ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Violation Photo Forum Broken Receptacles in Hotels are a Common Sight

[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 09-13-2005).]

Hi Joe: I know at least part of the reason why this is so true. I was staying at a hotel in downtown Dallas a few years back, and witnessed a housekeeper unplug her vacuum cleaner from a hall receptacle by "snapping" the power cord, as opposed to walking thirty feet and unplugging it in the proper manner. She seemed completely unconcerned when I walked over and handed her the piece of receptacle's face that popped out of the wall along with the cord. I even went so far as to report the newly created hazard to the assistant manager of the hotel. When I checked out two days later, it was still there. No one cares!

Mike (mamills)

Yeah, and how many times have you seen one prong of a plug broken off in the receptacle? I was going to scope out a new-ish office building last month, and I saw that in an elevator lobby. It was the hot, no less, and protruding about 1/4". Stainless steel cover. After verifying voltage with my tick tracer (yep, it was hot!) I pulled it out with my lineman's pliers. Then the elevator arrived.

Found the same thing a couple of years ago while on vacation, in an old hotel with shared bathrooms. This time I had only a leatherman and bare feet. Fortunately, it was a GFCI, so I just pushed the test button and then yanked out the prong with my leatherman. I guess I would have gotten a rude surprise if the GFCI had been line-load reversed!