Put in a new light switch and outlet and everything seems to work fine, but
was wondering about a few things.

1. The light switch did not have a ground on the old switch or the one I put
in, should it? I did not see a ground wire in the box.

2. The outlet on the old switch had 8 holes to put wires in and the ground.
It had 2 red, 2 black and 2 white all in holes paired up together. I put in
a new outlet that only had 4 holes, so I put one red in a hole and the other
red around the adjacent screw. I did this for the white and black wires as
well. Is this the way to do it, or should I of wrapped 2 wires around each
screw?

Thanks.

"Al Franz" wrote in message
. ..
Put in a new light switch and outlet and everything seems to work fine,
but was wondering about a few things.

1. The light switch did not have a ground on the old switch or the one I
put in, should it? I did not see a ground wire in the box.


If the box is steel, you should either have a steel cable clamped to the
box, grounding it or a ground wire screwed down in the back of the box

2. The outlet on the old switch had 8 holes to put wires in and the
ground. It had 2 red, 2 black and 2 white all in holes paired up together.
I put in a new outlet that only had 4 holes, so I put one red in a hole
and the other red around the adjacent screw. I did this for the white and
black wires as well. Is this the way to do it, or should I of wrapped 2
wires around each screw?


This is peculiar, as the only reason you should have this many wires on an
outlet is if part of the outlet is on a switched circuit and the other part
is on a constant feed, or you have two circuits feeding the outlet. The best
way to address this is by spliceing each group of wires together with a
pigtail to the outlet. You can use one backstab hole and one screw for each
group, but can't turn more than one wire under a screw. There are brass tabs
on the sides of the outlet and my guess is that you'll need to break off the
one on the hot side of the outlet to make this work properly




Thanks.

"Al Franz" wrote in message
. ..
Put in a new light switch and outlet and everything seems to work fine,
but was wondering about a few things.

1. The light switch did not have a ground on the old switch or the one I
put in, should it? I did not see a ground wire in the box.

It might be grounded through the box, if steel. Your switch will then be
grounded through the installation screws.
If not, don't worry about it; you are no worse off then you were before.

2. The outlet on the old switch had 8 holes to put wires in and the
ground. It had 2 red, 2 black and 2 white all in holes paired up together.
I put in a new outlet that only had 4 holes, so I put one red in a hole
and the other red around the adjacent screw. I did this for the white and
black wires as well. Is this the way to do it, or should I of wrapped 2
wires around each screw?

The holes and screw part is okay; the issue is why you have black and red
wires. That should mean two separate circuits; most likely one receptacle
is switched and the other isn't.
Check your old outlet. See is tabs were broken off to separate the top and
bottom receptacles. They almost certainly were. You will have to do the
same to the new one. This might not make much sense until you see it, so
google on split receptacles and see if you can find an illustration.

It might be grounded through the box, if steel. Your switch will then be
grounded through the installation screws.

Since the switch works does that mean it is grounded. Or is it
possible to work even if it is not grounded?

That should mean two separate circuits; most likely one receptacle
is switched and the other isn't.

Yes I believe that is the case. Thanks for the help.

In article . com, Albert wrote:
It might be grounded through the box, if steel. Your switch will then be
grounded through the installation screws.

Since the switch works does that mean it is grounded.

No.

Or is it
possible to work even if it is not grounded?

Yes. The switch does nothing more than interrupt the hot wire to the fixture.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.