Electrical Question

[North Country Dad]

We're getting shelving for a new closet that will cover up a wall outlet. I don't want to leave the outlet there as is (it will be completely covered and unusable).

What do I do with it? How do I reconnect the wiring inside the box so that it's safe? :huh:

[Cre8tive Dad]

I'm no electrician, but I believe you can just cap them off and tape them up.

[chuck]

easiest thing to do:
turn off the breaker
take the outlet out and cut the wires so there is no bare wire (the bare ground wire is fine on it's own)
put a wire nut on the black wire, and one on the white wire Wrap a little electrical tape around the wire nut to keep them on well.
Cover the box with a blank plate this way it is a very simple fix if some where down the road you decide you need that outlet there again and it will be completely safe this way.

Now that is assuming it is the only outlet on the wire, you may find when you take the out let out that there are two black and two white wires on the outlet, if this is the case simply strip and twist the two black wires together wire cap them than do the same with the white wires (don't connect the white wires to the black wires) other than that it is the same as above.

After putting on the blank wall plate go ahead and turn the breaker back on, all done ;)

[Hockeyfan]

Plus putting the plate overtop is code. It's considered a hazard to sheetrock over that. Weston is the guy to ask on here. He's an electrician.

[woodchuck]

To add to what Chuck said:

Wire nut the bare ground wires together ,
the black to black together,
the white to white together,
this way there's no break in the path, and you haven't shortened the wires either.
Then just a cover plate, and you are good to go.

Just as a sidenote, wirenuts don't come off by themselves, and work much better when they are applied to the bare conductor versus insulation.

[North Country Dad]

Got it. Thanks guys.

[jim]

Originally Posted by woodchuck

To add to what Chuck said:

Wire nut the bare ground wires together ,
the black to black together,
the white to white together,
this way there's no break in the path, and you haven't shortened the wires either.
Then just a cover plate, and you are good to go.

Just as a sidenote, wirenuts don't come off by themselves, and work much better when they are applied to the bare conductor versus insulation.

This is all assuming that the outlet is part of a circuit and not all by it lonesome.

[woodchuck]

A receptacle in a closet will be on a general use circuit, it may be on the end of the circuit, in which case, the wire ends still get terminated with wirenuts, orange for a single 14ga copper conductor works quite nicely, there are guidelindes for wirenuts as well.

There are however certain specific use receptacles that will be on their own circuit, that list is very specific, and does not apply in NCDads situation.

[jim]

I was only getting at that if it was not in the middle of a circuit there may not be any other wires to connect to, in which case just cap them off.

Of course not knowing who did the wiring in that house it is impossible to say for certain without seeing it what will be behind that outlet.

I live in a house where everything is half screwy at best. Drives me crazy when I have to do some type of repair or improvement.

[woodchuck]

I understand, my house is older than electricity, so you can imagine what kind of mess of conductors, materials, and methods have been used over the decades.