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Power outlets are topsy turvy – but does it matter?
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View Reddit by vmitchell85 – View Source
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Power outlets are topsy turvy – but does it matter?
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View Reddit by vmitchell85 – View Source
No
it usually means that the top one is controlled by the switch as you come into the room. for turning on a lamp. its called a half hot
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I’ve actually had a measuring tape arc on a wall outlet. I was measuring to figure out how much baseboard we needed to buy. The crazy thing about it, my calculator was at 666 inches when I was doing the measurement! I know the extra detail makes this sound fake, but it 100% happened.
While I’m not an electrician, as a ‘Do it your-selfer’ I’ve know this for many years but understand why they are installed ‘wrong’ today. The receptacles and switches you buy today are stamped with information in the ‘wrong’ orientation indicating which end is up. The manufacturers inadvertently started a trend that defeated the integrated safety design.
Industrial architect here. the electrical engineers at my company note them installed with the ground upwards. I asked about this and was told it is slightly safer because it reduces the risk of a short by an object falling on the forks. Such as a penny falling on the blades.
On a 15 Amp outlet, ground should be down because directional 15 Amp cord caps bend toward the ground.
20 Amp outlets should be ground up because directional 20 amp cord caps bend away from the ground.
If your power cord faces up and has a 90 degree “hump” before falling downward, that’s more hazardous than a metal plat falling on the live prongs, etc.
Betteridge’s law of headlines tells us: no, it does not matter
It’s absolutely crazy for a European to see just how insanely dangerous American and Chinese plugs are. All european plugs are either sleeved or recessed and it’s almost impossible to expose a live wire as a result.
Similarly, I’m surprised at how HUGE british plugs are.
00:17 “Take a look at the packaging of new receptacles in the store. They nearly all show the outlet with the ground connection on top of live and neutral.”
They’re also ALL the same brand, so no shit they all show the same orientation
I install all of mine sideways
Australian here, our Earth pin is on the bottom.
This is so when/if a house floods water hits the earth wire/pin first tripping the RCD before touching the live wire.
In my house the ones that are ground side up are connected to the light switch.
I found myself enjoying and laughing at this way more than i’d like to admit.
When I wired my workshop, I installed the outlets ground prong up for added safety. I don’t want a tool or something metallic bridging the positive and neutral prongs. In my house, however, I did the opposite. People are used to this configuration so it becomes a slight (very slight) inconvenience when they are installed ground prong up.
This is actually the right way up. The only time its required is in hospitals or treatment facilities or doctors offices.
😮
Here comes the mandelic gaslighting. Technically they’re sideways and upside down because they used to only be on the ceiling and floor.
Every time I hear “Ground up is safer” I look at the assload of power bricks around the house that have no ground connection that are installed upside down because of this and slowly start rotating away from the wall, exposing the shit out of the murder prongs, and think to myself “safer, huh…”
Our house has all the outlets ground-side up; the original owners wanted the slightly higher safety margin. It’s been 11 years and I’ve considered flipping them but we got used to them as is.
Love this channel. He give good arguments for both orientations, and a great deal more besides.
I didn’t watch the video. I am a retired design builder holding licenses in most building trades, and also an architect and engineer.
Extension cords and curtains are probably the most common objects that fall into the gap at a plug. They absolutely can start fires and at least fry the object and trip your breaker.
It costs nothing to install receptacles correctly, with the ground connector up. Basic risk/reward logic says just install them correctly.
My observation is that the ground pin on the bottom helps the plug stay seated. This is because gravity pushes it, not pulls it.
I just moved into a new home and all the outlets are ground up. I thought someone made a mistake. Now I know.
I just like them all looking surprised.
the ground on the bottom is upside down? lies.
the ground on the bottom is upside down? lies.
My water pump burned out the outlet because, as mentioned in the video, gravity slowly pulled the plug out. Intermittent contact and smoke!!! My solution? look for a right angle. Guess what? Nobody seems to make them! You walk into a Lowes or whatever and ask for a NEMA5-15 right angle and you get the dumbest look. Look for it yourself and somehow, they have everything BUT that. At the time, I went on Amazon and ZERO! Just check and they’re full of them…. WTF! So, what did I do back then? Invert the outlet…. Problem solved.
I can tell the traditional orientation is the correct one because of the cute little faces it makes.
Jokes on you, i only have ground on 3 outlets.
I work in a hospital, and and ground side is up on every single outlet
This video was 16 minutes too long. Conduit runs can use 4 square boxes and put receptacles in vertically. Neutrals might be faced down in case of flooding. Switched outlets generally get flipped. The chances of someone dropping anything across the hot and neutral prongs of a plug and starting a fire are extremely remote. Instead of worrying about what orientation the receptacle is in they could just change the code to force manufacturers to partially insulate the hot and neutral prongs of electrical cords.
Ok but the right-angle plug, when it’s pulling down, exposes grounds. So it’s a non issue. So what’s left is “cable management”.
I’ll take bad “cable management” (Barely any difference between normal straight plug and inverted right-angle plugs) vs a potential fire hasard (kids…).
I like the guy, but this video is extremely weak.
As an electrician, I dismissed this video as soon as I saw the cover plate screw horizontal and not vertical. Fucking heathen.
Such stupid click bait. If it mattered, we all would have had them re-positioned in our homes decades ago.
I teach human growth and development and I’ve always noted that infants have a natural preference for things that look like faces. Recommend installing outlets upside down because it’s less likely to attract curious children.