Change receptacle question - help please

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m4p

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Hi all,
I have a receptacle right now that has 2 plugs. I just bought a drinking fountain for my cat that I want to be able to turn on and off with a switch. So I thought a single pole switch and receptacle would be good. It would have one plug and a switch that activates and deactives the plug.

However, there are 4 wires for the receptacle with the 2 plugs (2 white and 2 black, don't see a green ground wire) that I have now. According to the device I want, there are 2 wires (1 black, 1 white) to install it. This is the one I'm interested in:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...itch-and-Outlet-White-R62-T5225-0WS/202035011

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
The green screw on the device you linked is the ground. Your house ground wire is likely bare if your house is wired with Romex.

It sounds like the outlet you want to replace is somewhere in the middle of the circuit and is feeding another outlet downstream. You can wire nut the two blacks together with a pigtail and put them on the gold colored screw. The two white wires can be wire nutted together with a pig tail and one marked common. I believe your switch will then control just that outlet. They don't provide a schematic at the Home Depot site. The box should show how the switch is configured. I don't think you need to install a jumper from the switch to the outlet. I could be wrong, I haven't wired one of these up in a long time.
 
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Pig tail__ 6 inch piece of wire to feed power from wire nut to fixture.
In this picture, power comes to the switch and from the switch it feeds the brass screw for the outlet.

And where it says hot. neutral and ground. Imagine wire nuts there with the two black and a pig tail , two whites and a pigtail. And so on.
 
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Thanks very much for the replies. This looks a bit complicated and I know it probably isn't but I've only changed a couple outlets in my lifetime. I did watch a video on Youtube but there he only had 2 wires, instead of the 4 I have. Neal, thank you for the diagram. It is very helpful.

Sparky, if this outlet is feeding another one downstream, won't replacing it with the outlet I want cause the downstream outlet to not work anymore?
 
I just chatted with Leviton and the issue would be if the feed continues further downstream, I would need to hardwire the connections, as not to have a break in the circuit and lose the downstream outlet. I have no clue how I would do that, or does the pigtail do that?

Here's a diagram from the PDF instructions.
 
Thanks very much for the replies. This looks a bit complicated and I know it probably isn't but I've only changed a couple outlets in my lifetime. I did watch a video on Youtube but there he only had 2 wires, instead of the 4 I have. Neal, thank you for the diagram. It is very helpful.

Sparky, if this outlet is feeding another one downstream, won't replacing it with the outlet I want cause the downstream outlet to not work anymore?
Try this.
If you were to take this outlet out completely. You would wire nut the other wires together. Then you have power to the other outlets.

So now with the new switch outlet, you break out the little link between the screws on the right side.
Put a short jumper black from the left of the switch to the right of the outlet,

Add a short black wire to the brass screw and the wire nut on the black wires
Add a short white to the silver screw on the outlet and to the wire nut on the white wires.
Same with same with ground or what ever you have to do to connect them all and the green screw on the outlet.
 
To keep the downstream outlets hot, this would work.
 
#1 break the tab where indicated
#2 connect both existing black wires in the box to each other with a jumper and wire nut the three wires together securely.
#3 connect both existing white wires in the box to each other with a jumper and wire nut the three wires together securely.
#4 connect the jumper from the two black wires to the top right screw
#5 connect the jumper from the two white wires to the bottom left screw
#6 connect a single wire from the top left screw to the right bottom brass screw (not the green screw)

Note: You say you do not see a ground wire in the box with the existing receptacle. If the box is metal the box may already be grounded. You can attach a single wire from the green screw on the switch to one of the clamps on the metal box and secure the wire. Although not using a wire from the switch to the box will still ground the switch when and only when it is screwed into the box (screws complete the ground) and only if the present box is metal and is grounded. If the present box is plastic and you do not see any ground wires in the box and the cables (romex) look pretty new look deeper in the box. It is possible that they are tucked deep in the box. If no ground wires then no option to ground switch

The above method will give you continuity of power from this receptacle whether this receptacle is switched on or off to the downstream receptacles and will also give you the ability to turn this receptacle on and off as you please without disrupting receptacles downstream.

Please forgive the "raw" drawing attempt - not an artist and don't have sophisticated drawing programs and only on my first cup of coffee this morning.


levpole.jpg
 
Wow, thank you all very much! You're all so brilliant with this stuff. I am going to print everything out so I can follow along. As I said before, I've only changed a couple outlets, and it was like for like. My fear is that because the wiring is old, I will end up breaking a wire. This actually happened once when I was changing a light switch. The wires were short to begin with and when working with them, the end of a wire broke off and then I didn't have enough wire. Ended up having to call an electrician to fix my um, error :) I still am going to attempt to do this and your directions are great.

In the meantime, I found this on Amazon and looks like it would work well for my use temporarily: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M7V6U2Q/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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You know come to think of it I think you should use this instead. A single gang combo GFCI receptacle and single pole switch. I forgot it was a drinking fountain that you were plugging into the receptacle. Since I don't know anything about them and the fact that water is involved I suggest this be used instead of a regular switch/receptacle combo. Also if the electrical cord of the drinking fountain is above horizontal of the single gang combo you should provide a drip-loop as they would for a filter pump for a fish tank.

If any water to escape the fountain and end up on the electric cord of the fountain and the fountain was above horizontal level of the receptacle then -

Please see my "crude" drawing. Do not run the electric cord from the fountain straight into receptacle (orange line) as gravity will take the water directly into the receptacle. Instead be sure the electrical cord is (as per "purple") providing a drip loop at the very bottom of the cord loop itself. This way the water will drip below the receptacle.

Post notation: We do not know age of home or type of single gang box this is that your present receptacle is in. Both a regular receptacle/switch combo and GFCI receptacle/switch combo are much deeper than a regular receptacle. If this is an older home the box may not be deep enough to accommodate this type of setup.

gfcinswitch.jpg driploop.jpg
 
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