Bingo! It's certainly the sort of thing I'd recommend to an employee who's likely not in any position to order a upgrades to the salon's workstations. Most molded extension cord outlets are incredibly tenacious and hold onto plugs so tightly that it's often difficult to force the plugs into the extension cord in the first place. Those extension cords hold plugs as tightly as the outlet extenders with the childproof slot shutters I mentioned way back in this thread. Either one would probably do quite nicely.
A longer cord means that it can be routed out of the way of the stylist and is far less likely to get "tugged on" than a shorter cord. It also gives more cord to implement some of the good strain relief suggestions that were made.
Before remotely considering replacing the outlets, I'd first see if the problem was really a bad outlet(s) or some other problem. Even if was MY salon. Tug enough on any line cord and it will loosen unless it's a twistlock connector. That's because plugs are meant to be inserted and removed by average human hands.
I'll bet NEMA specs out precisely the insertion and removal forces recommended in making plug connections.
If it's a bad plug, I'd replace it with a grounded one just because the ground pin would make it very unlikely to pull out. I might do that even if the plug's not bad because it's something the stylist's friend Bob seems quite capable of doing and I doubt it needs the owner's permission. It would also likely solve the problem. Of course it's not the ideal solution, but is one that fits the parameters given by the OP.
Electrical upgrades are not usually implemented by employees like stylists. (-: I think it's revealing that most of those suggestions came from the apparently self-employed. Walking into the boss's office claiming a 'Fart War' vet on the Web named Dufas says "the salon needs all its outlets replaced" isn't going to be warmly received.
Semantics. You know full well what I am talking about. The old outlets have to be disconnected and removed and the new outlets installed, reconnected and fully tested. Clearer? In any event, it's going to be expensive based on the per outlet charges I have been quoted for similar projects in the past. Many times when such work gets underway, hidden defects are revealed like improper grounds, reversed hot and neutral, too many wires in a junction box, etc. that require more work than was obvious at first glance. Compare that effort to plugging in an extension cord or outlet extender.
Even replacing the one allegedly defective outlet means that it's not likely to be done by a stylist or even her boyfriend without the owner's permission. Those were OP's (wise) words, not mine and fairly obvious to anyone who read the original post closely.
Semantics again. The proposed outlet replacement most likely needs to be done by a licensed commercial electrician and might cost $500 or more, especially if it has to be done outside of business hours. Now compare that cost and disruption to buying a $2 extension cord. It's certainly several magnitudes more expensive and disruptive to replace outlets.
Consider the OP was twice removed from the owner. He was a friend of the salon's employee. I still contend that even discussing replacement outlets with her boss is a nuclear option because small business bosses are often very sensitive about their business acumen. I could easily imagine the stylist getting fired for suggesting to the salon owner that he makes her works with defective equipment.
Since there haven't been any tests of the outlet or the cord performed that I know of, a replacement of the outlets still seems awfully premature. How does anyone know what grade receptacle is in there now? The simple answer is they don't. The all-new outlet option certainly is nuclear if it costs
100's of times more than other, quite workable solutions and especially if it gets the stylist fired.
Read that again: The OP is a friend of an employee/stylist of the salon. A stylist is NOT going to call an electrician and give him a work order to replace the outlets. That's a manager/owner's job. I hope that makes it clear.
Maybe you or some of the folks here would accept a work order from someone without authority to make changes but it's not a very smart thing to do because there's a high probability you won't get paid for your services. Nor will a court support the placing of a mechanic's lien if the work was done without the permission of the owner. The court may very well order the ripping out of any work done without approval. The workman who did the unapproved work will end up footing the bill for its removal.
Solutions that involve a stylist/employee getting one or ten or all the outlets replaced are based on the faulty assumption such a person is even ABLE to commission such a job. While new outlets might be the right answer for most other cases, they are probably not the right answer here.
If that poor hairdresser walked into her boss's office with an internet printout of "Fart War" vet Dufas and "Flatulator" Moe Gasser claiming the salon needs all hospital grade outlets, she would be met with a laugh at best.
You know damn well ANY outlet will spark if you remove the plug from the outlet when there's a motor load still running. It's not proof that the outlet is defective in any way. Even small switched power supplies cause sparks if they're unplugged when they're powering a device. That's what was described. Not a faulty outlet spewing sparks when the plug is fully inserted.
I can't seem to find the OP on Eternal or AOIE but the parameters were pretty clear. It was a friend of a stylist asking, not someone who would be able to approve, pay for or otherwise implement the replacement outlet solution. And that's what makes suggestions to do so inappropriate in this particular instance.
A two dollar outlet extender with childproof shutters or an extension cord most likely solves this problem. It can be implemented easily by the stylist and removed when she leaves. It's not so hideously ugly that no stylist would consider it, especially when the alternative is to keep having the clippers come unplugged.
Sparking from a plug that's powering a motor and getting physically tugged on (and is working its way out of the outlet) is not the same as arcing from an internal defect in the outlet. The CPSC recommends all devices be turned off before unplugging for this very reason: to prevent sparking when removing the plug. This is something that's easy to inspect: does the plug spark in the outlet when the clippers are turned off via the power switch? I believe that it won't and that the sparks are an artifact of the plug getting tugged out of the outlet and making incomplete contact.
One more time Bobbles if you didn't grok what I posted before. Read carefully,get real close to the screen. I am not nor have I ever posted here or anywhere else as "Moe or Gasser". I think it funny that you somehow believe me and Moe are the same person or even related. My brother and I share an Internet connection via a long range WiFi connection but my bro doesn't go by the nym "Moe Gasser" either. I don't know Moe and have never carried on any long conversations with him/her/it. If you wish to continue to believe I'm Moe or anyone else, it's OK with me, I find it quite amusing. Oh yea, normal human males of all ages think flatulence is funny. If you don't think farting is funny, You're not a real man. ^_^
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