How To Add an Outlet to an Existing Circuit | Closet

what's up guys Sparky Izzy here and today I'm going to show you how I installed a receptacle inside my closet using an existing circuit all right guys so with this project I was working by myself so the first thing I did was use this Klein circuit breaker finder um the model number for this is et310 and what this will allow me to do is put a transmitter into the receptacle that's on and I can use a receiver at the panel and find the circuit so I can shut it off foreign that there was no longer power on the receptacle I used a tape measure on one side of the wall to get measurements to find out where I'm going to install the receptacle on the opposite side of the wall so I'm going to be adding this receptacle inside of a closet for a vacuum once I get my measurement on one side I can Mark exactly where I want to put it on the opposite side I used some blue painters tape to put on the wall because when you peel it off it doesn't take off any paint after I know where I want to put my receptacle I used a magnetic stud finder to find the nearest stud and I know that the receptacle on the opposite side is going to be located somewhere near that stud so I try to make sure that I go a little bit more to the left so I can avoid hitting the existing box I work better when I visualize something so I move the tape over exactly where the stud is so that when I'm cutting it gives me peace of mind that I'm not going to hit anything and here I'm just double checking to make sure there's not a stud that I missed foreign height so I just measured the one that I'm getting Power from Just so I can match the height in the closet so I marked this line where I want the center of the box to be and I'm using a blue remodel box for Romex and instead of marking it like this you're going to want to flip it around on the face of it and you're going to mark it as shown so you could use a level but I'm pretty good at leveling things with my eyes so I don't really need it but you're going to mark it all the way around the box so that you can get an accurate cut make sure to stay below the mounting tab so that the Box doesn't fall inside the sheetrock I know it was hard to see with my bald head in the way but I put some black lines so you can see exactly where I marked it I'm pretty confident in this location that I'm going to cut the hole but if you're not confident you could always measure off the wall and just double check your measurements or fine tune your lines next thing I did was cut out the hole you could either use a Keyhole saw or you can use a multi-tool it's easier to use a multi-tool of course but you know you could always do it manually if it's your first time cutting a hole it's always better to cut it a little bit smaller you can always cut more sheetrock but you can't add sheetrock once you cut it out [Music] next I did a little test fit you want to make sure it's nice and snug if it's loose it's going to be hard to tighten the box but luckily I cut it out to the perfect size but look how close I got to that box I'm really glad I didn't hit it but that's the risk you take when you measure it only once so if you're a bit nervous about being close to the existing box just move it a little bit over to your left foreign with the power still off I took off this receptacle because I'm going to be using this existing circuit to feed the receptacle inside the closet I like to use this pen tester just to verify a second time that their power is off I really dislike in residential homes when they backstab the receptacles I rather do loops it's a lot safer I've seen some receptacles catch on fire so we're going to fix that but first I need to knock out a hole in the box so that I can run a new Romex to the other side of the wall when dealing with an existing receptacle the longer the wire is the better so cut them as close as you can to the device if you're unfamiliar with Romex Romex is used for residential applications the most common ones for General receptacles are going to be a white Romex which is called 14 2 which is 14 gauge two conductor plus ground then you have a yellow Romex that's 12 2 which is two conductors with the ground I'm tapping off the existing receptacle with 14 2 and that's because that's what's existing and it's on a 15 amp breaker the local code states that the Romex needs to be at least six inches from the back of the box or the point of entry to the end of the wires [Music] I like to strip the Romex down the middle where the ground is and what I'm going to do is separate all the hots neutrals and grounds and I'm going to put pigtails on the receptacle and connect them all with wire nuts oh yeah when you look at the face of a receptacle on the left side The Wider blade is your neutral on the right side is your thinner blade that's your hot and on the bottom is your ground this diagram shows exactly how I'm wiring it I initially grabbed some red and yellows but didn't fit right so I changed them out to 10 in Reds I really like using these non-conductive pliers to push the wires in the Box because it makes it a lot easier than using your finger and jamming the wires all the way to the back and since they are non-metallic you don't run that risk of nicking The Wire the electrical tape is optional but I like doing it so that I don't trip any arc fault breakers on accident where a ground could touch a neutral remember these plates are just meant to cover so don't over tighten them or you'll crack the face plate over on the other side you're going to run the Romex to the new old work box on the top right and top left there's two Phillips screws you're going to tighten those until they reach the sheetrock you want to make sure you do not over tighten them or you'll damage the box or the sheetrock or both installing this receptacle is going to be just like the other side the only difference is we don't have joints since this is the only wire we can connect them directly onto the receptacle when stripping the copper you want to have enough to make loops and with these Loops you don't want them too short or too long you want them just right I'm going to put some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about notice the direction the hooks are as you're tightening the screw the hook should be facing the same direction when dealing with these remodel boxes it might be a good idea to cut these tabs off the receptacle and that'll help you get a flush finish if you don't cut them off the cover plate might be sticking out a little bit so you want to do this before you put the cover on foreign now that it's all done I'm going to go ahead and turn the breaker back on and verify a power of course I can go into greater detail on this installation but there's only so much I can put on a video without overwhelming you so I hope this video helps somebody out I love passing on electrical knowledge and help the average viewer understand electricity better so with that being said make sure you like subscribe and hit the notification Bell Sparky easy peace foreign

Channel: Sparky Izzy

Views: 27,515

Keywords: how to add an outlet to an existing circuit, add an outlet to an existing circuit, handydadtv, how to add an outlet, how to add a plug, how to add a receptacle, 120v, 120, 240, 240v, single phase, three phase, electrician, how to, electrical, electric, electricity, residential, commercial, industrial, closet, add an outlet to finished room, tv mounted wall, existing outlet, existing circuit, no ceiling access, fish wire, run wire, romex, gfci, receptacle, outlet, plug, diy, remodel, room, power, wiring

Id: hbvJU4O7h9w

Length: 9min 50sec (590 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 08 2023