ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Receptacle ground up or down?

Interesting to revisit this topic.

Is there any reason that the old 2-wire recepts. on K&T systems were wired with hot on the right, or did it just become an accepted practice by chance?

In Joes picture that cover is pretty well burnt. Did the breaker trip ? If something falls between them it seems logical that the breaker ought to have opened.
As far as a picuture frame causing that kind of damage thats gotta be a one in a million shot, also did the breaker trip in that sequence.
Mark

My reasoning for ground down is gravity which was stated earlier.If the recept. becomes worn the plug will eventually start to work its way out.This way the equipment ground will be the last to go.As for horizontally hot down for sure.
SCJohn

Gee Joe,

Look what you started with this one. (LOL)The code does not state any which way the ground opening should be. Some like the face and some like the ground up. A lot of plates now a day are plastic, so some of the problems will go away. Also and most importantly, the plug on the applience shouldn't have any strain on it. How many times have you seen where the ground plug is up and the cord has to bend up, before it can hang down?

Caper

This argument will go on forever because of the may situations we encounter with various equipment configurations.


[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 08-08-2002).]

Caper:

You mean like this one?



This was used at an electric coffee pot for banquet service during one of my seminars somewhere in Ohio ....

[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 07-28-2002).]

I was taught to install the duplex receptacles with the ground down (or to the right). The explanation I was given was that when using NM wire the bare ground would be at the bottom of the box and well away from the hot terminal.
I see a lot more broken receptacles (right below the ground) when they are installed with the ground down.

WNYJim:
Thats the first time I have ever heard that reason for putting them in the down position.
I personally dont see the big deal whether they be up or down, the pictures above are saying the breaker didnt trip and that I would consider a bigger problem.
I wonder how they put them in at St. John Fishers college ?? Isnt that near Rochester ?
Anyway welcome to the forum.

But when you see that stuff. it just makes you wanna SHOUT.

<Mark-

Personally I have seen more broken recepticles with the plastic surrounding the ground broken off when the ground is located on the bottom. The commercial duty outlets use a different grade of plastic and seem more durable.
The pix with the metal outlet plate covers are real eye openers! Thanks for the heads up!

On the possibility of a partially disengaged plug breaking the ground connection before hot/neytral in some orientations, I would have though that the design would make that impossible.

That certainly seems to be the case with the Hubbell recepts I've experimented with here.