How to Wire an Outlet and Add an Electrical Outlet

Use this easy method to install a new electric outlet without a lot of wire pulling.

Fourth dimension

A full twenty-four hour period

Complexity

Intermediate

Cost

Less than $20

Introduction

Eliminate those ugly and often dangerous extension cords. You can add a new outlet quickly and easily without trigger-happy open a wall, if y'all already accept an electric outlet in the other side of the wall. No extra holes. No messy patching and repainting. The procedure we show hither allowed u.s. to center our Television confronting a wall in the family room that had no outlet. Since there was already an electrical outlet in the other side of that same wall (facing into an adjacent bedroom), nosotros just added a new outlet in the family room, drawing power from the bedroom outlet.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Electrical cable
  • Receptacle (outlet)
  • Remodeling box
  • Wire connectors

Y'all'll Need to Observe a Ability Source

This technique but works if you can use an electric outlet as a power source that'southward reverse, or nearly opposite, the place where you desire your new wall outlet. To make up one's mind how to wire an outlet and whether you lot tin safely utilize existing electrical outlets, follow the list below.

You Can Utilise Another Electric Outlet When:

  1. If a switch or outlet is on a excursion that often blows its breaker or fuse. (Don't make matters worse by adding yet some other outlet to the excursion.)
  2. Electric codes restrict the number of lights or electrical outlets that tin be connected to i excursion. Typically, you can take no more than than eight lights or electrical outlets on a 15-amp excursion. To determine the amp rating of a excursion, just look at the number on its breaker or fuse in your chief electrical panel. Turn off the circuit and examination light switches and other outlets to make up one's mind exactly which lights or outlets are on a given excursion.
  3. Most electrical codes now require outlets in kitchens and bathrooms to be on separate 20-amp GFCI circuits. So before using the method nosotros show here for how to wire a wall outlet in a kitchen or bathroom, check with an electrical inspector. If you add an outlet to a kitchen or bath, information technology must exist GFCI protected. Don't power your new outlet from a kitchen or bathroom outlet.
  4. Codes also limit the number of wires that tin can enter an electrical box or electrical receptacle, depending on the inside volume of the box and the guess of the wires. The outlet-improver methods we show here are based on the about common wiring (14-estimate wire on a 15-amp circuit) and an 18-cu.-in. box (typical inside dimensions are about 2-in. x 3-1/4 in. ten three-in. deep). If the excursion is 20-amp — which ways thicker, 12-gauge wire — or if the existing box is smaller than xviii cu. in., y'all can't wire a new wall outlet as nosotros show here unless y'all replace the existing box with a larger 1. Plastic box sizes are stamped on the inside at the back.

Always confirm the required box size with your local edifice inspector. In most regions, you need an electric let for this piece of work from your local building department. This helps ensure a condom job. These are the 8 most common national electric code violations.

Watch this video to learn how to install an electric box in whatsoever room in your abode:

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Work Safely

Before yous tackle any part of this project, turn off the power to the circuit at the main electrical panel by switching off the breaker or removing the fuse.

Before touching any bare wires or terminals on a switch or outlet, use a voltage tester on all the wires to make sure the power is off. If you have onetime, fabric-insulated wiring, phone call an electrician to recommend condom connections. With wiring an outlet similar this, there's usually no basis wire and it'south hard to tell the hot wire from the neutral, because both are coated with blackness insulation.

Projection step-by-step (5)

Step 1

Shut Off the Electric Outlet

  • Turn off the power at the primary panel.  Find the correct breaker and turn it off.
  • Once y'all've adamant the electrical outlet to utilise as a power source and shut it off, use an electronic stud finder to locate the studs on both sides.
  • Y'all can put your new outlet anywhere between these two studs.
  • Unscrew the outlet and use a voltage tester to double-check that the power is off.
  • With either lead touching a ground wire (bare copper), touch the other pb start to the neutral terminals (silver colored), then to the hot terminals (gold colored).
  • If the light glows with either contact, the circuit is still live.
  • Concord the confront of the new electrical box against the wall where yous want it to go, and trace around information technology with a pencil.
  • Cut out the hole with a drywall saw.
    • Pro tip: Be sure to purchase a "remodeling" box that can be secured to the drywall, not i that must be mounted on a stud.
  • Side by side, using a screwdriver, unscrew the existing outlet on the other side of the wall outlet from its box and punch out one of the knock-outs at the back of the box.

Hither's how to employ electrical testers.

Aluminum wiring requires special handling. If you have aluminum wiring, call in a licensed pro who's certified to work with it. This wiring is tiresome gray, not the dull orangish that's feature of copper.

Shut off the electrical outlet

Step ii

Feed New Cable into the Wall

  • Feed a length of new cable through one of the knock-out holes at the dorsum of the existing box (punch out the hole with a screwdriver).
  • Feed through enough cable to attain the new box plus an extra human foot.
  • Utilize 14-gauge wire for a 15-amp circuit.

Feed new cable into the wall

Step 3

Rewire the Existing Electrical Outlet

  • Connect the wires of the new cable to the existing wires.
  • Strip about 10 inches of plastic capsule from the new cable to expose the black, white and copper wires.
  • Run the new cable, with sheathing, at least two inches upward within the box, and double over the excess wires to assistance concur the cable in place.
  • Strip 5/8-in. of insulation off the ends and connect the wires from the new cable to the existing bundles — white to white, black to black, ground to footing.
  • Utilize new wire connectors of adequate size for the four wires in each bundle.

Rewire the existing electrical outlet

Step 4

Fish the Cable to the New Location

  • Marking the opening for the new box and cut information technology out with a drywall saw.
  • Fish for the new cable with a claw fabricated from a wire glaze hanger.
  • Pull the cable through the opening cut in the wall.
  • So strip well-nigh nine inches of sheathing off the end of the cable. Insert the cable so the sheath extends about 1 inch into the box and mount the box in the wall.

Fish the cable to the new location

Step 5

Wire the New Electrical Outlet

  • Mount the new box in the opening.
  • Connect the new wires to the new outlet: white (neutral) wire to a silverish-colored terminal screw; black (hot) wire to a gold-colored terminal spiral; bare wire to the greenish grounding screw.
  • Brand sure the cable sheath remains secured within the box
  • Finally, telephone call the electric inspector to check your work.

Wire the new electrical outlet