It would be wise to mention the BARE ground wire!! Even though allowing the bare ground wire to come into contact with the screws on the WHITE side of the plug (when stuffing everything into the box) will not cause "sparks to fly", it is advisable to make sure they DO NOT touch. The GROUND return is to remain separate from all the other wires throughout the system, it's a safety thing. This is why we typically first stuff the GROUND circuit into the back of the box (and along the bottom), then the white (NEUTRAL) and last the black (HOT) in the front of the box. A very good and clear presentation... Thank You. P.S. A deep box sometimes makes things easier.
This happened to my outlet and the breaker kept tripping.. I think it's called a ground fault circuit breaker? It was definitely not easy to find, I had replaced all the outlets in my house. Make sure you keep those ground wires away!
@@carlos33193 Great point I have a GFI that keeps tripping and know the entire circuit is wired correctly. Never looked for that, something to do today !!! Cheers !!!
@@brl5755 ground touching the hot would flip the breaker from short circuit. Ground touching the neutral on gfci would trip because not all the current is coming back on the neutral and it senses that it must be taking ground back and trips. His issue was likely ground touching neutral if gfci breaker was tripping off on that.
Been doing Electrical work well over 48 years....I try to use 20 Amp rated outlets on 12ga, 15 Amp rated outlets on 14 ga. Just my preference! You're clear and concise on your work and explanation of each task...another comment...I was unaware about the small hole by the ground screw on the recepticals...now I know! You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!
Always thankful for your videos! Wish I was able to see each of the wago connectors before you put them back into the box. I’m so new at this it was a bit to fast for me. Trying to really absorb and understand everything you’re doing. Thank you so very much…
Couple of tips: you can also tell which side is the stud by wiggling the box. The side that wiggles more is not the stud. To tell where to cut, you can also reverse the new two gang box and hold the front of it to the wall. Put a level on top of the box and level it. Trace the outline, without the "ears", and that line is where you need to cut to precisely fit the new box.
Very nicely done videos. It's nice when you have a fairly new house to re-work. Things are what you expect as far as wire lengths, ground wires present, etc. I'm upgrading my 120 year-old home that was converted form knob and tube wiring many years ago. I have run into some really unique nightmares. Plug fuses instead of breakers, light switches that switch neutral, both phases of a split-phase system present in the same box (240volts inside), two different circuit feeds in the same duplex box, so killing one feed leaves the other hot, etc.
Thank you for pointing out the detail about lining up the faceplate screws! Drives me nuts when screws are not aligned, looks like installer didn't care. Sadly, my OCD has also cost me a few cracked faceplates from trying to tighten the screw "just a wee bit more".
Great video. I recently replaced a nonfunctioning single doorbell with side by side duplex /quad spo that i could replace the nonfunctioning singular doorbell with three off the shelf discreet ringtone wireless doorbells. Now can determine if there is someone at the front / rear doors or the deck. This video helped a lot with the project.
I always start the jab saw about an inch away from a corner, cutting away from the corner, because if you start at the corner, you'll overshoot the corner as you wiggle the saw in. Also, doing this keeps the corners intact while you're doing your main sawing, preventing the piece from breaking prematurely and perhaps giving you a jagged edge. Then you can finish it by sawing towards the corners and gently releasing the drywall chunk. I also align my jab saw on the INSIDE of the line that I drew. The line is drawn on the outside of the box, so ideally after cutting, the line is still sorta visible RIGHT on the edge of where you cut. This will give you a super tight box fit, so that you're not relying on those two small clamps alone to keep it from moving.
For the old work boxes, I prefer to bend off the little ears on the receptacle/switch so that it mounts deeper in the box. The old work boxes have a recessed area that will fit the rectangular part, but not the ears. That way, the faceplate goes flush(er) against the wall without a gap. I also like the old work boxes with screws (eg Madison Electric boxes) if you're mounting against a stud. The wing-boxes are ok for switches or if you don't have a stud in the location, but I don't like how unsecure they can be. I've almost ripped one completely out of the wall unplugging a plug in a tight outlet. This is especially bad with 2-gangs.
I've resorted to just driving a wood screw through when I reused an old work box. The wings sucked and putting a couple wood screws through the side into the stud solved it easy peasy
@@etherealrose2139 That's technically a code violation since those boxes aren't listed for that use. Not that anything would go wrong, but I would just spend the extra dollar on a box that is actually designed to be used in that way.
Jab saw, also known as a keyhole saw. I have one that has changeable blades and it came with one blade for wood and drywall sawing and a second blade that is made for metal. That way you can use one blade to extend the hole and the other blade to cut the nails, which makes removing the existing wire box a lot easier.
Yep, keyhole saw. Never heard it called a jab saw before. Interesting how this simple old tool has morphed into a fancy one with interchangeable blades.
@@calrob300 Different professions often have different names for the same tool. Not many people have to create keyholes these days so calling it a jab saw when you are working on thin or soft material like drywall makes perfect sense.
I had a similar problem with power supplies for my batteries. My solution was to mount a surge protector power strip to the wall, mount the supplies to the wall, and plug them all into the surge protector (and tie off the excess cables). This way I can turn on/off all of the supplies with one switch and all of them are behind some secondary surge protection (primary is a surge breaker in the main panel). My workbench already has 4 duplex receptacles so there's no need to add any.
Cheaper and cleaner looking than buying power strips, which have become quite expensive lately. On the other hand, there are so many charge based tools and devices nowadays that I have bought the long 12 outlet power strips. Also I always put a drop or 2 of lightweight oil on the screws of the old work boxes as the ones with the plastic tabs can be hard to tighten.
Another reason for using a hand jab saw is that you are less likely to damage a wire in the wall. You usually can feel if the saw is touching a cable as you are sawing.
Correct. Though when running new wire, just use a hammer to bust the drywall out for ultimate safety. You can square out the edges later since you're likely going to buy new drywall and patch it anyways. Then there's zero chance of hitting a hidden wire. Plus you get to bust a wall open ;)
I basically did the same thing a couple of months ago. I was remodeling and had the drywall pulled off so I could nail the box to the stud. Other than that it was the same process. I like that you can tighten the wire down in on your outlet and then connect your wires together. I suppose you could still do it this way with the old style wire nuts but the WAGO lever nuts makes it way easier. I wish I had some when I first started remodeling.
I like to wrap the outlets with electrical tape as an extra precaution. Also I suggest drilling in a drywall screw to add additional strength on the stud side of an old-work box when possible.
i think the biggest advantage of the Backwire outlet is the 4 terminals with a good tight connection on each side so it actually works better having two wires on a screw. just run supply to one outlet jumper over to other outlet and then have wire going out of box over there no wire nuts or wagos needed just twist grounds together leave 4-inch-long end on each and put on a crimp on sleeve so you can ground each outlet with free ends
HI Scott, I like what you did to double up on the receptacles. Where I live, all that you have is not to our "Quebec" Code. We are still with code stipulating metal boxes and using marrates. We also have another rule that we have to follow: If in the kitchen, where you could have 500 watt appliances, we are limited to 3 outlets per 15 amp breaker. Elsewhere (lamps in living room), that number can go to 6. We recently had an electrical code change, where each floor level lamp receptacle has to be a trr type,(tamper resistant). It has an internal shutter over the slots. No baby should be able to stick in a pointed knife into either slot. So, for us to do your type of doubling, here in Quebec, it is one of "depends". I should mention that sometimes some of our kitchen receptacles are split wired to a 220 15amp ganged breaker under the counter or to one such located at the main panel. The cabling is 14/3 The receptacle is split so that the upper plug is on one side of the 220 volts, and the lower side is on the other. This was allowed and done because of some counter islands have doubled receptacles, to support having concurrent active broilers, electric frypans, electric kettles and coffee makers at the one location. I did not see the split being one receptacle on one side of the 220, and the other receptacle connected to the other. People tend to use one recepticle beforee putting the third plug into the next one.. I do like the plastic boxes that you used. For the fun of it, check out home.depot.com and then home.depot.ca, and search for electric boxes. I do have a concern about wiring the grounds as shown. In the video, you show each ground wire folded and coming up the side of the receptacle. I would have wired the ground to first receptacle, and a short jump across to the second. As you did it, I would wrap electrical tape around the receptacles to prevent any accidental connection of ground to terminal connection before installing same into the box. I think that our electric code in Quebec lags by a few years versus your electric code. Thank you for a very clear and showing a clean way to double up on receptacles. Leslie from Montreal.
I've bought all my wagos at hd or Lowe's. They carry them in the southeast so odd that they wouldn't in your area. I've got 2, 3, & 4 slot wago nuts in small & larger count bags with no problem
I’m a 24 year electrician, I’ve had my masters license for 18 years. I cannot bring myself to use the “quick connects” or Wagos to make up joints. I’m an old school wirenut guy. 😁 Great job on your project! 😎
@@Around_The_Home Wago is also the manufacturer, not the connector type. Kinda like the Kleenex vs. tissue thing. You're right - lever nuts are the proper name.
I love these wagos. Im new to the electrical field and wire nuts are the general go to but sometimes dealing with low voltage and some drivers youre dealing with splicing together solid and stranded. These wagos make it a breeze. They have their obvious drawback in not being able to splice together a lot of conductors, also gauge of conductor can become an issue though rarely are you thinking about using a wago on anything bigger than 12, but I still think they should become the industry standard.
I noticed after removing the single gang box, you installed the double gang box you were unable to nail it into the stud, is that correct? So instead, you just pushed the double gang box in and it was secured by the wall panel. That is what you had to do since, you had no choice because, there was not enough room to nail the box in.
@@mrnapolean1 Yeah, people like me! When running pigtails like this I have rolls of both 12 and 14 gauge wire with green insulation to ensure no accidental shorts occur also! Edit: I also wrap the outlet with 2 to 3 wraps of electrical tape as yet another measure of protection!
It was a little hard to see, but it looked like the ground wire on the left was very close to the neutral terminals. I know this is very unlikely to cause a problem, but best practice is to make sure the grounds are back into the box away from the terminals. I once had a situation where the ground was near the hot terminal and I didn't notice until some time later that due to vibration it had loosened the outlet and when plugging into the outlet it shorted the hot terminal to ground. The breaker tripped, and it took awhile to trace the problem.
Since the neutral and ground are bonded at the main panel it shouldn't be an issue though you want to avoid stray current going back on the ground. Best practice is to try to bury it back in there away from the conductors and terminals, especially the hot as you said.
Nice demo of adding a second outlet. I saw the same thing Tom Cee observed. I dislike uninsulated wiring "fluff" inside of the box and try not to add to it if possible. I would prefer substituting an insulated green wire for making up the ground portion of the pigtails (or a white wire marked with green tape). Neutral should not be touching ground except at the Main Panel (and it didn't in this case, but pretty close.)
Our outlet and device designs are kind of stupid. There are these big exposed spot on the side of switches / outlets. It would be no problem if the screws weren't hot or had a cover. It seems very dangerous especially if there isn't a cover on the outlet.
i had old house and figured i would go with metal electrical box and they don't seem to make them very deep like plastic and when pushing wires back into box the one black wire actually was nicked by sharp edge on the hex/slotted ground screw in back of box so it blew circuit breaker when i turned it on
Wondering what you think.... I moved from my home to a senior living apartment building a few years ago. All of the outlets in this building have the 3rd prong rounded ground facing UP. To this day it still looks really odd to me, because all of my life I have seen them facing down, as you have installed yours. I know it's not a big deal, and have heard people say it has advantages installed up (still upside down to my brain)....What do you think? Keep up with the fantastic videos....I don't need to do any maintenance nowadays, but I still enjoy watching.
Very informative! I've been doing some electrical upgrades to my house that was built in the 60s so I've been running into a few nuggets here and there. This dual outlet setup might actually be useful in a few areas. My boxes however are metal and when I painted my paneling, I obviously filled in the gaps as well, otherwise it would've been really easy to find the studs. But since something like this was so helpful, I decided to sub so that I might be able to learn a few more tricks as I go along as well!
The tip on the 'J" hook was good I never knew that. I am not in this field of work and have spent way to much time trying to make those things to replace old and wore out one than I care to admit. Great tip.
I've done this to several of my outlets thoughout my home. I have a manufactured home, so changing out from single gang to double is extremely easy! I also have made some double circuit setups for laserjet printers and other heavy equipment in my home office... I also did this in my bathroom making a dedicated outlet for a space heater. this is the easieat way to expand a circuit for todays electronics. never seems to be enough power when you need it...
Are your wet room outlet(s) such that 1 is the gfci, and the other is connected downstream of the gfci, so that all preceptacle openings are gfci protected.
I saved those Milwaukee stripper pliers from another one of your videos in my A. mazon Wish List. the hole to form a J hook on a wire shure is neat and supper quick. They look like they're built well with narrowed jaws.
Great video, I also like using the multi, old or new boxes, that allows you to use screws directly to the stud in my opinion better if they are going to have a lot of use.
SEE: around 09:07 to about 09:35 Hey bro, do you not normally snap off the "ears" of the recips at the top and bottom, those pair of holes that are NOT needed in a res. application when using a commercial recip. I am employed doing only commercial and when I allegedly do res. work and some how, come across commercial recips i almost always break off those ear tab hole things.
Carlon now offers a diagonal screw mount also. It also has nails (only on single gang) which won't be used in this case and a front of stud mount option that can be broken off like a knockout. I used a 2 gang box and 2 #9 gauge, 2 inch construction screws and it's very sturdy.
Thanks for this info, bud. I have never liked using boxes that grab the drywall with tabs except for switch boxes since switches don't cause any pulling on the drywall. It's just bothersome to think that every time you pull a plug out of a receptacle you are yanking on the drywall. The box you recommend looks good.
If you get random GFCI tripping in the garage, I would start with your install. You left the ground wire extremely close to the neutral contacts on the left receptacle. Other than that, great instructional.
What are the technical reasons to add a second duplex outlet versus just using a power extender (with 3 outlets on it). I do see the space and neat point, but electrical I don't understand. It still an extension inside the electrical box.
Best pratice is to punch a tiny hole in center of new box livation then insert a #14 wire and spin it. Do this at several depths to make dure mothing in the way. Does not appear that you have a minimum of 1/4" outer jacket.of MN cable pass the vable clamp. If not a coflde violation.
I also like to drill a small hole into the box and a pilot hole for the stud after the old work box is installed, then just put a plastic or nonconductive screw to give the box extra strength in case something bashes into the outlet and tries to pull the box out of the wall.
Newbie question here, why not just use a surge protector power strip to get more outlets? I suppose there must be some advantage doing this than using a power strip, right?
Honestly, I was questioning the same thing, as long as the wire on the surge suppressor is 14 gauge (for a 15 amp outlet, 12 for a 20) then there's no real difference unless you want to have two GFCIs independently resetable (I do have this in my basement, but it was a short term fix for a pipe that wasn't sealed to the outside)
It depends on what you plug in. You may not need a surge protector, but you could add a power strip. The problem is that a power strip is that you're adding another device that can fail, hardwiring like Scott shows is safer and gives a cleaner look.
No usually you can bring the power into the GFCI (Line Terminals) and then run hot and neutral wires from the GFCI (Load Terminals) to the standard outlet. This will provide GFCI protection across both outlets. Need more info on Line vs Load check out this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bWfveKM6NEk.html
i did this in the kitchen but the two outlets was not the same one was 20A the other was 15A one for toaster oven and microwave oven and they work great
So the 2gang Old Work boxes don't necessarily need to be mounted to a stud? That's the issue I always have when changing a single to a double gang. How to mount those metal boxes to the stud. So I like the idea of those Old Work Boxes except for the pricing of course
You have the bare copper wire running right against the left one. Is that going to cause a problem? I seen electrical tape used to wrap the plug before installing.
What makes a lever nut "acceptable" and the stab connector on the outlets not? Both are friction holds, both have a way to release. I'm not sure why one is ok while the other isn't...
At least from my standpoint I am not a huge fan of the simple lever arm that holds 14-gauge wire into the speed wiring / stab feature. This feature is 1 and done since the lever arm defects and does not spring back to maintain a consistent amount of force. For the WAGO 221 there is a piece of metal that serves as a spring and the lever simply releases the spring. That is what makes the WAGO 221 reusable and a better option as compared to speed wiring.
I prefer to use green insulated wire as my ground pigtail. This prevents any issue with the bare copper wire (the grounding conductor) from bending back toward the receptacle when pushing in the wires and receptacles. I buy THHN 14 and 12 AWG with green insulation by the foot. If you do a lot of work, you can buy a spool of this wire.
@@kylekarcher I do understand. I prefer my way. Push all bare copper wires as far back as possible and use insulated wire for the conductors 'in front' of that.
Overall, good job. This is why the NEC should be readily available. People generally aren't stupid, but ignorance is a thing (didn't see any of either of those things here.) Well done. I would expect the Wago wirenuts to catch on as they sell more and more to commercial/industrial users, the price will come down. It's always a little pricey being on the cutting edge....
I agree, it only takes a moment, to tape it. It cost close to nothing and makes it a bit safer for the next person as a CYA. Also if wire nuts were used, I would tape them off as well.
Off topic. My home is electically heated. We have a 200 amp entrance. The furnace is a smart boiler. It heats water, and the hot water is circulated to the radiators with a pump. The smart part is that there is an outdoor sensor that determines the temperature of the water in the radiators. During November, the water is lukewarm. When it is really cold out, the circulating water is about hot 160F, and the boiler is drawing close to 80amps The main entrance is GFCI protected and as well, protected against lightning strikes. Both the boiler and circulation pump are in-home thermostat controlled. We also have a 60 gallon hot water tank. Its heaters demand 30 amps at 220volts. Here is a trick to save some money. Because hot water is less dense than cold water, even if taps are off, there is flow of hot water up the pipe to the tap, and in the same pipe there is a flow of more dense water downward back into the hot water tank. To stop that up/down flow, get some braided water connection cable and connect it in the form of a loop, such that the hot water out from the hotwater tank has to flow downwards before it flow s upward. With no taps open, you will notice that at the top of the loop, the braided cable is hot, but at the lower part of the loop, the water there is at home room temperature. The amount of braided cable I use is about 18 inches.
I am down to one recepticle in a bedroom duplex outlet. The number of outlets per room was fine in the 70s but with all the gadgets today, even a bedroom runs short. Hey could you also add the extra duplex and a usb hookup?
At 4:44 mark, it doesnt appear that there are two (2) Romexes coming into the box, and the fast motion made it difficult for a newbie like me to tell. Can you please confirm, and is this standard in single duplex outlet wiring?
late to the party, but would it make sense check the usual 'amperage draw' on the circuit before you do anything? if your circuit provides 15 amps, and your current (no pun intended) average total load is 12 amps, why add a receptacle at all? you can't do much with 3 amps, better to increase your total load capacity to, say, 20 amps, maybe 30 even, and THEN add your receptacle, thereby saving yourself frequent trips to the breaker-box.
With so many chargers and power bricks, could you do a video to add six plugs plus perhaps usb A and/or C ports ? In my building which is ancient there are mostly 2 plugs except for in the kitchen.
Always good practice to poke a screwdriver or something flat on top of box to feel for and pipes or possibly another stud if it’s a tight bay just to avoid Sheetrock repair if you can’t fit the 2 gang
I'd like to suggest you do a comparison of GFCI outlets from the different brands at some point, as well as cut them open. The comparisons are some of your best videos.
Those things can get expensive. Why don't you buy a couple of GFCI outlets and then send them to him so that he can cut them open and waste your money. 🤣🤣🤣 Just kidding. That would be an interesting video. The only thing is I'm sure they have electronics in them as well, so I don't know how he would also do a comparison of those.
This, and also use the Klein RT250 on them all to see which is fastest to trip. I got one and the novelty hasn't worn off yet! And from my goofing around with it, Leviton GFCIs seem to be the fastest in the west.
@@REXXSEVEN I think a comparison of GFCI should definitely include speed of trip... I'd rather get zapped for. 01 seconds instead of the maximum spec of 5 seconds.
Not sure why did you use connectors/wago? I think simply you could just connect each outlet to one of the lines. just the ground wires you can use one wago to 4 of them (2 from panel and one from each outlet) . I'm saying that because each outlet has two outlets connected by default. And I did as per my suggestion last month.
What if my single outlet has a white wire, black wire and red wire? House was built in 70’s- Im having trouble figuring out how to make this into a double outlet
So I’m embarrassed to say that I just learned this after being an electrician for some time. But when using the old work boxes, if you break the ears off of the receptacles they’ll sit in the recesses on the box and the cover will then be flush with the wall. With the ears on they sit proud and you’ll have a gap.
Great video as always. One question I always have with outlets: does it matter if anything touches that ground wire in the box? usually everything is so cluttered in there stuff ends up touching it. IDK bare wire without coating just makes me nervous. (I know nothing, sorry if a dumb comment)
The ground wire and the neutral (white) wires are hooked together in the main breaker box right where the wires come into the house. As long as it isn't the hot(black) wire that touches it, it isn't that big of a deal. However, when I do any electrical work I always, always, always make sure the ground is covered! Even if I have to use a piece of heat shrink tubing on the ground wire, the ground will be covered when I'm done working on it!!!
What is the current rating for those lever nuts? Should the line be inserted closest to center with branches next to center and immediate receptacles wired to the wings to minimize heat concerns from loading?
I noticed there's no visible sheath inside the box with the romex, which I understand is a code violation. I've found that getting the sheath through the replacement box is the hardest part of this job. Something about having very little sheath and space available to shove it through make it get stuck on the clamp. I think the Arlington "One Box" works a bit better for this because there's a nice big hole where you put the plastic bushing. Though it's still hard to get the sheathing through.
Old work boxes have the wire openings more recessed so you can tuck the box into the wall with the wires already inserted. Unfortunately, this causes you to lose that 1/4 or sheathing from the original box. I wonder if there is an approved method to restore the length of the wire sheathing so you can have that 1/4 inch minimum protruding into the box?
