I'm in the process of swapping out some old outlets in my home, and I've run into a bit of a challenge. The old outlets each have two hot wires and two neutral wires, but the new ones only have space for one hot and one neutral. I've replaced outlets before, but this is my first time dealing with something like this. What's the best way to make these connections?
2 Answers
You can connect the two hot wires together using a wire connector and then run a pigtail wire to the single hot terminal on the new outlet. Do the same thing for the neutrals. Just make sure everything is tight and secure. It's a pretty straightforward swap once you get that done.
It sounds like your old outlets might have been set up to split the power. Are there any switches controlling the outlets? If they’re just standard ones on a single breaker, then you’ll handle them as mentioned—wire nut the hots together and use a pigtail, then do the same for the neutrals. And remember, if there's no ground, you can go with a GFCI outlet, which is a safer option, even if it might trip more often due to the lack of a ground.
Got it! So just to clarify, I would connect the two hots in a wire nut along with the pigtail? That's a total of three wires, right?
Yes, that's right! You’ll have three wires in each wire nut: the two hots together and one pigtail going out to the new outlet.