Puzzle for electrician

[Navy Jr.]

I'm trying to replace a standard 15 amp 125 volt duplex wall outlet where the top socket is tied to a wall switch. The switch no longer has any effect. Both the upper and lower sockets are always "on". I reinstalled the old outlet to see if I was dreaming, and the switch worked fine.

Is there a trick to making the upper socket switchable?

 

[tommays]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

When they come out of the box there are tabs that keep the top and bottom common

You can snap OFF the TABS on the outlet and that would allow the top and bottom to be wired seperatly

Tommays

 

[heyttown]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

It sounds like the both sides of the double duplex are on the same circuit, so all you should have to do is break the metal tab as described above on the hot (brass color) side, the neutral(silver) can remain.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

Ah, yes, that's it!! Looking at the old outlet, the tab on the hot side has been broken off. I would have never have looked there.

Thank you both so much!!

All the best,
Ken

 

[gss036]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

You should try doing a couple 3 ways w/a 4 in the middle, then you have a puzzle.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

You should try doing a couple 3 ways w/a 4 in the middle, then you have a puzzle.

Doesn't matter how many 4 ways you have in the middle. Just pay attention to your commons and travelers, and it's not difficult.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

Doesn't matter how many 4 ways you have in the middle. Just pay attention to your commons and travelers, and it's not difficult.

Not difficult for you. My dad was a jack of all trades. His main functions in life was a mechanic and a fitter. Those two jobs he was a professional at. He was a sometimer on everything else. He sometimes worked for an electrician. I grew up seeing a little about it. When we started building our house last winter we knew going into it that we were short on money so we had to do alot of the work ourselves. I told my wife that I'd be doing the electricial. She looked at me funny but said ok, then she got me a couple of electricians books for my birthday. It really wasn't hard but you have to pay attention. Since it was my families safety I made damn sure I paid attention. I've got about 9 different circuits that have 3 ways in them. Theres like 6 different ways to do a 3 way, I used 3 different styles to fit what I needed.

 

[cbac]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

Use GFCIs whenever possible.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: Puzzle for electrician

Use GFCIs whenever possible.

At $10 - $15 a crack, I'll use Ground Faults wherever NECESSARY. Not to mention, they're relatively sensitive to static electricity.

I install them wherever code requires, but no more than that.

For what it's worth, in this particular situation, it wouldn't work (top outlet independent of the bottom) with a GFCI anyway.