Does removing a socket lower breaker amperage?

TheBotman said:

I tried removing a socket. I turned off the power, I snipped the wires off, covered with electrical tape, put those plastic twist nobs on the end each wire individually. Then tucked it all into the "socket hole. I have a plastic cover with no holes i'll be screwing over to cover the whole job.

When i turned the power back on the hallway had no power. I checked the breaker and it was in the tripped position and would not click off. So i assumed it was broken and went to the store and bought a 15 amp two pole breaker and replaced it. I turned the power back on then flipped the breaker and the red wire sparked and instantly tripped. I turned it off and came here for advice.

did i do something wrong with removing the socket? Does that lower the amperage so i need to switch the breaker size?
is there a certain method i need to follow to tuck the wires in the old socket? should i remove the whole socket compeltely and just plaster over the wall?

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littlespark said:

How was the original socket wired? Ie were both the whites in the same hole, and both the blacks in a separate terminal?

If so, you will need to ensure these are still connected white to white and black to black.

you’ll need to strip a short length of insulation off the cut end, and twist the copper off the two wires together, then screw the plastic thing onto them.
There shouldn’t be any excess bare copper showing that could inadvertently touch the metal box.
The bare ground wires should also be twisted together.

Agree with above that @Megawatt is the member to advise properly

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littlespark said:

How was the original socket wired? Ie were both the whites in the same hole, and both the blacks in a separate terminal?

If so, you will need to ensure these are still connected white to white and black to black.

you’ll need to strip a short length of insulation off the cut end, and twist the copper off the two wires together, then screw the plastic thing onto them.
There shouldn’t be any excess bare copper showing that could inadvertently touch the metal box.
The bare ground wires should also be twisted together.

Agree with above that @Megawatt is the member to advise properly

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Lister1987 said:

Did you take the time to take a picture of the 'before'? @Megawatt is one of our stateside members that may be able to advise.

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TheBotman said:

I tried removing a socket. I turned off the power, I snipped the wires off, covered with electrical tape, put those plastic twist nobs on the end each wire individually. Then tucked it all into the "socket hole. I have a plastic cover with no holes i'll be screwing over to cover the whole job.

When i turned the power back on the hallway had no power. I checked the breaker and it was in the tripped position and would not click off. So i assumed it was broken and went to the store and bought a 15 amp two pole breaker and replaced it. I turned the power back on then flipped the breaker and the red wire sparked and instantly tripped. I turned it off and came here for advice.

did i do something wrong with removing the socket? Does that lower the amperage so i need to switch the breaker size?
is there a certain method i need to follow to tuck the wires in the old socket? should i remove the whole socket compeltely and just plaster over the wall?

Click to expand...

Then REMOVE the bare copper wire completely.

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Megawatt said:

Yes you should not have taken all the wires loose. Put the whites back together, blacks and red wires. Some how you have your live wire tied in with the whites. By removing that socket you failed to consider the loads down stream. Go to Lowe’s and buy a non contact voltage checker and find that live wire

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Megawatt said:

Yes you should not have taken all the wires loose. Put the whites back together, blacks and red wires. Some how you have your live wire tied in with the whites. By removing that socket you failed to consider the loads down stream. Go to Lowe’s and buy a non contact voltage checker and find that live wire

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TheBotman said:

Ok so this is what i'm dealing with right now. The yellow capped black wire is the live wire.

From what i understand you want me to connect the two white wires?
Then what after this?

Just so everyone knows i really appreciate the help and i will not be doing anymore work until i know 100% what to do.

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TheBotman said:

Ok so this is what i'm dealing with right now. The yellow capped black wire is the live wire.

From what i understand you want me to connect the two white wires?
Then what after this?

Just so everyone knows i really appreciate the help and i will not be doing anymore work until i know 100% what to do.

Click to expand...

Megawatt said:

What is that tiring them 2 black wires together

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TheBotman said:

The black wires were seperate. I put black tape on the bronze ground if that is what you are refering to.



But i think i got this now. I'm basically just putting the original wire back together to complete the current so it can travel to the rest of the fixtures and then back to the box to complete a "circuit"?

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TheBotman said:

The black wires were seperate. I put black tape on the bronze ground if that is what you are refering to.



But i think i got this now. I'm basically just putting the original wire back together to complete the current so it can travel to the rest of the fixtures and then back to the box to complete a "circuit"?

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Lucien Nunes said:

I recommend that you get an outlet tester, unplug all appliances from the outlets on this circuit, and test the outlets downstream of this point to confirm the ground is present. Plug-in outlet testers are not 100% reliable as a test method but it's better than nothing.

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Megawatt said:

As @Lucien says, you can go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and purchase this plug in tester he’s talking about and it’s less than $ 10.00 good luck

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TheBotman said:

@Megawatt @Lucien Nunes

Thank you for all of your help.
I pluged everything together. The grounds seemed to be connected in the back by two screws for each end

All my lights are back on, the connections don't seem to be smoking or sparking lol. and everything seems to be working as normal. I'll keep a close eye on it for the next couple of days while i do some more plastering and painting.

Turns out I called the previous owner of the house and the one circuit breaker i thought was tripping the back hall, was actually a totally different area of the house. An old water tank. So i just flipped it off and put tape on it to remember not to flip it. I'll be switching out the whole circuit board next as i found out its outdated Sylvania......


Again thanks everyone for your feedback and help.

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