Hey everyone, I recently moved into a house that was built in the 1950s and as I'm making some improvements, I'm finding a lot of amateur work done over the years. Today, we were painting and pulled off an outlet cover, only to discover a shocking mess of wires: three ground wires, four hot wires, and four white wires! I'm really concerned about safety here. Is this wiring safe as it is? And how can I go about making it safe? Here's a picture for reference: https://imgur.com/gallery/electric-boogaloo-JGh5v9f.
3 Answers
I’d suggest checking if the tab on the outlet is broken. If it is, you could have a setup where the top and bottom outlets are on different circuits. If that’s the case, having multiple hot wires might make sense. But if the tab is intact, you might need to rethink those connections. It could be a bigger mess than it looks!
Yikes, it sounds like you've got a bit of a wiring puzzle on your hands! You really need to trace where those wires are coming from. It sounds like at least one wire is the power line, with the others possibly going to different outlets or lights. My big advice is not to mess with electrical wiring unless you feel totally confident. If there's any doubt, definitely call in an electrician. Your family’s safety is way more important than trying to figure it out yourself!
Wow, that’s quite a few wires stuffed in there! It seems like someone has branched off multiple circuits at that outlet, and honestly, overloading the box like that is a code violation. You might want to get an outlet tester to check if the outlet is really grounded. If you do want to fix it, consider replacing that box with a bigger one and splitting the outlets up. I suggest hiring an electrician for this - they can make sure everything is up to code and safe for you.