Do I need an electrician?

Question

I want to exchange a double prong outlet for a 4 prong outlet? Is this something I can do or should a professional do it. I'm pretty handy around the house but have never worked with anything electical.

Answer 1

A "Four Prong" outlet is a different type of circuit

from a 'two prong" one.

This is not a small job.

If you had to ask, you need an electrician.

Answer 2

Assuming you are saying that you have two 3-prong plugs now and want to add two more 3-prong plugs, then yes it would be a real good idea to get an electrician. Although you do not have to replace your outlet, you can get a multi outlet adapter that you can just plug into your current outlet. They have them with surge protectors too. Intermatic makes a good one. You do not have too replace the outlet you are going to have to add a second outlet. Make sure it is a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet because it is code.

Any outlet within arms reach of a water source has to be a GFCI. The best advice is go to Home Depot or Lowe's and check out your options before you buy or do anything. You can ask them questions about what you are trying to do or what you want to accomplish. They may have some ideas for ya. For the most part they have experienced people working there, usually an electrician.

Answer 3

Electricity is a dagerous thing, you have the switch off and start messin' around then - zap!  Turn the power off at the braker or fuse box and then get a circut tester to chech for current.  No current and take it out and put the second one in just like the other came out.  Do it wrong and you could burn down your house.  Good luck.

Answer 4

The only responsible answer is if you have to ask yourself "do I need an electrician?" the answer is always yes, especially if you've never worked on anything electrical.  Poor wiring is one of the biggest causes for house fires.

Answer 5

yes, you need an electrician

Answer 6

You will need the proper wire for a 220 V plug, your wire will have to have a neutral and a ground wire and the correct gauge. I would check with an electrician.

Answer 7

I think you are saying that you would like to change out a single plug receptical for a duplex receptical.  It isn't hard to do that, but you need to make sure the right wires go to the right places.  I assume you are in the USA for the following instructions:

1. plug a lamp into the existing receptical and turn it on.

2. turn off the circuit breaker

3. verify the lamp is now off

4. unplug the lamp and remove the receptical cover

5. unscrew the receptical from the box and pull it out a little

6. remove the green or bare ground wire from the original and loop it around the green grounding s***w on the duplex

7. remove the white current carrying conductor (often called a neutral though it technically isn't) from the silver terminal on the original and connect it to the silver terminal on the replacement.

8. remove the black hot conductor from the gold terminal on the original and connect it to the gold terminal on the replacement.

9. carefully push the wires back into the box

10. start the screws on the duplex into the holes

11. push the duplex into position (to push in the wires and not strip out your screws)

12. tighten the screws.

13. install the new cover plate

14. plug your lamp into the new receptical

15. turn the breaker back on

16. turn on the lamp to test.

Make your wire connections tight...  If you have a straight wire and are putting it under a s***w, bend a loop in the wire to hook around the s***w.

There are books at the hardware store with good pictures of the receptical installation process.

Edit:

If you are saying that you have two 3-prong plugs now and want to add two more 3-prong plugs then yes, you will need a 2-gang cut-in box.  It sounds to me like you are talking about 120V wall plugs.  Let us know if that isn't true.  Feel free to email me.  If you have a digital picture of the location I can help more.

Answer 8

as many have mentioned you do need a special recepticle called a GFCI because it is in the bathroom and near water.

You seem alot like me in the sense that I hate paying people for stuff I can do myself.

I personally installed several recepticles including the GFCI switch in my bathrooms and it was easy once I got some direction.

The way I learned is I bought a book called Wiring 123 or something like that, watched a couple videos on the DIY network website and at the end of the day found out that working with electricity isn't so bad.

However as mentioned before it is important to know when you have swam to far away from the shoreline and call in the cavalry.

Have fun and good luck!

Answer 9

You can get one of those plug its that goes into the type of outlet you have and has 6 outlets on it.  You may overload the circuit, though if you try to run too many items on it at once.

Beyond that, you do need an electrician.  It's a fairly easy fix if you know what you are doing, but there are so many what ifs on a job like that.

Answer 10

Based on your need to ask the question, Article 90.1 (C) of the National Electrical Code says "Yes, you do need to hire an electrician."

Based on the types of appliances you have listed, I am willing to bet that you are speaking of a bathroom receptacle. Using any type of adaptor in that receptacle successfully would mean that the receptacle has no GFCI protection; as GFCIs will not work when one is plugged into them (they device will trip). That is another good reason to hire a QUALIFIED, LICENSED PROFESSIONAL. Code requires that bathroom receptacles be GFCI protected, and supplied by a 20 Amp circuit. Have a pro come out to add the extra receptacles you need; and have him check that you have GFCI protection for the receptacles. Have him (or her) check to be sure the GFCI protection is still functioning (you can also do this yourself - just push the "TEST" button). Be aware that UL (Underwriters Laboratories) & the IAEI (International Association of Electrical Inspectors) estimate that over 80% of all existing GFCI receptacles no longer function correctly. They may even allow themselves to be re-set after testing. The last Standard written by UL required that GFCI receptacles could not be re-set after testing if they were wired incorrectly or if they no longer offered Ground Fault Protection. The newest Standard requires that GFCIs also provide an "end-of-life" indicator, so you will know when they stop working correctly.

Adding an additional receptacle will not take a pro long, depending on what type of electrical installation you have; on the other hand, doing it yourself by taking some of the advice offered here is not only dangerous, but very foolish.

Most of the people offering electrical advice here should take this advice to heart: Keep plenty of hot dogs and marshmallows on hand; the fire department will enjoy them while they keep the fire from spreading to your neighbor's house.