Electrical – How to replace electrical outlets that have two wires under same screw

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I was trying to replace a few electrical outlets around the house with new tamper-resistant ones. When I pulled one of the outlets out of the box, I noticed that 1) there was no ground wire anywhere, 2) two white wires were under the same screw and one single black wire on the other side. This was a non-GFCI outlet in the kitchen.

I tried another outlet in the living room and in this case there were two hot wires under the same screw and two white wires under another screw on the other side of the outlet. Before I turned off the power, I had tested both outlets with a receptacle tester that showed they were correctly wired.

Is there a reason why these wires were connected to the same terminal?
Should I replicate the same arrangement when installing the new outlets? Or should I put these wires under different screws?

Best Answer

The NEC now prefers you use the pigtail method.Here's a quick image to help.

Understand the circuit

A standard duplex receptacle functions as both a receptacle, and as a junction. It allows you to connect cord-and-plug devices to the circuit, while at the same time allowing other hardwired devices to be connected to the circuit. Ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) receptacles are similar, however, they offer ground-fault protection to all connected devices. To offer this protection, GFCI receptacles have two specific sides.

Line VS. Load

The Line side of a GFCI receptacle is where the feed line connects, to supply power to the device. The Load side of a GFCI receptacle is used to feed other devices, while offering them GFCI protection.

Find the line

Before you can figure out how to connect the device, you have to determine where the power is coming from, and where it's going to. To do this, you'll need a non-contact voltage detector, and a few twist-on wire connectors.

Turn off the circuit using the circuit breaker or fuse.
Verify the power is off using a non-contact voltage detector.
Remove all the wires from the receptacle, and place a twist-on wire connector on each wire individually.
Turn the power back on at the breaker/fuse.
Carefully, move the non-contact voltage detector near each wire.
When the meter lights up, mark the wire in some way.
Turn off the breaker/fuse again.

_{In this procedure, only one wire should make the meter light up. If more than one wire caused the meter to light, contact a local licensed Electrician.}

Now that you've located the ungrounded (hot) Line conductor, you'll have to also locate the Line grounded (neutral) conductor. To do this, simply follow the wire you marked in the previous step back to where it enters the box. You should notice that the wire is grouped with one to two other wires. The wire you found to be hot should be black, and it should be grouped with a white, and possibly uninsulated or green wire. These wires make up the Line feeder.

Hook it up

GFCI protection to downstream devices

Connect the black wire from the Line feeder to the brass screw terminal on the Line side of the GFCI receptacle (The receptacle should be clearly labeled LINE), the white wire from the Line feeder to the silver screw terminal on the Line side of the receptacle.
Next connect the black wire from the other group of wires to the brass screw terminal on the Load side of the GFCI receptacle, and the white wire to the silver screw terminal on the Load side of the GFCI receptacle.
Connect all the uninsulated/green wires together with an extra bit of uninsulated/green wire (about 6" long), using a twist-on wire connector or crimp connector.
Connect the other end of the extra bit of wire to the green (ground) screw terminal on the GFCI receptacle.

Once you restore the power to the circuit, all the devices downstream (on the Load side) from the GFCI receptacle will be GFCI protected. If this is not the desired outcome, please follow the steps below.

No GFCI protection to downstream device

Connect the black Line feeder to the other black wire and an extra bit of black wire (about 6" long), using a twist-on wire connector.
Connect the other end of the extra bit of wire to the brass screw terminal on the Line side of the GFCI receptacle.
Connect the white Line feeder to the other white wire and an extra bit of white wire (about 6" long), using a twist-on wire connector.
Connect the other end of the extra bit of wire to the silver screw terminal on the Line side of the GFCI receptacle.
Connect all the uninsulated/green wires together with an extra bit of uninsulated/green wire (about 6" long), using a twist-on wire connector or crimp connector.
Connect the other end of the extra bit of wire to the green (ground) screw terminal on the GFCI receptacle.
Leave the sticker covering the Load side terminals of the GFCI receptacle.

_{WARNING: If you lack the tools, knowledge, and/or confidence to complete this task, please do not hesitate to contact a local licensed Electrician.}

Electrical outlet has two black hot wires but one neutral white wire

Assuming you are in the US, this could be a half-switched outlet. Do you still have the old outlet? Look at the side and see if the metal tab between the screws is broken off on one or both sides. If it is, then (at least) one of those black wires is probably controlled by a wall switch somewhere, resulting in one outlet being on all of the time and the other switched.