Practical Home Repair - Tips for Replacing Old Electrical Receptacles

A good way to check the electrical integrity of your home is to make sure the outlets are all properly wired for ground. Older homes are prone to having two-prong outlets, a sure sign that they aren't wired for today's appliances. This is not a problem in newly constructed homes, as they will have three-prong outlets installed. Three-prong adapters are a handy work-around, but they are unsightly and prone to sag under the weight of the power cord.

Once you grasp how simple household wiring is, you can proceed with installing new outlets. The replacement process begins with the removal of the cover plate, but not until you are sure that the electricity has been turned off.

Remove the outlet by backing out the top and bottom screws that hold the outlet in place.  Note the position of the black and white wires.

It's a rule-of-thumb that the wires are connected with matching colored screws: Black to Brass and White to Light. All wall outlets are wired according to this rule.

The third wire is the ground wire, a bare copper wire that is wound tightly around the sheath of the cable. You can discover the ground wire attached behind the clamp that is held in place with a large screw at the top or bottom of the outlet box. The black wire is the "hot" wire, the white wire is the return, or cold wire, and the bare copper wire is the "ground".

Begin withdrawing the old outlet by removing the screws holding the black and white wires to the socket. The old outlet should now be detached from the wires..

To unwrap the sheath of the electrical cable, you have to loosen the screw holding the cable clamp in place. Then unwrap the copper cable after pulling enough of it through the box. After the copper grounding wire is accessible, return the cable to its original position and tighten it in place using the clamp.

There's no need to unwrap the entire length of copper wire. All you need is enough to make a connection to the ground lug on the replacement 3-wire outlet. The ground wire is now affixed to the ground lug on the new outlet. The grounding lug screw can be found attached to the metal attaching piece.

Continue by affixing the white and black wires to their corresponding brass and white screws. A pair of needle nosed pliers will make this a little easier. If the wires have a loop formed at their ends, needle nosed pliers will help you opening and closing the loop so you can make a good connection. Be careful to make a "nice and neat "connection without any wire left sticking out in any direction. Tighten the holding screws firmly, checking the wires for security as you go.

Alternately, you can use the wire insertion feature on the back of the receptacle to connect the wires. Just straighten and strip the wires to the correct length. One way to determine the correct length of wire to use with this feature is the manufacturer's guide formed onto the body of the outlet. Read over the manufacturer's instructions if you have any questions about how to cut and strip the wires.

Once everything is connected properly, it's time to push the wires and the receptacle back into the outlet box. Once the new outlet is in place, attach it to the box and reinstall the cover.

Within everything back in place, turn the power back on and check the outlet for proper operation using a circuit tester. If everything works and the circuit breaker doesn't trip or the fuse blows, congratulations are in order. Well Done!

I hope you found this article helpful and practical. For further practical home repair tips, why not browse through the articles at Practical Repairs.com