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When I opened up the old one, there are 3 cables with the normal 2 black, 2 white, and ground. However, there are 2 whites and black capped together to a load screw and another white on the other load screw, and on the line side, there are 2 blacks attached to 1 screw, and 1 black to the other. The GFCI won't reset. Can I piggyback the 2 blacks that are attached to 1 screw? I've never seen anything like that before. Electricity is not my forte, but I have replaced outlets before.

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    Can you attach a picture? Jan 21, 2015 at 18:20
  • Are you describing the wiring on the old receptacle, or how you have wired it?
    – Tester101
    Jan 21, 2015 at 18:47
  • black and white connected together is a flag usually (there are exceptions though) Jan 21, 2015 at 20:31
  • 2 black in the same assembly? That's not really "normal". There's usually a different color (red) or if there's duplicate colors they're distinguishable. Jan 21, 2015 at 22:21

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A white wire connected to a hot can be seen on switched hots. A good electrician will often add a piece of black tape to indicate this, but that often doesn't happen.

When connecting wires to screws on outlets, you only want one wire per screw. If you need to attach multiple wires and don't have enough locations to screw them on, then pig tail them together with a short piece of wire, secure and cover with a wire nut, and connect the short piece of wire to the outlet.

To resolve the GFCI not resetting, disconnect everything except the line connections. Verify the GFCI is working properly. Then connect each load one at a time until you locate the fault. You'll need to trace these lines or identify what isn't working when disconnected and inspect every junction to locate the problem with that line. If you don't feel comfortable with this, then I recommend hiring a professional electrician. As always with electrical, do not work on live wires and use a voltage tester, preferably non-contact, to check all wiring before you touch it.

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It is definitely abnormal for a white and black to be connected. I wonder if what you mean is that the two whites are connected with a wire nut to a black pigtail connected to the load side, which while improper, makes sense. We need a picture. In any event, don't connect multiple wires to one screw -- use a wire nut.

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