It is a three way switch that isn't working properly the red and black wires are connected to the switch and the white wire is connected to the box.

Should be no reason why any wire other than a green or bare ground wire should be connected directly to an outlet or switch box.

If it is a 3 way switch, you should have 3 wires on the switch, a common on the black screw and 2 travelers. Are you sure the white isn't broken off one of the screw terminals and just laying in the box? If you have only 2 wires on the switch, you only have a single pole or a missing wire.

If this switch was wired with the white wire intentionally connected to the box, scary how this home may be wired.

Thanks for responding and sorry about the name change I had trouble logging in. There is a box in the kitchen with 4 switches ( hall, dining room, kitchen lights) when we bought the house they didn't seem to work properly we discovered they were two wire switches, we replaced them with three wire switches and just copied the way the other switch controlling the same light was wired. Does this sound right? This box was the only one in the house with new white switches so hopefully I won't find more scary things.

As I said:


Should be no reason why any wire other than a green or bare ground wire should be connected directly to an outlet or switch box.

I cannot imagine how these switches are wired with one wire connected to the box.

Either provide a wiring diagram or even better photos if possible.

If you not sure about this I need to highly recommend that you hire an electrician to check things out.