Receptacle help needed

[jeffdonovan]

I am in the process of replacing some receptacles and have run into a problem. All of the receptacles that have been safely replaced had either three (white, black and ground) or five (two white, two black and ground) wires. The problem receptacle has four wires (white, black, red and ground). When I installed the wires into the new receptacle, I put the ground to ground, the white to silver screw, the red to the lower brass screw and the black to the upper brass screw. This was the way the old receptacle was wired, but when I turned the breaker on, there were sparks and the breaker tripped. As I am not an expert I have decided to ask for some help in figuring out this problem.

Thank you
Jeff

[Jimmer]

Jeff,

When you buy new outlets from the store they have a plate joining the screws on both sides to each other. This allows you power both recepticles from one supply wire. What you need is to break the center tab between the two screws so that it becomes a 'split' outlet. Each recepticle has its own power coming in.

What you created was a dead short with the tabs left in place.

Hope this helps, Jim

'Just a handyman trying to help'