I replaced the first outlet in a series of two. The wires are the old cloth covered ones. I hooked them up the same way as the old outlet. But I used a new outlet that has the ground. (no ground wires in house). The breaker kept tripping so I removed the metal bridge's on the outlet. The breaker stopped tripping but one one plug one the first outlet works and the second outlet doesn't work at all. Please help.

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I hooked them up the same way as the old outlet.

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You may think you wired the new outlet like the old one but you didn't. If you had it would be working.

Some where you got the wires crossed. I can't quite figure out what you did to get things working the way they are but no matter it is wrong.

I assume that the first outlet box has two cables in it and that there is only one cable in the second box and that there are two wires in each cable. I also assume that due to age you can't tell what colors the wires are. You are going to need a meter to tell which cable has the incoming hot and which wire in that cable is the hot (black) and which is the neutral (white).

Turn off the power and remove and discard the outlets you just installed. Put a wire nut on each wire. Look in the outlet box, there may be an unused ground wire curled up in the back. If not there may be a ground wire that has been clipped off shortly after coming out of the sheathing. There may be no ground wire.

You are going to need a ground wire to determine which is the incoming hot wire. You can do that in a couple different ways but you will need a meter. Do you have any outlets that are grounded (three hole)? If not, are your other ungrounded outlets polarized, that is is the left slot (neutral) wider than than the right (hot)? If you have a grounded outlet you can plug in a grounded (three prong) extension cord to get a ground to where you are working. If your other ungrounded outlets are polarized use a polarized extension cord to get the neutral to the area you are working.

If you have nether of these you will have to make a ground by attaching a wire to a cold water pipe (assuming you have metal pipes) and bring it to where you are working. Doesn't matter what size wire, even small bell wire will serve for testing.

If you do not find a ground wire in the first box you will need to use a GFI outlet in that box. The outlet in the second box can be a regular grounded outlet. Otherwise you will have to use the two prong ungrounded outlets.

So insure that there is no ground wires in the boxes and tell us if you have a grounded outlet anywhere or if your ungrounded outlets are polarized. We will help you sort it out.

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Originally Posted by chefjohn1

I replaced the first outlet in a series of two. The wires are the old cloth covered ones. I hooked them up the same way as the old outlet. But I used a new outlet that has the ground. (no ground wires in house). The breaker kept tripping so I removed the metal bridge's on the outlet. The breaker stopped tripping but one one plug one the first outlet works and the second outlet doesn't work at all. Please help.

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From your post I get the impression that you have no idea what you are doing. I hate to say this, but please stop guessing at how to do things like this and have someone who knows come in and do it, or at least help you and show you.