How To Move An Electrical Outlet ?

When you make a new house, you install the electric wiring and outlets according to your need, but after some days or years you may feel the need of a fitting or outlet at some other place where you don’t have it. In that case, you either put a new outlet there or move an unused outlet at that place.

For moving an existing outlet you need to have a drywall or keyhole saw, Phillips and flat head screwdrivers, cut-in electrical box, 12×3 electrical wiring, wire nuts, blank electrical plate, drill, 1 inch paddle bit, side cutting pliers and wire strippers.

You must know that before starting any electrical installation or repair, you should stop the flow of current in that particular circuit. Hence, switch off the circuit breaker connected to that outlet. To ensure that current is not flowing anymore, use a volt meter.

Next step is to prepare the space where you need to install your new cut-in electrical box. For that, trace the outline by putting the electrical box on the wall and cut it using a keyhole or drywall saw.

You can simply move the existing wire to the new outlet location. Just pull the wire up through the attic or down through the basement and move it to the new location. If the wire is not long enough then you have to run a new wire from the existing outlet to the new outlets location.

Fix the cut-in electrical box on the wall where you want new outlet. Tighten the 2 Phillips head screws on each corner until it grasps the drywall completely. Once the wire has reached near new outlet location, pull the wire through one of the wire feeds in the electrical box.

When you will do connections, put the black wire in the screw on hot side of the outlet (darker screw) and properly tighten it. Similarly attach the white wire to neutral side (lighter screw). Put the ground wire in green screw and your connection part is over. You can now fix the outlet to the electrical box using screws and at the end, put back the cover plate.

The old electrical box where the outlet was installed earlier should be covered with a blank plate to prevent any health hazard. Also to check that you have properly done the connections, switch on the power supply and check the outlet. If things run smoothly in the outlet then your job is done.

Scott Rodgers is an author with great experience in electricians work all over the country. His exemplary guidance has generated business opportunities for a lot many Lake Forest Electricians and Park Ridge Electricians .