New Outlets for the Dummy DIY Electrician

outlet wires and terminal colors

Sometimes we wonder whether the freelancers who wrote the how-tos and misinformation to which  we award the DotD were aware of just how bogus their posts were. You'd like to think that everyone was innocently passing along bullshit like so many social media users retweeting the output of Russian bots. You'd like to, but it's a safe bet that some of them knew full well that they were over their heads... and soldiered on, anyway.

We'll never know which category Billy Brainard fell into, but that doesn't matter: he's still getting today's award for his Hunker.com post, "How to Add a Receptacle From a Junction Box."

Brainard's come to our attention before with a post that suggested he hadn't thought through the geometry of a little DIY puzzle. This time, we're pretty sure he didn't think the project through at all. Oh, he got the safety bit right: lucky Billy found a blog post at Ace Hardware that had the exact same title. He even tried to perform a copy-reword-paste job on it... but it would have helped if he had known what he was writing about. He didn't... and here's why we say that:

• "...use the electrical meter/tester to determine that all power is off at the end of the wires as they terminate in the junction box...." – The "end of the wires"? Duh...
• "Mark... the center of the stud ... Move about 1/2 inch to the right and carefully use the saw to make a whole [sic] in the wall large enough for the electrical box to fit through and attach to the side of the stud." – We strongly suggest that A) you move ¾" from the center of the stud, which is 1½" thick and B) you use "old work" boxes that you don't "attach to the side of the stud."

• "Strip off 1/2 inch of the insulation at the ends of the electrical wire to reveal a black, white and green copper wire." – Presumably, Billy's talking about 2-conductor Romex® cable, which will have a bare wire instead of a "green copper wire." Oh, and half an inch ain't gonna be enough to make the connections, Billy. Maybe three inches, maybe more – it depends... 
• "Locate the black/red (hot)wire [sic] and connect it using the wire twist locks to the black wire of your electrical wire to install." – If there's a red wire in your supply line, Billy, you're in a lot of trouble! You're probably trying to tap into a 240-volt line!

Did anyone else notice that Billy didn't mention feeding the new line through a knockout in the junction box?

• "...mount the box to the side of the stud using the included screws or nails. Make sure the front of the box is just flush with the inside front edge of the drywall." – How you gonna nail that box to the stud through the drywall, Billy? And WTF does "just flush with the inside front edge" even mean, anyway?
• "Looking at the front of the receptacle, then attach the black (hot) wire to the screw on the top right side. Again looking at the front of the receptacle as a reference, attach the white (neutral) wire to the screw on the top left side." – Not necessarily, you idiot. You attach the hot wire to the brass side and the neutral wire to the silver side. That left-right convention won't work for people who install their outlets ground-hole up!

Based on all that bogosity, Billy's not only an idiot, he's a dangerous idiot. We can't think of a better reward than another Dumbass of the Day award. Well, maybe a swift kick in the 'nads...

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