Hey everyone! I just replaced an old 15A/125V receptacle and now my circuit breaker won't reset—it just keeps tripping. I had two black wires attached to the top brass screws and two white wires to the top silver screws on the old outlet, along with a ground wire. In the new outlet, I put one black wire on the top brass screw, the other on the bottom brass screw, and did the same for the neutral side. I also wired the ground correctly, but now the breaker trips immediately when I try to turn it back on. Any thoughts on what I might have done wrong?
2 Answers
It sounds like there might be a wiring mix-up. Double-check that all wires are in their correct places on the new receptacle. If the black wires and neutrals aren't in the right order, that can cause issues. Even though it seems like it's right, sometimes they get flipped accidentally!
First off, make sure you turned off the breaker completely before trying to reset it. Sometimes breakers need to be fully off before they can reset. Does the breaker trip right away when you try to turn it back on, or does it stay on for a bit? Let me know and we can figure this out together!
I did turn it off completely before starting, but when I try to turn it back on, it just flips back to the off position immediately.
Is it important for the order of the black wires on the screws? I thought I had them in the right spots, but I might have flipped one. I know the top two are together and the bottom two are together.