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Need an electrician's help

sammyz

sammyz

LG Whiz Kid
Well, I'm moved into my new house now :D:party:

Only problem is that some electrician replaced every old outlet with a new one as well as light switches. Well in my new room, there's one outlet that was connected to a switch and still is with the new outlet, only problem is that after he switched the old outlets/switches with new ones, my switch no longer controls the outlet, the light (or outlet) stays on :(

The wires connected at the switch are black and red.

The wires at the outlet are black, red, and white (and ground as well) and the tab IS removed on the side the red and black is connected to (right side). White is connected on left side with the tab still there.

At the switch box, I disconnected the red wire from the switch and the light still turns on!!! (Of course I did this with the breaker off and then flipped it on to test what's going on.) I'm guessing somewhere along the way, the red wire is touching a black wire where it's no supposed to, but it was working before the electrician installed new outlets and switches :confused: maybe something is mislabeled/miscolored....:shrugs:

Of course my room is the only room having electrical problems :rolleyes:
 
Have you tried both the upper and lower plugs? Maybe only one is controlled by the switch.

And congrats on your new house!
 
Atma said:
Have you tried both the upper and lower plugs? Maybe only one is controlled by the switch.

And congrats on your new house!
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Yep, and thanks :D

Edit: on the outlet, only one is supposed to be controlled by switch which is the one with the red wire, but it stays on even though the red line is disconnected completely from switch.
 
I see, said the blind man. :)

Sounds like the black and red are making connection, as you said. If you had a meter you could test it. You can get them fairly cheap and do tests with voltage on or continuity tests with power off. Both of the outlet and the wiring.

Wonder if they ran a drywall screw through the Romex?

Do be careful!
 
With power on, my voltmeter is my lamp that turns on even though red wire is disconnected from switch and black wire is disconnected from outlet ;)
 
Can I just take the white wire and put that on a switch instead?? I don't care if both outlets get turned on and off...it won't bother me....unless I move all my furniture around.
 
Sammy, your first priority needs to be to find out what exactly is happening. You have the potential for shock or your house burning down. Seriously, get that electrician back in there to fix it!
 
sammyz said:
Can I just take the white wire and put that on a switch instead?? I don't care if both outlets get turned on and off...it won't bother me....unless I move all my furniture around.
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A switch should have a hot wire coming in one side and then on the other side a wire going to what the switch controls. The white wire is the neutral. Putting the neutral and the hot wire together is a nono. Although I've done it many times to cause a short and trip the breaker so I could find it. I don't think you want those results though. :D

If you're sure the tab on the outlet is broken, you may have a bad outlet. If you take the red wire off the outlet and plug your lamp in that part of the plug, does your light still come on? If you try that, make sure none of the outlet screws or the red wire is touching anything metal when you turn on the breaker.
 
No it doesnt come on if red wire isnt connected to the other outlet. Only one outlet works with just black and white connected.
 
I could help you but seeing how I don't have a license I only do my own. However if ya needin' a plumber hit me up. See my sig. ;) :D
 
Hey Sammy I was wondering if you ever got this figured out?

Firs turn off the circuit breaker connected to that receptacle

If not, the new receptacle that was put in has a tab on the brass screw side right now it sounds like its connected and you have the feed in going to that tab, thats powering both top and bottom. You should have another hot wire in the outlet box of that receptacle and that would also go onto the hot side of the receptacle. If you break the top part of the tab one half of the receptacle will always be on and the other will be controlled by the switch you have in the wall.
 
pl4life52 said:
Hey Sammy I was wondering if you ever got this figured out?

Firs turn off the circuit breaker connected to that receptacle

If not, the new receptacle that was put in has a tab on the brass screw side right now it sounds like its connected and you have the feed in going to that tab, thats powering both top and bottom. You should have another hot wire in the outlet box of that receptacle and that would also go onto the hot side of the receptacle. If you break the top part of the tab one half of the receptacle will always be on and the other will be controlled by the switch you have in the wall.
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Tab is broken already. Wire from switch is connected to top outlet and the bottom outlet is connected to no switch. Top stays on no matter what, so it must be touching something it shouldn't. Still having problems here :(
 
So on the brass screws you have a hot on one and a switch leg wire on the other one? Both of the brass screws need to have wires on them
 
pl4life52 said:
So on the brass screws you have a hot on one and a switch leg wire on the other one? Both of the brass screws need to have wires on them
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There are 4 wires:
Ground, white, red, black

Red is for the switch, white is whatever white is supposed to be,
Black is whatever black is supposed to be.

The red wire stays hot even if switch is disconnected. So its not a bad switch.
 
ok, red and black will be your hot leads one is a switch leg which sounds like your black since with red it stays on all the time. Your white is your neutral give me a few mins and i will post up a schematic as to what it should look like
 


This is just for the items you mentioned, not sure what else you have on your circuit.

The purple is Neautral (its white on your receptacle but to show in the pic i used purple) Black is your hot wire and red in the photo will be your switch leg. and the green terminal is the ground.

So what it should be is your receptacle with the brass screws having the tab broken, which would make the top and bottom separate power depending on on/off of the switch.

In your case i think red and black are switched, you can check 1. by taking out switch and seeing with colors are where or 2. hooking up a volt meter and with the switch off plugging it into the receptacle and seeing if you have power in one or two ( if tab is broken you will only have one with power)


if your taking off any face plates and taking receptacles and/or switches out please make sure circuit is off
 
I took out switch already. Black is the feed. Red is the switch. I disconnected switch already before and both outlets are still on.
 
pl4life52 said:
hmmm.. and your sure that the tab is broken on the brass side of the receptacle?
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Yes....doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out :p
I'm very good with figuring stuff out and I'm 99.99999999999% sure the red wire is for the switch. I think black and red are touching somewhere along the way. It just doesn't make sense to me the current wasn't staying on before he replaced all the outlets and switches in the house..
 
yeah thats the only thing that i can think of now that they are touching but if they are it would only happen in to places at the switch or receptacle.

did you try checking the red wire with a volt meter at the switch when its off to see if you get anything there
 
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