[BroA]

Greetings,
Installing an AC outlet in new place I am renting. This is new terrain for me and welcome any reflections you have before I give it a go.

There is already a box with the wiring in it that was covered by a plate.
I am now wanting to put the AC outlet back in this particular spot and have the AC outlet front plate. I did enough homework to understand about the Neutral, Ground, and Hot wires and what screws they need to get attached to on the back of the outlet.

To help me figure this out and understand the two questions I am about to ask, please refer to the image attached below.

1) There are two sets of wires (an extra black and white - hot and neutral) with a red cap on them in the box. I am not sure what the red caps might be signifying. My intuition is telling me I should using the three white cap wires and not touch the red ones. Do the red caps vs white caps mean anything in the electrical world?

2) All of the wires seems to be in a series (meaning they are both coming in from and out of the box to somewhere else. So, when hooking the neautral, ground, and hot wires to the back of the outlet, should I attach both of the wires that are capped to keep the series going? Is that even possible to do on the back of the AC outlet (those screws seem small)? My guess is yes and welcome your input.

Thanks for the support electrical peeps!
:smile:

 

[BroA]

Hmmm.... Being a newbie, not able to post the image just on the post. Please check out my "Album" to see the image.

 

[BroA]

 

[Jim Port]

Being this is a rental your landlord should be hiring someone to do this, not you.

 

[jimn]

Please if you are renting one of my properties stop now. If you need a new outlet installed call me.

 

[BroA]

Thanks for the replies so far. My landlords are friends and it is a unique rental situation. I am attempting to "do it myself" as this is an "extra" outlet that they are letting me activate. So, I still welcome specific suggestions and answers to my questions.

 

[Speedy Petey]

Thanks for the replies so far. My landlords are friends and it is a unique rental situation. I am attempting to "do it myself" as this is an "extra" outlet that they are letting me activate.

No matter. You are not the owner, and have no experience with this type of work. Both you and the owner are crazy for doing this.

Hire a professional.

 

[dmxtothemax]

The color of wire nuts,
Usually relates to size.
And the capped wires,
You need to be sure they,
Are not unconnected for
A valid reason such as
Being faulty ?

 

[Oso954]

You really need an electrician to look at that box. I believe the receptacle was eliminated so they could add a new use, branching off of the circuit. While I can't detireman the exact size of the box, I think it would be overfilled withe the addition of the receptacle, if it is not over filled already.

If they did add load to that circuit, you might not have enough amperage left over to support the AC.

 

[Ron6519]

Do you know if the outlet was wired for a 120 volt A/C or a 220 volt A/C? Are the white and black wires both carrying current?
If you wire it for the wrong voltage, the A/C will fry(not work anymore).
You need to know how it was originally wired to proceed.

 

[jeffnc]

The color of the wire nuts don't really mean anything, other than sometimes how many wires and of which gauge they can tie together. But in the context of your question, they don't really mean anything.

To hook up an outlet here, you'd really need to know more about those circuits - where they're going, what they're intended for, what voltage. You can use a multimeter available at a hardware store to determine voltage, and also which of the wires are hot coming into the box. Of course only black or red wires should be hot, not white, but that still doesn't tell us which wires are hot coming into the box, and which wires just continue on from the box to somewhere else.

You'll also want to verify if they're all on the same circuit, which you can do by using your breaker box in conjunction with the aforementioned multimeter.

You say you want to put the outlet "back" - how do you know there was one there before?

 

[BroA]

Thanks for the feedback folks. To answer some of the questions posted here... It is a standard 120v. Yes, there was an outlet here before but for reasons that have nothing to do with electricity, the outlet was removed and a top plate installed to cover the wiring. I am going to rent a volt meter from the tool library and see what is what.

One of the main questions that I am still figuring out and could still use your feedback on is about the "series" situation. The circuit is obviously "in series" moving through this box. I am going to detach the wires to see what stops working downstream. And, IF I can not live with that (if something in my little cabin is downstream that I need to keep working on this circuit) would I just hook both the wires coming in and out of the box to the back of the outlet? For example would I attach both of the "hot" black wires to the "brass" fittings on the outlet? I noticed there are two brass screws (for hot) and two silver screws (for neutral) (and one green for the ground). Is that why there are two screws? So I could continue a series going through the outlet?

Thanks for the support.

 

[Jim Port]

So you are going to continue working on someone else's property without a whole lot of knowledge? Nice show of respect for the owner.

 

[hueco]

Can you say what voltage the AC needs? Many are 220/240 volts so, the wiring you describe may not be adequate. Sounds to me like the box contained a branch circuit with two sets of wires, incoming and outgoing.

Problem is, that branch circuit may have been altered to obtain 220/240 volts which means you'd need to investigate further and confirm the hook-up in the panel and the downstream outlets. I use the term "downstream" as shorthand for where the outlet (in question is) relative to the service panel and other "downstream" outlets. Clarification may not be helpful, so, all outlets are "downstream" of the service panel. I think you need to understand the circuit before you begin.

 

[jeffnc]

If you've done enough homework to figure out what the wires do, it's easy to research how to wire up the outlet. There's a little tab on the outlet that connects the top and bottom outlets. I've heard it referred to as a breakoff fin. If you cut this, the top and bottom are wired separately (for example, to plug a lamp into the bottom one to be controlled by a light switch.) If you leave it intact, then you can use either screw for the live incoming line and the other for the downstream load.

However, you could also just as easily connect your downstream feed with pigtails inside the box and only connect to one lead on the terminal.

I would tend to agree with another post, that the box might be too small for the outlet and all wires you're going to stuff in there.

 

[zolakk]

I think there might be some confusion here that would be good to clear up. Everyone seems to be assuming that the OP is referring to AC as in Air Conditioning, but it's possible they mean AC as in Alternating Current (or not DC). It's possible this could change the conversation a bit as far as what is needed and/or possible

 

[jimn]

I think it's pretty clear that he is referring to a standard North American household voltage receptacle or outlet.

 

[jeffnc]

I think there might be some confusion here that would be good to clear up. Everyone seems to be assuming that the OP is referring to AC as in Air Conditioning, but it's possible they mean AC as in Alternating Current (or not DC). It's possible this could change the conversation a bit as far as what is needed and/or possible

Thanks for clearing that up zolakk. I was actually a little confused by some answers as well, but I think you're right - some people are thinking Air Conditioning. Personally, I assumed Alternating Current, FWIW.

 

[GrayHair]

Are you familiar with the word subrogate? Subrogation is when an insurance company which pays its insured client for injuries and losses then sues the party which the injured person contends caused the damages to him/her.

If there is a fire, even 30 years from now, your work will be blamed and, as I put it, the insurance company will "subrogate all over you". It isn't worth it!