All the other outlets in the room have one black and one white wire. The outlet with 2 is not connected to a switch or anything. Could the extra set of wires be and end run from a different connection? Can I take the extra black and extra white from the bottom tabs of the outlet and extend it behind the kneewall into the hallway and make a new outlet? I have none in the hallway and I've always wanted one there. Thanks.
If you know which breaker it is and know how to change it try that. Otherwise you could have a fried wire somewhere. Could be a neutral wire in the panel that's the white wire. If your handy remove the panel cover with the main turned off and check to see if all the white wires are tight or if any are burnt off. This happens over time when they become loose and arc.
Sometimes an outlet is used as a 'splice' connector. One pair might be 'in', the other 'out' to the next outlet. It's not especially good practice, but it's safe if the connections are good, and often done
one pair of wires is power going in to the outlet, and the other pair is power going out. to add an outlet in to your hallway, add a third wire by tieing all the blacks together, and all the whites together with wire nuts. dont forget to add a small jumper wire of each color to power the outlet you are working on. make sure the white wire is connected to the same side the copper ground wires are connected to. if you dont have a copper ground wire, attach the black wire to the side with brass colored screws, and the white wires to the silver colored screws
What you have in that box is a feed in and a feed out. Disconnecting any of one of these four wires will turn the power off to another part. What you can do is fish a wire, same size as in that box (14-2 or 12-2) from where you want the hallway receptacle up into that box. Turn off the power, remove the 2 whites from the outlet and connect these 2 wires plus the new white you just ran and a fourth wire (pigtail) together wire nut the joint. Attach the end of the pigtail to the outlet. Repeat this for the black and the bare. Install outlet and restore power. This will give the hallway power. GL!
Pannle box 88 black and white wires 8 outlets The first outlet provides power for the second one. You can only add a second outlet to one that has only two wires running to it. Pannel box 8 (8) new outlet
