# Changing An Electrical Outlet Without Turning The Power Off **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545 "2010-07-30T03:12:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/81 "2010-07-31T14:06:59Z")
don’t trust other people’s work (at least those you don’t know to have done quality work at that point). only test for one condition/state/fault at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/82 "2010-07-31T14:40:19Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > Also it only takes about three seconds to jam the leads of your meter into a receptacle that is known to be working to get a reading. This way you know your meter is working. I have seen digital meters with bad batteries that give false readings. OR have the leads not work. Always test but never trust. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/83 "2010-07-31T14:47:43Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Yeah, my father-in-law helped me change the outlets in my house when we remodelled. It was an old house, and we needed to change to 3-prong. He had worked with electricians and showed me how to do it carefully. Fortunately the wiring had been 3-wire (grounded) to the metal outlet boxes even if the plugs weren’t, so it was easy to hook up a safe ground. > > Theoretically, you never touch anything to anything (or to yourself) to complete a circuit, so it’s no different than the wires just sitting in the wall - until you go “oops”. > > **You unhook the wires one at a time from the old outlet and attach to the new socket- first the two white, then the two black; do the ground last or first; don’t touch anything**. I still burned one outlet when it touched the side of the box while being pushed in. > > So if you really don’t know for sure what you are doing, don’t. Or, in the words of John Belushi from Animal House - _if you can’t fly, don’t f_ck with the eagles\*. If you have two black and two white wires connected to outlets in your house you are headed for trouble, unless they are to seperate circuits to the outlets. And as stated before then the breakers need to be tied together. Daisy chaining outlets over time usually leads to an outlet failure and is against code in most areas. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/84 "2010-07-31T16:02:34Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > If you have two black and two white wires connected to outlets in your house you are headed for trouble, unless they are to seperate circuits to the outlets. And as stated before then the breakers need to be tied together. Daisy chaining outlets over time usually leads to an outlet failure and is against code in most areas. I’m confused by this. Almost every outlet in a residential is going to have two black and two white. Dedicated circuits are only found in specific locations and rarely is an electrician going to pigtail in every box. So any outlet in series except the last one will have 4 wires. If only using 2 wires on each outlet became standard practice the cheap pricks that made outlets would be scrambling to cut the cost of their outlets and save money by only including 2 screws. To date 2 screw outlets are the rarity and 4 screws are the most common. I’d expect to find all 4 used on most outlets. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/85 "2010-07-31T16:09:14Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > If only using 2 wires on each outlet became standard practice the cheap pricks that made outlets would be scrambling to cut the cost of their outlets and save money by only including 2 screws. To date 2 screw outlets are the rarity and 4 screws are the most common. I’d expect to find all 4 used on most outlets. My house was built (I assume to code) about 11 years ago, and all the outlets on a circuit are like this (connected in parallel). At my work, the electrician they hired years ago when they put on on of the additions just stripped off part of the insulation, bent the wire around the terminal and the continued on to the next outlet, all without cutting the wires. (But he did leave plenty of slack in the boxes to work with at a later time). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/86 "2010-07-31T16:49:12Z")
Most circuits should only be 15 amps, right? Why wouldn’t the cheap bastards just get rid of the screws entirely and use the plug-in terminals on the back? > [@Joey\_P](#): > > My house was built (I assume to code) about 11 years ago, and all the outlets on a circuit are like this (connected in parallel). Well, it’s a parallel circuit in the strict sense, but an electrician would still probably describe the outlets as being run in series. It’s not a series circuit, but the outlets aren’t in a star. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/87 "2010-07-31T16:59:42Z")
devices can be used in ways that are poor practice or in violation of rules. duplex receptacles have 2 hot and 2 neutral terminals. the configuration allows the receptacle to be wired to feed another receptacle (the receptacle acts as a splice for the next one). using it in that manner is not allowed in the USA for a multiwired circuit. quality wiring is pigtailed and never back wired IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/88 "2010-07-31T16:59:47Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > > [@md2000](#): > > > > Yeah, my father-in-law helped me change the outlets in my house when we remodelled. It was an old house, and we needed to change to 3-prong. He had worked with electricians and showed me how to do it carefully. Fortunately the wiring had been 3-wire (grounded) to the metal outlet boxes even if the plugs weren’t, so it was easy to hook up a safe ground. > > > > Theoretically, you never touch anything to anything (or to yourself) to complete a circuit, so it’s no different than the wires just sitting in the wall - until you go “oops”. > > > > **You unhook the wires one at a time from the old outlet and attach to the new socket- first the two white, then the two black; do the ground last or first; don’t touch anything**. I still burned one outlet when it touched the side of the box while being pushed in. > > > > So if you really don’t know for sure what you are doing, don’t. Or, in the words of John Belushi from Animal House - _if you can’t fly, don’t f_ck with the eagles\*. > > If you have two black and two white wires connected to outlets in your house you are headed for trouble, unless they are to seperate circuits to the outlets. And as stated before then the breakers need to be tied together. Daisy chaining outlets over time usually leads to an outlet failure and is against code in most areas. This is completely wrong. I’ll amend that to say that some local codes may have this provision, but I’ve never run into it. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/89 "2010-07-31T17:06:05Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > devices can be used in ways that are poor practice or in violation of rules. > > duplex receptacles have 2 hot and 2 neutral terminals. > > the configuration allows the receptacle to be wired to feed another receptacle (the receptacle acts as a splice for the next one). **using it in that manner is not allowed in the USA for a multiwired circuit.** > > quality wiring is pigtailed and never back wired IMHO. Where? what? when? how? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/90 "2010-07-31T17:10:57Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > > [@johnpost](#): > > > > devices can be used in ways that are poor practice or in violation of rules. > > > > duplex receptacles have 2 hot and 2 neutral terminals. > > > > the configuration allows the receptacle to be wired to feed another receptacle (the receptacle acts as a splice for the next one). using it in that manner is not allowed in the USA for a multiwired circuit. > > > > quality wiring is pigtailed and never back wired IMHO. > > Where? what? when? how? 300.13(B) ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/91 "2010-07-31T17:38:10Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > > [@boytyperanma](#): > > > > > [@johnpost](#): > > > > > > devices can be used in ways that are poor practice or in violation of rules. > > > > > > duplex receptacles have 2 hot and 2 neutral terminals. > > > > > > the configuration allows the receptacle to be wired to feed another receptacle (the receptacle acts as a splice for the next one). using it in that manner is not allowed in the USA for a multiwired circuit. > > > > > > quality wiring is pigtailed and never back wired IMHO. > > > > Where? what? when? how? > > 300.13(B) Some misunderstanding on my part. That would be a multiwire branch circuit. You can’t wire it in a way that device removal would break the neutral for the other circuit as it is a shared neutral. You could still include the outlet as a splice for the hot wire. If you are running a standard circuit as almost all circuits in a residential are you aren’t dealing with multiwire branch circuits and 300.13B wouldn’t apply. You can use all 4 screws. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/92 "2010-07-31T18:37:00Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Most circuits should only be 15 amps, right? Why wouldn’t the cheap bastards just get rid of the screws entirely and use the plug-in terminals on the back? [/QUOTE] Because back-stabs suck. I’ve replaced enough burnt receptacles to never use those wretched things. They make a connection that’s good enough for a 60-watt light bulb, but it’s when someone plugs in a high-draw load like a clothes iron or a vacuum cleaner that 12+ amps are trying to flow through a point-contact and that connection gets hot and sooner or later fries to a crisp. ---
**Author:** ![Sirjosehime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@Sirjosehime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sirjosehime)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/93 "2019-11-04T03:28:34Z")
For those who dont know, it’s not the voltage that will kill you it’s the amperage. Yes technically voltage does have current but for the most part amps do more damage than the actual voltage. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/94 "2019-11-04T07:19:37Z")
Yet under the right circumstances, [less than 50 volts](https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/how-many-volts-amps-kill-you-human.html) can allow enough current to do the job. Even zombie volts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/95 "2019-11-04T11:43:37Z")
“It’s not the volts that kill you, it’s the amps” is a meaningless statement, because for any given resistance (such as the human body), there will be a 1 to 1 relationship between the two. And it’s more accurate to say that it’s neither the volts nor the amps that kill you, but either the watts or the hertz. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/96 "2019-11-04T13:37:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “It’s not the volts that kill you, it’s the amps” is a meaningless statement, because for any given resistance (such as the human body), there will be a 1 to 1 relationship between the two. I agree there is a one to one relationship between the voltage and the current through a human body but only if the voltage is measured while the current is flowing. Most of the time, people measure voltage (EMF)in an open circuit and the actual current through the human body depends on the resistance of the human body AND the internal resistance of the source. I agree watts maybe a better unit. So a 50kV taser will give you a bad shock but a 50kV power line will fry you to char. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/97 "2019-11-04T14:50:22Z")
Yes, I know this is a zombie… Funny story, I was having trouble with a 3way switch at our apt. The electrician hired by the complex was on property so I asked him to take a look at it. He launched right into it without flipping the breakers and seemed to be being less than careful. I asked him if he wanted me to cut the power for him but he declined. Thinking he was being a bit sloppy I asked him if he ever got shocked. His answer? “Every fucking day.” ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/98 "2019-11-04T14:51:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “It’s not the volts that kill you, it’s the amps” is a meaningless statement, because for any given resistance (such as the human body), there will be a 1 to 1 relationship between the two. > > And it’s more accurate to say that it’s neither the volts nor the amps that kill you, but either the watts or the hertz. It’s not the volts or amps or watts or hertz that kill you, it’s the part where your heart stops beating. That’s what kills you. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/99 "2019-11-04T19:38:09Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Because back-stabs suck. > > I’ve replaced enough burnt receptacles to never use those wretched things. They make a connection that’s good enough for a 60-watt light bulb, but it’s when someone plugs in a high-draw load like a clothes iron or a vacuum cleaner that 12+ amps are trying to flow through a point-contact and that connection gets hot and sooner or later fries to a crisp. I guess since electricity awakened this Frankenstein’s monster nine years dead, I’ll clarify, that we were talking cheap bastards eliminating extra screws. If they wanted to be really cheap, they could use the back terminals. Christ, I’d never buy that product. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545/100 "2019-11-04T23:02:12Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the neutral should only be switched if the hot wires are also switched at the same time, a ganged switch. > > your story is incomplete as to how the fire department turned off the power; did they do so with a switch or disconnect wires. > > what you’ve said doesn’t make sense to me as you’ve stated it. To answer this just a little bit late. I don’t know the details, but from what he told me - the guys who wired the house originally switched the neutral and the live from the house feed (or maybe on one phase) so what everyone though was neutral was in fact the hot and vice versa. the subdivision wasn’t built by the brightest bulbs and had lots of problems. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-an-electrical-outlet-without-turning-the-power-off/548545.md?page=6)