Things You'll Need:
- screwdriver
- wire strippers or knife
- voltage tester
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Step 1
1.
First always make sure electrical power is disconnect from circuit, trip the breaker in the electrical panel. Don’t take chances. Test to make sure the circuit is de-energized. After you are certain that the circuit is disconnected, then proceed. Your outlet will be in an outlet box with at least one set of wires coming through, Hot (Black) Neutral (White) and Ground wires (Green insulated or bare copper). (14AWG or 12AWG wire). There may be only two wires. They will hook directly to the outlet, if there are three wires you will have to pigtail a single wire to the outlet. To do so, take a wire nut and wire all your black wires together with one extra wire to go to the outlet. Then do the same with the neutral and ground wires. -
Step 2
2.
Once your wires are stripped back about 5/8ths of an inch, take the ground wire and make a small hook on the end of the wire so that it will fit on the green ground screw and hook it up. Then take your white wire(s) if your wires are 14AWG wires, they will fit into the holes on the back of the outlet, if it is 12AWG, make hooks on the end of the wires to attach to the screw terminals. Attach the white wire to the neutral (silver screw) side of the outlet. Attach the black wire to hot (copper screw) side of the outlet. Make sure all wires are attached correctly. -
Step 3
3.
Now making sure the ground wire does not touch the hot or neutral screw terminals (tape around outlet if needed) push the outlet into the box and screw it to it.
Before you put the cover plate back on, turn the breaker back on and make sure it does not trip, then check for power at the outlet. If everything is good attach the cover plate.
