I opened up an electrical box to find a wire hitting the floor.
I have one outlet on the left hand side which contains a switch for a light and switch for a fan. It works fine. It has one black wire on one side and two yellow wires on
The other side. The right side had an old receptacle that was cracked, so I was hoping
To replace that either with a standard receptacle (condo building built in 1973) or a GFI receptacle. At the present moment I cannot figure out how to hook up the receptacle (a white wire which is about 6" long fell to the floor and I'm assuming that it came from the old receptacle). Can it be pitailed from the existing wires that hook up the light and separate fan?
If so, how would I go about doing that?

Thanks for all of your help!!

To begin with please describe the white wire a little better. Is it a coax cable as in home security, or cable TV. Does the wire have any writing on it? Is the box labeled? What else is in the box?

I am very hard-pressed to believe that an electrician left 6' of wire inside of a box. Peel back the outer sheath of the wire. Does the wire contain two copper leads, one colored black and one colored white?

Do you have a Volt Meter? If you do, place the black probe on the White insulated wire's copper end. Then place the Red probe on the Black insulated wire's copper end. Set the Volt meter for 200+ volts, whichever setting is closest to 240 Volts AC. Did the meter's show you a voltage, if so how much voltage is there.

If the line is HOT (120 VAC) Then you need to get someone from the Condo's Electrical Staff to inspect the system. You should never find a wire just hanging loose in a box.

Don, the white wire is 6 inches long. It is simply a white sheath wire (copper) that fell out of the box when I opened it up. My guess is that it was hooked up to something but must have been loose. The outlet with the separate light and fan switch is running fine. It is hooked up with one black lead and two yellow leads. I'm just concerned how I might go about hooking up the receptacle which I would like to replace? Can I pigtail (and if so, how) from the outlet that contains the light switch and fan switch (one black lead and two yellow leads going to that outlet) The old receptacle was cracked and after opening up the box, the receptacle no longer worked (neither outlet)... my guess is because the white wire (no tape on it or anything) was hooked up to something on the receptacle.

I can grab a voltmeter but will not be able to check readings until tomorrow.

The box contains about 4 black wires and 4 white wires which are secured by wire nuts.

Turn off power, It sounds like a Neutral pigtail came loose and fell out, needs to be connected back to the whites(Neutral), this will go to receptacle. A Black pigtailed will be the hot for the receptacle..

Thank you. I will give that a try tonight.