3 prong outlet, which way is up?

Steve,

Thank you for the link to the Two Rivers Hospital site, but I couldn't find anything about ground-prong orientation on any of their pages. I even checked the FAQ - nothing there about receptacle installation.

Oh, gotta go. The short bus just pulled up. I'll read your response later.

D*mn, where's my helmet?

Left, so the neutral is up. (following the same reasoning that would indicate that the ground should be up when installed vertically.)

nate

The reasoning I heard was that if you use metal cover plates and the screw that secures the cover plate comes loose, the cover could actually slide down and if you weren't paying attention could hit the prongs of a plug as it's being removed. With the ground up this is harmless; with the ground down you could energize the cover plate and/ or short the hot and neutral prongs of the plug if it fell just so. An infinetesimally rare possibility, but a non-zero one.

nate

Years ago I worked at a factory where the electricians were required to install all outlets ground up. I was told that since there was more of a chance that a metal object would come in contact with a loose plug from the top than from the bottom, and since in the vast majority of the installations the type of cord would not be an issue, they opted for the "safer" method.

In other words, if it makes the factory just a tad bit safer, and really has no other impact (other then writing it up in the procedure manual) then why not?

I would have to guess the other way looks stupid because nearly every one is installed the other way.

There are only two arguments that seem to make sense.

Ground up, does appear to have a slight safety advantage. Notice I did say SLIGHT.

Ground up does not work well with all plugs (then again ground down does not work well with some other plugs.)

I don't intend to loose sleep over it, but all my plugs that get added or worked on are ground up.

I find it funny that the NEC seems to cover every detail you could think of, but not this one.

Mark

:gv-dnRwwW5savCrVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

Preferred orientation then is on the left. More info page 240, Traister's ' Electrical Wiring' ISBN1-57218-092-7 at your local library. The Pass & Seymour/Legrand product catalog shows all receptacles in the vertical mode with ground at top. Note the ground position on receptacles at a hospital next time you visit...grounds at top.

Joe

I never paid much attention but just a couple months ago a metal hangar fell behind a dresser. There was a big flash and a breaker blew. The plug behind the dresser was not plugged in all the way and luck would have it the hanger shorted out the contacts.

i meant for your daughter who is afraid of an inanimate object.

Steve,

Thank you for the link to the Two Rivers Hospital site, but I couldn't find anything about ground-prong orientation on any of their pages. I even checked the FAQ - nothing there about receptacle installation.

Oh, gotta go. The short bus just pulled up. I'll read your response later.

D*mn, where's my helmet?

that's because it doesn't matter.

I find it funny that the NEC seems to cover every detail you could think of, but not this one.

Mark

It wasn't my daughter...that was somebody else.

Guess you didn't get the short bus/helmet reference.

I agree.

Or at least I did until most of the el-cheapo stuff such as wall warts, night lights, air fresheners, shaver and cell phone chargers etc. etc. etc. all the ancillary gear we seem to have to plug in these days, seem to be ground pin down!

Also thinking; if and when I ever finish off and wire my basement area, I will install two duplex outlets in each location and one will be UP and the other DOWN.

However will probably then find then that things plugged into one duplex outlet will interfere with things plugged into t'other adjacent duplex!

It's probably this confusion and the increasing number of 'gadgets' that has lead the profusion of cheap and in some cases very nasty 'power bars' into which we then plug, even more, higgledy-piggledy too many of the power supplies for the various gadgets..

None of the "wall warts, night lights, air fresheners, shaver and cell phone chargers" that I own have ground pins.

On 8/29/2008 8:50 AM Rich256 spake thus:

There you have it. I think this one data point is enough to tilt the argument in favor of ground pin up. Since it's otherwise arbitrary, why not do the safer thing?

So far as the orientation of 90° plugs goes, I've seen them made both ways, so it really doesn't matter which way you put the outlet: the plug is going to be going the wrong way half the time anyhow.

I got it.

It wasn't my daughter...that was somebody else.

Guess you didn't get the short bus/helmet reference.

It's soooooooooo far fetched, it's doubtful it actually happened.

But some may have polarized plugs, thus essentially being the same thing.

nate

Get the recessed outlets, like they use for mounting clocks, then no matter what slides down the walls - from pennies to drunk relatives - there will be no hazard at all.

well it does matter in the sense that many cords and wall warts seem to hang better with the ground pin down....but many commercial buildings seem to have the ground pin up...

It would be nice in this case if there WAS a standard way to do it... The NEC seems to want to define everything, here is a case where we NEED a standard and they didn't do it....

I don't care which way, just pick one way and make all the plugs play well with that way...

Mark