outlet ground

[Old_Boat]

Which direction is the ground plug supposed be positioned on a standard home outlet. up or down? Have read many different opinions. How about some more and why.

LJ

[hallerb]

most convenient all the SAME.

Today its usually ground pin UP, so dropped change and junk cant short the poered plug prongs.

mine are all ground pin down, and thats how they will remain

[Speedy Jim]

Not specified. Either way that is most convenient.

Go here:

Do an ADVANCED search for: Ground Orientation or Outlet Orientation

on: alt.home.repair

[SQLit]

some say up, I say down. New homes where I live are down except for the switched outlets, Those are up.

[Joseph Meehan]

Most I see are down, but I always put mine up so that if something is dropped and the plug is not tight to the wall, it will hit the ground first.

[PopS]

For appliances like refrigerators, etc., I always look at hte plug first; which way will let the cord drop down without twisting over the top?

[bluelagoon]

[bluelagoon]

The industry standard is to put ground plug for household aluminum wiring and ground down for copper wiring.

[bluelagoon]

Ground up for aluminum wiring and ground down for copper wiring

[Steve Kraus]

What about the even more basic question about the orientation of the box itself? Is vertical now standard instead of horizontal?

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Wed 15 Mar 2006 07:59:32p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it bluelagoon?

I'm curious...is there a logical reason for this?

[Bob]

This has been discussed inconclusively here in the past. Ground down appears to be prevalent in residential applications while ground up is the norm in many commercial environments.

Ancillary question: Why are outlets mounted horizontally in Chicago and vertically just about everywhere else? Does it have something to do with the conduit requirement?

[Bud--]

What industry standard is that?

PopS's answer to match the plug, when known, is a good one.

Arguments I have seen are: Ground up to lessen shorts on dropped stuff (as hallerb), particularly metal plates that might come loose and drop. Ground down so if a plug is pulled out the ground will break last with cord hanging downward.

I am not convinced by either argument. It is mostly a local convention. Around here ground is down and ground up looks to me like it was installed by an amateur.

bud--

[PopS]

They aren't.

[NoSpam99989]

[NoSpam99989]

Reference to that standard please?

[Mikey]

I remember years ago reading in a do-it-youself book (I think it was a Popular Mechanics book) that the ground should always be down so that if the plug gets pulled partially out of the socket, and then gravity slowly pulls the plug the rest of the way out, the ground would be the last prong out of the outlet.

[Goedjn]

There is no standard. Be consistant wit hthe rest of the building.

[Jim Harvey]

Most of the houses around here (Chicago, counduit country) are horizontal. I hate it. Not wall wart friendly.