testers: non-contact and plug-in: https://www.amazon.com/KLEIN-TOOLS-N...s=klein+tester
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
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From: Phoenix, AZ
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that.. Read my post about GFCI protection.
The 2nd and so on circuits are the ones you're looking at. That's why someone put a GFCI protected sticker on them: they are protected by the one GFCI outlet. If you press the Test button on the GFCI outlet in your kitchen (and it's all wired properly), the remaining circuits should not have power (aka GFCI protected) You adding a new USB outlet or even the Snappower USB guide light or charger plate won't affect the "GFCI-ness" of the circuit.
So if the new recpetacle only has one screw and one place for each wire, I still can't use it without cutting off whatever is downstream, right? Or can I cram both hot wires onto the hot post and both neutrals onto the neutral post? Or would it be better to wirenut together the hots and run a pigtail off it for this outlet and do the same for the nuetral?
Last edited by stogie1020; Oct 2, 2017 at 03:36 PM.
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From: SoCal, CA
?
Senior Moderator
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 48,310
Likes: 9,176
From: SoCal, CA
Check to see if it has two places like the one attached. Or if there's only one 'place' then you can just loop the second one around the terminal screw
Safety Car
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From: NJ
Thread Starter
Needs more Lemon Pledge
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Eff you, been busy!
I think ThoiBoi's solution may work. I believe it has room for two wires on each post.