Heartwarming 3 Black Wires 1 Red Wire

Hi all i am replacing my single pole light switch and noticed when i removed the old switch that there are three black wires coming from the box.

3 black wires 1 red wire. The old switch was attached with two blacks inserted into the back of the switch. My light fixture has 3 white wires together and 3 black wires together it holds 3 bulbs. But the most perplexing part is that the dining room light and the wall outlets have no electricity now.

If it s a single control dimmer then normally the white wire is your hot to the dimmer and the black is the return to power the light. If i hook one of the black and the 3 white to the light the light stays on constantly. Because the nec specifies the colors only for ground and neutral wires electricians are free to wire the hot leg in a circuit with wires of any other color.

You ll have two cables in the switch box a live one with a black and white wire and the one going to the outlet which has a red black and white wire. Of the three black wires only one of them is hot. Black wires are never used for a ground or neutral wire and are meant to be used as the power feed for a switch or an outlet.

Red electrical wires are the secondary live wires in 220 volt circuits and are commonly found in a sheathed multi conductor cable. It is obvious the black wires have been unused for a long time. The switch to this box has 1 red wire and 1 black wire.

12 awg for 20 amp circuits and 14 awg for 10 and 15 amp circuits. All the white wires are capped together and the same is for the ground wires. Single pole switch with 3 black wires.

Join the black wires from both cables together add a 6 inch jumper cable of the same gauge twist them all together and screw on. There are three switches that control the light. They are most commonly found in residential buildings.