Just been doing a little house-hunting in Denver, CO – yes the family H is about to move. Wandering around the first house that was empty of furniture I noticed the odd receptacle around a room that was ground hole up rather than the majority which were ground hole down. Suspecting that some homeowner had been doing private work, and thus keeping my eye out for other potential ‘issues’, I pointed this out to the agent.

She told me that, in this area, the switched receptacles were identified in this way. I didn’t have anything to test this and don’t know if the whole duplex was switched or just one half.

How common is this practice elsewhere?

P.S. In one house I saw an absolutely terrible laundry relocation – looked like the plumber did it and he wasn’t a good plumber either!

P.P.S. Please note the post title is orientation neutral

Hi Hutch. It is fairly common in this area to install like you describe.

THX!

Hi Ryan, When installed like this out your way, is it still only half the duplex that is switched?

We do that here (Canada) for the living room .this way table lamps can be switched from the wall.I rarely see ceiling light fixtures in Living rooms.

Hi Hutch. I would say that about 99% of the houses I inspect here have switched receptacles in the living room/formal room. They always have half of the receptacle energized constantly, and the other half switched. Out of these, I would say maybe 10% or so install the switched ones ground up and the non-switched ground down. It is pretty strange until you get used to it.

Following on from this, are there any sort of local conventions as to whether the upper or lower receptacle is the switched one on a split-wired duplex?

Here in Elko, Nevada it appears to be the top half that is switched.

Most cat1 plugs and bulky equipment - i.e. wall warts when polarised - seem to hang down with the ground down. Most table lighting is cat2 with leads straight out of the plug, so maybe this explains the arrangement with the switched recepticle on top.

Have done it both ways depending on the job spec's.
My personal preference is to have the top switched, with the ground down.