Dangerous wiring problem??

 Hello.  I hope someone here can help me with this!

I've been doing some small cosmetic renovations to the older home I
recently purchased, basically by replacing older electrical outlets
with never ones to update the look.  I've done some reading on home
wiring, but by no means am I an expert on the subject.

I've come across something that I don't think is correct when it comes
to the wiring in one particular outlet.  This outlet is located in a
room without a light fixture, and both plug-ins' on this particular
outlet are controlled by a switch.  None of the other outlets are
controlled by the switch, and all are on the same circuit.  There are
two electrical cables coming into the junction box, each having a
white/black/ground wire.  The ground wires seem to be connected
correctly.

Only the bottom terminals on either side of the outlet have wires
connected to them:  The white (neutral I'm assuming) wire from the 1st
cable connects to the bottom left (silver) terminal, while the black
wire (hot I'm assuming) from the 2nd cable connects to the bottom
right (brass) terminal.  Nothing is connected to the upper terminals
on either side.

Now, the strange thing is that the remaining wires (the black wire
from the 1st cable and the white wire from the 2nd cable) are
connected together with a marrette.

The outlet seems to work fine, but I can't see this as being a safe
way to ahve this wired!  I'm wondering just how dangerous this is, and
how the outlet should be wired to make it safe?

Any help or guidance for this newly minted Do-It Yourselfer would be
greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Corey

  Corey Dale wrote:

This is correct.  The 2nd cable is the "switch leg" to the
controlling wall switch.  The Wh in the 2nd cable is permitted
to be the "hot" feeding the switch.  That way, the return from the
switch to the recept is Blk.

Sleep tight.

Jim

 
snip

Yup, I agree; and if you still can't sleep tape the white wire
ends with black tape to emphasize the 'intended' color for the
white wire, is to be black.

This is all strictly visual stuff. Electrically/funtionally your
safe. Electricity has no preference for color, just
that it is 'insulated' properly.


-Bob Stan  http://www.hbci.com/~sew4uicn   ...I love simple things

 bstan@hbci.com (Bob Stan) wrote in message

Yup.  A good example of why to do things right.  If the original
installer had just marked the wire as per code there would have been
no problem down the line.

Harry K