Hi.

I want to ask your opinions if this is possible. I already asked an electrician at a local DIY hardware store who said that although it is against code, it is doable. I'm not so sure I trust him so I wanted to check here.

Here is what I want to do. I need to bring electrical power to an area of my family room (for my plasma TV) that currently does not have any outlets near it.
1 - One choice is to fish a wire from an existing receptacle and connect it as the last in the series. The problem is that the closest receptacle is quite far and it would be very cumbersome to do.
2 - My other choice is the one I'm not sure about. I would like to install a receptacle behind my TV that would be connected to another receptacle in the same wall but off to the side. This second receptacle would be connected to a live electrical outlet via an extension cord. In other words: outlet A (live electrical outlet) connected via extension cord (male plug on each end) to outlet B (dead outlet) which in turn is connected to outlet C (which feeds the TV). Is this possible? Is it safe?

Please shed some light on this subject!!!!

Thanks

 

1. Do it. It's easier than you think. You are only reluctant because you don't yet know how. Read a book on home wiring and I'll bet this job will then seem simpler.

2. Don't do it. It is not safe and not code and just plain goofy. Extension cords with male plugs on each end are indescribably dangerous. Someday it will hurt somebody--somebody who does something as innocent as unplugging it.

 

Thank you John.

I wonder why the electrician told me that it was doable. I specifically asked him if it was safe to which he replied "Yes". He mentioned it not being to code but blew it off as if it was no big deal.

So let me ask another question then. To connect the two new receptacles in series, I would have to connect one to a live receptacle correct? What if the live receptacle is already in the middle of a series?

Thanks.

 

Considering that the Code requires receptacle spacing so that any point on a wall is no more than 6 foot from a receptacle it should not be that far to extend from an existing receptacle. If your home is that old that receptacles are inadequate to serve todays needs a new circuit should be added with new receptacles.

 

Three cables would enter the box: One "power-in" and two "power-outs". You would add the second power-out to feed the new receptacle. Ins & outs don't really matter in this case, though, because you'll be connecting them together in parallel.

Since you can't connect more than one wire to a receptacle's screw, remove the existing wires and use some short lengths of single black, white and bare/green wires to "pigtail" from their respective screws. Tighten the unused screws. Using wire nuts, connect all 4 of the blacks together and all 4 of the whites together. Connect all of the bare/green wires together, to the box, and to the receptacle.

Shut off the breaker and make sure the power is off at all of the receptacles on the circuit before you do any work.

PS: I'll wager $1 that the guy in the local DIY hardware store was not really an electrician. (Neither am I, but I know better than to suggest something that stupid! What if a toddler decides to unplug the hot end and stick it in his mouth?!?)