we'll jump right in with number one that
starts on the front face of some duplex
outlets you'll see some duplex outlets
actually have slopes cut all the way
around the slots and that makes it
easier to find the slot so if you're
slightly misaligned it's going to lead
you to the slot this is especially handy
in low light and dark environments but
just know not all duplex outlets are
created and some have a flat face which
looks a little more modern but it's
going to be a little harder to find
those slots now number two is that your
slots are actually two different sizes
the smaller slot is going to correspond
to your hot side and the larger slot is
going to correspond to the neutral side
that doesn't always matter depending on
the type of plug you have this is a
non-polarized plug so the prongs are
actually the same size and you could
plug it in either way but when it comes
to
polarized plugs where you see it does
have a larger prong that is going to
help you match things up and make sure
that your
appliance is plugged in correctly number
three focuses on the slots still and how
to quickly identify the difference
between a 15 amp outlet like this one
and a 20 amp outlet like this one you'll
see the neutral slot is different on the
20 amp and that would accommodate for a
20 amp plug which actually has a
horizontal opposed to vertical neutral
prong so that's how you can quickly see
if you have 20 amp outlets or 15 amp
outlets
number four deals with this little metal
cradle which is called the yoke and the
tabs that you'll always see on the end
of each side those tabs are actually
there to sit flush against the drywall
so when you fully install your outlet
everything's lined up and when you put
the face plate on everything looks good
and doesn't look sunken in like this
example which is definitely not
desirable
number five would be the same tabs but
you'll see that little cut line there
what that would be for is you'd take
your
your pliers or your wire strippers and
you'd bend those and break them off when
you have an insulation where you have a
metal electrical box like this example
where the duplex outlets are mounted to
the metal face plate
and then on the back side you can see
the tabs are broken off so everything
will have clearance and line up
correctly
to give you the fit and finish install
you're looking for number six focus on
the color of the screw terminals gold
indicating hot silver
indicating neutral and then green
indicating your ground now number seven
points out that although you see all of
these gold examples here every once
while you will see an example where
black is going to be your hot side
number eight is the tab feature here
this is connecting your top and bottom
screw terminals
if you want to separate your top and
bottom so possibly you can connect one
side to a switch on your wall so it
could control a lamp you would break off
this tab and then that would isolate the
two sides and you really only need to do
that on the hot side for the vast
majority of cases number nine calls out
a common misconception is that is these
screw terminals are actually not ideal
for a phillips head screwdriver they're
actually made to fit a number one
robertson
which is super common up in canada easy
to keep on the screw and get the torque
that you need or my favorite using the
ecx by milwaukee this is a number one
which has the robertson and flathead
together which gives you the best of
both worlds it stays on the screw and
gives you the surface area needed to
torque everything down now if you want
to see a list of all the recommended
tools for diy-ers check in the
description below the video you'll see a
link to our amazon store where
everything separated out just like in
our electrical you'll see those ecx
milwaukee screwdrivers and our favorite
wago 221 lever nuts
number 10 calls out these small little
plastic channels these channels can
actually be used to help bend a j-hook
around your screw terminal
if you go a little past center that will
help close that wire on the screw
terminal then number 11 just calls out
something we all should be doing and
that is going in the clockwise direction
around the screw terminal so when you
tighten down the screw terminal the wire
will not have a tendency to pull out but
to actually pull into the center of that
screw terminal resulting in a secure
install
number 12 calls out if you're using
these holes in the back commonly called
speed wiring to wire your terminals here
they're calling it push wiring many
people call it backstabbing you can only
use 14 gauge wire like this one
so it only will fit 14 gauge wire
although i do not recommend this type of
wiring for di wires number 13 even
though there are these slots that will
help you release the speed wires by
inserting in a flathead screwdriver like
this one
and you can release the wire that
feature is one and done and should not
be reused number 14 speed wiring and the
screw terminals are completely
independent so even though the screw
terminal is all the way out
speed wiring the wire's still secure
number 15 is my preferred way of wiring
an outlet and that is when you step up
to a commercial grade or spec grade
outlet
most brands come with what is called
back wiring back wiring utilizes a
little internal plate you can see there
so all you have to do is make sure the
plate is back
pass the wire in
and now when you tighten down your screw
terminal
that is actually pulling that plate on
the backside against your wire and
that's what's making your secure install
it's just a clean fit and finish install
and that is why i prefer commercial
grade outlets and using the back wire
feature when wiring outlets number 16
focuses on the strip gauges now whether
it's a commercial grade like this top
eaten or a residential grade the strip
gauges are actually just calling out the
amount of copper you need for either
speed wiring on this residential grade
or back wiring on this commercial grade
if you're going to do side wiring you
will need a little bit more copper than
what's called out on the strip gauge
number 17 sometimes you'll find a little
hole here on your ground terminal what
you can do is pass your wire just
slightly into that hole and again use
that hole to form your clockwise j hook
around your ground terminal number 18 is
just a best practice so if you only have
one hot and one neutral coming in and
you're not using your bottom screw
terminals it is always best practice to
go ahead and just tighten up those screw
terminals especially on the hot side
because that's going to keep it flush
with your housing so with those
tightened up you can see your profile
just a whole lot better without having
those terminals sticking out past the
plastic housing number 19 for your
mounting screws these are just 6 32
machine screws there's a little
advantage than standard machine screws
because the start of it will help you
align to the hole as it doesn't have
threads so
if you need longer ones you can actually
pick up ones made by eaton or you can
just get 632 machine screws that you get
at any of your home improvement stores
number 20 is the self-grounding feature
on most commercial grade outlets this is
an eaton with that feature this is a
leviton commercial grade or spec grade
with that feature and here's a used
legrand with that feature and that
actually has it on both the top and
bottom
this will allow the yoke to bond to a
metal electrical box so if you have a
ground to this yoke that will also
provide the ground to the metal
electrical box number 21 will finish it
up on this commercial grade eaton and
show one feature that they have where
they have built-in wire strippers for
both
14 gauge wire and 12 gauge wire now i
would never say that these are the most
efficient wire strippers but just in
case you're in a pinch kind of a cool
feature that eaton integrates into the
yoke so how many of those 21 were new to
you i always appreciate getting you guys
this feedback it helps me tailor future
videos so we can continue to grow
together in our knowledge and take on
more projects successfully around the
house now if you have an older home you
know there can be some more challenges
like when you want to swap out a simple
outlet and all of a sudden you find
extremely short wires and don't know
what to do so check out this video right
here and i'll walk you through the three
different options you have to minimize
the amount of pain it is to get that new
outlet installed so thanks for joining
me on this video and we'll catch you on
that next one take care