HOME WIRING REPAIRS IN THE REAL WORLD

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To wire regular receptacles, disconnect the hot wire(s) — colored black or red — and attach it (them) to the brass-colored terminal(s) of your new device. Now disconnect the neutral wire(s) — colored white — and attach it (them) to the silver-colored terminal(s). Finally, disconnect and then attach the ground wire (bare copper or green) to the green-colored terminal of the new receptacle. (If no ground wire is present, see "Get Grounded," page 56). You'll notice that receptacles have two terminals each for hot and neutral wires. Those extra terminals make it possible for the device to act as a "splice" between the incoming power cable and the outgoing one (the most popular scenario — number 2 — above). But only one wire may be connected to each terminal screw; hence, the use of short "pigtail" splices joined by wirenuts when three cables are present (scenario 3). This method is also often used to connect several ground wires to the one ground terminal available. You simply wirenut two or more wires together with a short piece of jumper wire — scavenged from a scrap piece of cable — to form the pigtail, then attach the pigtail wire to the terminal.

The extra terminals on the receptacle have another function: to provide a means for separating the top plug outlet from the bottom. Often used in living rooms and bedrooms, this arrangement makes half of the receptacle hot all of the time (for radios, televisions, etc.), and puts the other half under the control of a wall switch for lamps. If you encounter a job like this, transfer one wire at a time from the old receptacle to the new one — hot wires to the brass terminals, neutral wires to the silver ones, and ground wires to the green one. This wiring technique requires two distinct hot wires on the receptacle. To keep these hot wires separated, locate the copper fin that connects the two brass terminal plates and break it off. Break the silver connecting fin on the neutral side only if it was removed from the old receptacle.

So far, we've been dealing with regular grounding receptacles; now let's talk about ground fault circuit interrupters. GFCIs, as I told you earlier, are "smart" receptacles capable of protecting you from electric shock in hazardous (damp) locations. What I didn't tell you is that they can also pass their protection on to other receptacles on the same circuit. However, both because of this feature and to preserve this feature, you have to ascertain which of the receptacles that you want to protect is first on the circuit and, when you find that box, which cable is bringing power in and which is taking power out to the next location. If you are not skilled in the use of a test light or multimeter, I recommend you leave this job to a pro. Installing a GFCI to protect only its immediate location, however, is a little easier. Follow the previous instructions to get the old receptacle pulled away from its box. Notice the GFCI has two brass terminals, two silver terminals, and one green terminal, just like the regular receptacle. The GFCI, however, labels one brass and one silver terminal combination as the "LINE" terminals, and the remaining brass and silver combination as the "LOAD" terminals.

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