I am beginning to replace some old 120v outlets when I took off the face plate I found I have 3 white wires and 3 black wires. Do I cap two of each and only attach one black and one white on new outlet on new outlet?

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Originally Posted by jimmie99

I am beginning to replace some old 120v outlets when I took off the face plate I found I have 3 white wires and 3 black wires. Do I cap two of each and only attach one black and one white on new outlet on new outlet?

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So you have to pigtail. Attach a short white and wire nut to the 3 white. Attach a short black and wirenut to the 3 black. Attach the short white to the outlet (white screw) and the short black to the outlet. Outlets sometimes come with a pressure contact for the wires in addition to the screw contact.

If it's a 3 prong outlet, there needs to be a bare ground wire, you need to bond to the metal box and pigtail a short green wire to the green wire on the outlet. The green pigtails are available at the hardware store. They can be attached with clips or green screws. It's not acceptable to assume that the screws attaching the outlet makes the ground contact anymore.

I've made a few assumptions: metal box. One of the outlets is not switched separately. 2 wire with ground wiring.