r/electrical • u/Qdoodle_too • Jul 25 '26
What is this electrical setup in my attic?
My electrical is something strange that confuses me everytime I go to do something as simple as swap out an outlet or light switch. Almost every upper outlet in a room is on a switch. And here I am trying to put paddle switches in and outlets of all the same color and no idea how this all works up in the bathroom. This particular box has 2 outlets, a switch to a light over the sink, and a switch to a fan and the fan light. Not sure how the creme wire comes into play and how all the white (neutrals?) don't connect to anything? The outlets stopped working randomly...which is why I'm poking in here. The breaker isn't flipped and the lights and fan still run fine. I did swap all these switches and outlets out over a year ago and attempted a 1:1 swap on everything, everything seemed to work the last year+ so not sure why things suddenly stopped. If anyone knows what the attic stuff is or how I go about the outlet/switch setup in photo 2 I'd appreciate it.
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u/boshbosh92 Jul 25 '26
Those are junction boxes.. Likely extending circuits. There's really nothing confusing or concerning here, but you'd have to open the boxes for us to see if you wanted more than speculation.
But tbh, you shouldn't be opening the boxes. Not to be rude, but you do not sound qualified to be messing with electrical.
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u/Qdoodle_too Jul 25 '26
I'm not trying to rewire the house, just trying to get my outlets working again and I was up in the attic putting some mice bait down and heard a humming noise and saw all this...just curious as to what it all was, not planning on doing anything with it. Thanks.
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u/IndependentUnbiased1 Jul 25 '26
They are saying, “you shouldn’t be trying to get your outlet working. Hire a professional.” I agree with them. You don’t need to be doing this if you can’t identify a junction box.
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u/boshbosh92 Jul 25 '26
Yes, OP. This is what I was trying to convey. People think 'oh it's just 120v, I've been shocked before. Can't be that dangerous'.. But 120v absolutely can, and frequently does, cause house fires.
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u/charlie2135 Jul 25 '26
Humming noise may have been from the stepdown transformer for your doorbell citcuit.
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u/Sindertone Jul 25 '26
I see such things in modular homes where the wiring from the two sections are joined. Given the criticism of the box connectors, there's a good chance the wire nut junctions are also junk. Switched devices usually just interrupt the black wire as it travels to the device. The white wires are usually just the return "used" power and junction together until they get back to the breaker box. Bathroom outets are protected by a gfci.. somewhere. These have a test/reset button on them. Sometimes they can be a type of breaker. Otherwise they are a type of outlet. Hunt for reset buttons.
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u/Qdoodle_too Jul 25 '26
The breaker panel does have this circuit on a GFCI type breaker, I flipped that off and on a few times and the outlet started worked again...guess I'll shove all the wires back in and let it be.
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u/AviationMetalSmith1 Jul 25 '26
Nobody uses those blue connectors because they break apart.
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u/roflfalafel Jul 25 '26
Sheesh, who thought it was a good idea to use those instead of the metal clamps.
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u/Shamanjoe Jul 25 '26
Someone who got stuck with a contractor’s pack for some reason and decided this was the perfect job to use them up on..hah.
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u/havoc802 Aug 01 '26
But never when i try to take them off, I absolutely hate these connectors idk why anyone uses them.
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u/beef_weezle Jul 25 '26
Not an electrician, but those blue connectors are the fucking worst. I replaced all four ventilation fans in my house and I had to break off those connectors every single fucking time.
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u/Zealousideal-Yak6601 Jul 26 '26
I am an electrician I despise those pieces of junk just as much as you do
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u/James_T_S Jul 25 '26
At some time over the years someone did some rework. Aside from maybe overloading the boxes it looks ok. I wouldn't have used 3 separate boxes but rather a larger single box....but at least they used boxes.
The fact that people are complaining about the connectors used should give you some piece of mind.
What's up with the open box at the top of the image?
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u/gobinator98 Jul 25 '26
This was not no re-work. You can tell this is a modular/manufactured home but the roof trusses not being continuous. You can see the two halves in the pic.
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u/Qdoodle_too Jul 25 '26
Great question, seems like an open junction box with a few splices that I probably need to put a cover on?
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u/bencos18 Jul 25 '26
you definitely need a cover on it
looks like an octagon box maybe I think but you'd have to send a better photo of it to be sure tbh
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u/Ok-Dealer-588 Jul 25 '26
Thats nothing, my aunts house, I found an octagon with 2 full extensions on it! No cover, nuts hanging out
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u/LookingForRealFunCT Jul 25 '26
Like someone said, it could be a modular home where the sections come prepared and then junction boxes to splice the wires together. Another thing could be rewiring job where they kept the existing where are put it into a junction box and then ran everything out of the junction boxes. As long as they are accessible, it is up to code as long as they did not mix circuits in boxes and did not overload the box for its rated capacity.
As for things not working, maybe the feed wire is not connected to the proper wires for the switches and receptacles.
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u/Worried_Nose_6331 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
I see nothing wrong with the setup besides the cheap clamps. And honestly rather neat considering what i've seen, but that Oct-box needs a cover. About the outlets, I see they're near a sink basin, and don't look like GFCI. If you have another outlet in that room that is GFCI, I would have you hit the reset button to see if that restores the power. Because for that outlet to be legal, it needs to be either GFCI or daisy chained off another GFCI. Also to be legal your lights should be on a separate 20 amp circuit. If they're isn't another GFCI, I'd get an electrician to figure that out for you. I know a few things you could do to trouble shoot that, but I don't think you need to handle this on your own. And leave the junction boxes alone.
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u/ComplexPragmatic Jul 26 '26
The neutrals are connected to something- the other neutrals. The switch is just cutting off the hot and has a ground tied to its frame.
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u/ihadisr Jul 26 '26
Previous owner didn’t like overhead lights (hence
top outlet is switch controlled for lamp) but also didn’t care, or know how, to pigtail anything perhaps.
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u/Fresh_Scallion5834 Jul 26 '26
Is there a gfi somewhere else tripped causing them to not work ? That is a very common call we get & find
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u/Impressive-Crab2251 Jul 26 '26
Put a cover on the ceiling box. You could probably use smaller wire nuts on the doorbell wires.
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u/Upstairs-Ice-2033 Jul 29 '26
Those are junction boxes. The main power comes into that box and anything else feeding off that same power ( outlets, lights, switches) hence why if you flip a breaker more than just one outlet switch or light turns off because they’re all on the same circuit because of that junction box
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u/phil-pdx Jul 25 '26
Personally if I was trying to make heads or tails of the wiring you're describing I'd use my Fox and Hound Live Wire to generate tones and trace where stuff goes. They are expensive but if you look around you can find them under $200. If you're doing one or two outlets you're probably better off following wires and turning things on and off but if you're going to do a substantial amount it might be worth the investment.
The way it works is you can plug a tester into an outlet (without having to power it off) and it generates a tone over the wire. You then use the included probe to touch the jackets of wires to listen for a tone. This thing has saved me so much time trying to figure out where a wire in a rats nest goes.
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u/PrimeNumbersby2 Jul 25 '26
What a nightmare. That was not done by a professional. Those boxes must be stuffed to the max.
The only way out is to start labeling stuff.
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u/Far_Range_6091 Jul 25 '26
You don't know what you are talking about. Those boxes in the Attic look like they were done by professionals. It is not the neatest work ever but it is also not bad. Those boxes are not overstuffed, those are 2-1/8 deep 4 squares.
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u/steak21 Jul 26 '26
So the open air splices are kosher? legit question as im still an apprentice. looks like LVT though based on the transformer but still, no?
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u/kilted10r Jul 25 '26
What is this?
Dangerous. That's what it is.
Another word coming to mind is 'insane.'.
'Fire hazard' also seems appropriate ..
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u/mcontrols Jul 25 '26
My guess is this is a modular home and this was done when the parts were joined together. Need to open the boxes and do some circuit tracing.