Receptacles, commonly called outlets, provide the means to access and use electricity. Before wiring a receptacle you need to know the basics of a receptacle - how it works and what each screw terminal does. As always, before working with anything electrical, remove power to minimize injury.

The front of a typical modern receptacle has a narrow slot, wide slot and ground. The narrow slot allows access to metal fingers that are internally wired to the side-mounted brass-colored screws adjacent to it. They, in turn, are attached to the black hot wire that comes into the outlet box - the one that receives power directly from the main service panel. The wide slot on the receptacle front provides access to the metal fingers that connect the silver-colored screws on its adjacent side opposite the brass screws. These screws secure the white neutral wire. The grounding slot on the receptacle front connects to the green grounding screw on the receptacle back. Electrical Marketplace’s standard receptacles have two screws on each side which can connect to two conductors on each side. A receptacle can either be duplex or single. A single receptacle has only one place to plug something in. A duplex receptacle has two places to plug things in. Normally you will want a duplex receptacle. Receptacles can be rated for almost any amount of current. Normal is 120 volt, if you need or want higher try a 125 volt receptacle. Electrical Marketplace’s line of receptacles also has a round plug-in hole for the grounding terminal connected to the body of the receptacle. The brass screw terminals designate which terminal the hot wire is connected to. The silver screw terminals are intended to accept the white neutral. Following this scheme will ensure that the polarity of your outlet is correct.

Wiring A Receptacle

How you should wire receptacles depends on how you want the receptacles installed in the circuit - in series or in parallel. The series wiring method is the most common; you see it all the time. This is where both incoming and outgoing cables physically wire onto the receptacle screws. This system wires fast and easy, but has a major drawback. If one wire becomes loose and pulls off the receptacle or if the receptacle just fails, power is lost to all the downstream receptacles. The parallel method is where all splicing is done in the back of the outlet box and two short pigtail wires jump from splice to the receptacle terminals. This method takes longer to wire but has the advantage of making each receptacle independent. Note that all current going to and coming from the upstream receptacles will go through the receptacle. You can even take the receptacle out of the box and it will have no effect on the circuit.

How To Wire Receptacles

One cable, One Receptacle: This is the simplest of wiring situations. Series of parallel distinctions don’t apply. If you have but a single cable, all wires attach to the receptacle. The black wire is looped under the bronze colored screw, the white wire is attached to the silver colored screw, and the bare wire is grounded. This type of hookup is seen mostly at the end of a run, where there are no more loads downstream on the circuit.

SAFETY TIP! Never invert an immediate turn plug. Some plugs, such as those for clothes washers and refrigerators, are molded into an immediate turn. Some have the ground pin in the up position and some have the ground pin in the down position. Never install the plug in such a way that its own weight will pull it out of the wall. As the cord’s weight pulls its prongs out of the receptacle, it presents a hazard to anyone coming in contact with it, creating the potential for a short to ground or to neutral.

Both Incoming and Outgoing Cables: this is the second most common receptacle hookup situation. Here we have one incoming cable bringing electrical power and an outgoing cable taking the power to another receptacle or downstream, or perhaps feeding the switch outlet box. Once the sheathing is stripped away, there will be two black wires, two white wires, and two ground wires that must terminate in the outlet box. There are two ways to manage this situation: wiring in parallel and wiring in series.

In Parallel: Splice all the black wires together in the back of the box, along with a 6-in. black pigtail. The pigtail connects to the bronze receptacle screw. Do the same with the white wires, connecting the pigtail to the silver terminal. The power comes into the box, jumps across to the outgoing cable through the splice and to the receptacle through the pigtail. If there is more than one outgoing cable, then you must use the parallel system of hookup.

In Series: Connect the black wires to the bronze screw side of the receptacle, one wire under each screw terminal. Connect the white wires to the silver screw terminals. The ground wires should be pigtailed together and connect to the ground-screw terminal on the receptacle. Power comes in, connects to the receptacle, jumps across to the outgoing wires and leaves.

Grounding Your Receptacle

In a nonmetallic box, the way you handle the grounding depends on the number of incoming cables. If the receptacle is at the end of the run so only one cable comes into the box, simply fasten the bare ground wire to the grounding screw terminal on the receptacle. If multiple cables are entering the box, splice all the bare ground wires together with a wire connector and run a pigtail from the splice to the grounding terminal on the receptacle. In a metal box, an incoming ground wire should be attached to both the receptacle and the metal box. Splice all incoming bare ground wires together, a long with a pair of bare ground pigtail wire’s. Attach one pigtail to the grounding screw on the receptacle and the other to the metal box.

Wiring A Switched Receptacle

A switched receptacle can be wired in two different ways. Either way produces the same result. The object is most often to eliminate the overhead light by providing switched lighting of a table lamp. But to avoid having to add another receptacle provide the required non-switched power in the room, the installer wires the receptacle so one of the plug-ins receives a constant power supply. To do this the, the installer breaks the hot tab off the receptacle. When unbroken, the hot tab bonds the hot contact points on the plug-ins together. Now the top half of the receptacle is power-independent of the bottom half. The neutral tab stays intact. Once the tab is broken off the receptacle can be wired.

240-Volt Receptacles

Hooking up a 240-volt receptacle is a different process than hooking up a 120-volt outlet. The main point of departure is that a 240-volt receptacle is not wired with a white neutral. Instead, the white wire is tagged black and connected to the circuit panel. The black hot is connected to the other terminal on the breaker, which contacts the opposing hot bus bar. Thus, 120-volts of power is brought into the receptacle through each wire, for a total of 240-volts. And because the power is split between both phases of power at the panel, they balance out and no neutral is required. To connect a 20-amp, 240-volt receptacle, use 12-gauge NM/2 with ground wire. With the power off, run the 240-volt circuit from the main panel. At the outlet box and at the panel tag the white wire hot with black electrical tape. Hook the tagged white up to one terminal on the receptacle, and attach the black hot wire to the grounding terminal on the receptacle. Because 240-volt circuits generally are used to power appliances that draw significant amperage, they are seldom wired in series, but are installed as dedicated circuits instead.

How to Replace a Receptacle

1. Remove the electricity from the circuit you are working on by turning off the breaker or pulling out the fuse.
2. Remove the receptacles cover-plate by unscrewing the tiny center screw. Remove the top and bottom screws and pull the receptacle out gently.
3. Remove the wires from the receptacles brass-colored screws and pull them aside.
4. Remove the ground wire from the receptacle grounding screw and discard the receptacle
5. Bring in the new Electrical Marketplace receptacle. Attach the ground wire to the screw.
6. Connect the black wires to the brass or bronze screw terminals on the receptacle.
7. Push the wires neatly back into the box after you are done screwing the correct wires to the correct screws/terminals.
8. Reattach the receptacle cover and you are done.