[djulson]

Hey all new to this site figured I'd ask a question. I put an outlet above another outlet for a tv wall mount. Got everything wired up and it works but when I push my new construction box into the wall the electricity shorts out. I'm assuming as I push the box into the wall some wires behind the box touch and short out. Any suggestions for what I could be doing for the wires behind the box to keep them organized and maybe from not touching?

 

[Jim Port]

Any cables behind the box should already be insulated. You should have used an old work box, not a new work box.

Can you post a picture?

 

[djulson]

Oops didn't mean to call it a new construction box it was "new" to me. I can work on a picture tonight, the ground wires behind the box are exposed and I feel like that is touching somewhere, could that cause the short?

 

[djulson]

I turn the breaker on and have the lights switch in the room on and something plugged into my top outlet and i will start pushing the old construction box into the hole and the lights will flicker off and my lamp plugged in will turn off but if I let the box come back out of the wall everything turns back on. So it gets to a point where I push the box into the wall and the short happens.

 

[Jim Port]

If the ground touches a hot it would short. The wires should not be shifting that much in the box to cause an issue, but it is possible.

 

[bernie963]

Hi,

Does not sound like a short to me. If a short circuit, the light would not come back on without resetting the breaker involved.

To me, it sounds like a loose connection. when the box is pushed in the circuit opens and the light goes off. When the box is pulled out, the pressure is released from the faulty connection and the light comes back on.

Bernie

 

[Jim Port]

I agree, sounds like a loose connection. look at the original box connections to the new cable.

 

[djulson]

thanks for the help I'm sure it is a loose wire maybe on one of my pigtails from connecting wires. The bottom box is actually a half-hot outlet which made it kind of harder to get the wires into the box. My outlet above is not a half-hot so some of the wires are really constricted into getting into the box because of where they are tied off behind the box. I think I am going to just put a pigtail on the red half-hot line and leave both of these outlets in the room as always hot.

 

[MT Stringer]

thanks for the help I'm sure it is a loose wire maybe on one of my pigtails from connecting wires. The bottom box is actually a half-hot outlet which made it kind of harder to get the wires into the box. My outlet above is not a half-hot so some of the wires are really constricted into getting into the box because of where they are tied off behind the box. I think I am going to just put a pigtail on the red half-hot line and leave both of these outlets in the room as always hot.

Maybe an alternative would be to buy a deeper "old work" box, like the ones used to install GFCI receptacles. That would give you more working room.