Replacement screws for a GE panel

[Scott Lurndal]

I was taught ground-up orientation helps prevent inadvertent shorts that may occur when the plug is not completely inserted and something metal falls across the blades.

I don't believe NEC requires a specific orientation.

[trader_4]

So in that Leviton thread where they said the standard practice of electricians to put them in ground pin up, they probably meant that it's the standard practice for "hospitals". I wonder if there is a hospital grade GFCI and that's what they were referring to when they said you could look at any GFCI and it's labeled to go in ground pin up?

Never mind. Just looked at Leviton and their hospital grade GFCI and it's marked like other GFCI, so it can go in either way.

But they do show them ground pin up, mostly.

[TimR]

We lived in Germany a few years back.

All plugs and outlets are designed so the conductors are completely covered long before they make contact.

That seemed a more efficient way to do it.

[FromTheRafters]

That's possible, since it was about hospital grade receptacles, but as you stated and DerbyDad03 wholeheartedly agreed, it wasn't clear. It would have been better for the writer to have been explicit rather than to rely on something only implied in context.

[clare]

Insering a right angle plug into a "ground up" outlet puts a lot of strain on the connection - virtually all "right angle" plugs assume the "conventional" ground down orientation.

[Tekkie®]

FromTheRafters posted for all of us...

Oxygen tents? You have been watching too many old movies. They now have nasal cannulas, face masks and CPAP.

Also this topic seems to come up every 6 months or so and still the BS ensues...

[bob_villa]

That one could be reversible, not totally sure?

[Diesel]

Next time I'm at the VA for someone, I'll try to take pictures of what can happen if you smoke or have a flame near one of those devices. While they don't always ignite, sometimes, they do. When they do, the results usually aren't good.