Like changing a light switch, changing a receptacle is something you should be able to do without calling an electrician and dealing with the hassle. The first thing you do is to turn the power off for that particular receptacle located in your electrical panel box. Next remove the cover plate (1 screw). To be safe, check to make sure the power is off by plugging something in. Remove the receptacle from the box by unscrewing the two mounting screws that mount the receptacle to the box. Carefully pull the receptacle out of the box without tearing the insulation of the wires. Now examine the wiring on the receptacle, because it might be feeding connections to other receptacles or power sources. If so, this is not a problem. There should be three kinds of wire coming into the receptacle, a black (hot), a white (neutral) and a green or bare copper (ground) wire. One side of the receptacle should have brass screws and the other side should have silver screws. The black wire connects to the brass (B-B) and the white connects to the silver. The should also be a green ground screw that connect the bare copper ground wire.
If there is only one set of wires connected to your receptacle then your receptacle is not feeding anything. Simply unscrew the old receptacle from the wires and reconnect your new receptacle by connecting the black wire to the brass, the white wire to the silver and the bare copper wire to the green. You may need to add curvature to the end of the wire so that the wire wraps around the screw properly. Do this with the end of needle-nose pliers. Connect these wires to the bottom set of screws only. The top set is for feeding connections.
If your receptacle has a feed wire (another black and white wire) then you do the same thing as mentioned above but connect the feed wire to the top set of screws. Remember black to brass, white to silver. Be careful not to mix up the feed wire with the hot coming into the box. This will make your receptacle not function. A good tip is to bend the feed wire towards the top of the box and bend the hot wire towards the bottom of the box.
If there is only one set of wires connected to your receptacle then your receptacle is not feeding anything. Simply unscrew the old receptacle from the wires and reconnect your new receptacle by connecting the black wire to the brass, the white wire to the silver and the bare copper wire to the green. You may need to add curvature to the end of the wire so that the wire wraps around the screw properly. Do this with the end of needle-nose pliers. Connect these wires to the bottom set of screws only. The top set is for feeding connections.
If your receptacle has a feed wire (another black and white wire) then you do the same thing as mentioned above but connect the feed wire to the top set of screws. Remember black to brass, white to silver. Be careful not to mix up the feed wire with the hot coming into the box. This will make your receptacle not function. A good tip is to bend the feed wire towards the top of the box and bend the hot wire towards the bottom of the box.
If there are any wire nuts connecting wires, you shouldn't have to mess with them. If you do accidentally tamper with them, keep the colors together, black with black, white with white and grounds with grounds. Tightly reconnect the wire nuts. The wirenut is on correctly if you yank on the wire nut and it stays on. Wrap electriacl tape over the wire nuts.
If you don't have a ground wire then you need to either make one, or get involved in running new wire to the breaker box(much more involved). You can make a simple ground by taking a short piece of copper wire (found at your local hardware store) and running it from the green screw, and screwing the other end into the box with a drywall screw or zip screw.
Next wrap the receptacle two times with electrical tape to ensure no metal makes contact with the connection screws. Remount the receptacle to the box. Put the cover plate back on. Turn the power back on and test.
If you don't have a ground wire then you need to either make one, or get involved in running new wire to the breaker box(much more involved). You can make a simple ground by taking a short piece of copper wire (found at your local hardware store) and running it from the green screw, and screwing the other end into the box with a drywall screw or zip screw.
Next wrap the receptacle two times with electrical tape to ensure no metal makes contact with the connection screws. Remount the receptacle to the box. Put the cover plate back on. Turn the power back on and test.
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