Posts Tagged ‘Screws’

Do you live in an older home? 2 wire outlets can be replaced with a similar outlet or they can be upgraded. National electric Code doesn’t allow you to change a two wire ( old ) receptacle to a 3 wire ( new ) receptacle. But there is a answer to this problem. I like to recommend changing them to a ground fault circuit interrupter frequently called a GFCI or GFI. It is the easiest way to replace a 2 wire receptacle with a 3 wire receptacle.

Before you do anything, always switch off the electricity to that receptacle or group of receptacles you will be working on or changing out. You can test a receptacle with a metering device or merely use a lamp. Make sure that the receptacle is off before trying to change.

The white wire should be hooked up to what is called the line side of the GFCI on the silver screw. There could be more than one white wire. Attach them both to this silver screw. Screws should be color coated to understand which ones to use for which side ( white and black ). Some GFCI might be marked white for the white wire as electricians refer to it as the ‘grounded conductor.’ In some receptacles, you could have more than one wire as it may feed other receptacles from those wires. White wires should be on the side of the receptacle with silver screws.

Black wires should be on the gold screws. If there are two black wires, attach both of them to the gold screws. This is easy to recollect. Black to gold : white to silver. This is vital because it’s what electricians call ‘keeping your polarity correct.’ This means white wire on the outlet is the wider part of the prong. The white wire is the widest part of the wire called the ‘grounded conductor.’

GFCI monitor a circuit or current flow within itself. That is why it is possible to replace a two wire receptacle with a GFCI. You can not just replace with a 3 prong receptacle because it doesn’t have a grounding conductor. If you have hardware that faults or fails, it will go through to its nearest path that might be you. Be safety sensible, it’s best.