How to Disable an Electrical Floor Outlet

A lot of homes have an electric floor outlet around the home but often times these outlets are left unused since there are a lot more readily available electrical outlets on walls. Not only are floor outlets bothersome and can cause tripping but it can be obstacles when moving stuff around the home. Some people also would like to disable these electric floor outlets because they need to install new flooring or carpets. It is in recommended to install over these outlets until they have been disabled since these can be a fire hazard. You have 2 options on how to disable your electric floor outlet. One, is to disconnect the wiring from the outlet terminals but leaving the outlet installed but non-functional and two, to completely remove the outlet.

Step 1 – Switch Off Power

Switch off the power breakers that power the electric floor outlet. Working on live wires are very dangerous and can cause electrocution. Use a voltage tester to test your outlet to ensure it is no longer powered.

Step 2 – Remove Face Plate

Remove the face plate of the outlet by unscrewing and removing the mounting screws of the electric outlet. Set it aside with the screws to make sure it does not get loss while you are disabling your floor outlet.

Step 3 – Check the Mounting Tabs

Find the outlet metal mounting tabs that should be located on top and the bottom. Remove all of the mounting screws that hold the outlet in place and slowly detach it from the housing and set them aside.

Step 4 – Pull the Electric Outlet

Gently pull the electrical outlet away from the floor making the wires taut. Pull until you see where all of the wires are screwed onto the outlet's wire terminals. Loosen all the screw on all of the wire terminals.

Step 5 – Remove the Wires

Remove wires from the terminals using needle nose piers. Once removed, set them aside. Pull the wires until they are straight and connect them together with the same colored wires. Twist the ends of the same colored wires together using a clockwise direction using your pliers. White should be connected with white, black connected to black and so on with the green and bare wires.

Step 6 – Screw the Nuts

Screw the nuts to the twisted ends as soon as you’re done connecting the same colored wires. Screw them very tightly. Replace the capped wires back into the wall and then replace the outlet and face-plate with the mounting screws. This process has already disabled the electric floor outlet.

Step 7 – Cover the Hole

If you choose not put the outlet back on your floors you can throw out the outlet and just simply cover the hole with the face plate after you have put the wires back into the hole.