Why would an outlet have two black wires two white wires one red wire and a ground?

Answer 1

The normal colors of a residential outlet are black(hot), white(nuetral), and bare/green(ground). It is common to 'feed thru' an outlet, in other words to bring the power in on one trio of wires tied to the outlet and send it out on another trio of wires also tied to the outlet. If however one white wire is not connected the power will not feed thru properly and whatever outlets are downstream will not work. It is possible to burn up whatever equipment is plugged into the downstream outlets, espiecaly if it is electronic ie; omputers, video equipment etc... Hope this helps. Remember turn off power before working all electrical outlets.

Answer 2

An outlet with two black wires, two white wires, one red wire, and a ground wire likely indicates a split receptacle, where one half of the outlet is controlled by one circuit (red and black wires), and the other half is controlled by a different circuit (black and white wires). The white wires are neutral, the black and red wires are hot, and the ground wire is for safety.

Answer 3

- This outlet is not wired to a switch or anything like that. One set of wires is wired into the sides of the outlet, and the other two sets are pushed into the back connections. would I need to replace it with a special outlet? and is it safe?

Answer 4

You don't say if there are other wires or how many actual bulbs are involved. Black should be hot side and there should be a white wire as common and a bare or green wire for ground. If there are white and bare wires in addition to 3 black wires then it is likely each black wire goes to a different bulb so they could be switched separately. In this case you could just tie them all together. If this is not the case you need to trace the wires using an ohm meter to figure out where each wire goes.

You would have to provide more information as to type of fixture and bulbs to allow a complete answer.

Answer 5

Some older cloth covered wires tend to loose color. Check ohms with a meter between silver screw and ground. It should be zero or thereabouts.

NOTE:When checking the ohms, make sure the circuit is off. Your ohm meter will be destroyed if you attempt to check ohms of a live circuit and happen to cross the "hot" wire.

Answer 6

question does not contain enough information to be answered.

If you mean the wires on a device, it means it does not matter how it is connected. If you mean wires supplying power, something is wrong or they are so old the white has become so dirty you cannot see it.

Answer 7

wire nut the three whites together with a fourth wire going to the outlet same for the black

Answer 8

It's possible that the outlet is on a switch, and either one half of the outlet is switched or the whole thing. The extra two pair of wires probably feed the NEXT outlet.

Answer 9

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