just wondering how the rest of the world installs their receptacles ground up or down?and why?does it really matter?

Get the can opener, lol

I install all my receptacles horizontally with the ground usually to the right.

Here we go again....

My place was built in 1940.... what's a ground?

l'OH aucun ici nous allons encore !!!

dont get me started on this one

New Zealand has the ground on the down or lower terminal of the socket.

"New Zealand has the ground on the down or lower terminal of the socket."

So, is that ground up to us north of the equator?

This question seems hauntingly familiar Deja Vu all over again.

You walked into it smokey! But, seriously, everybody has their opinions and applications for each option. Personally, anything industrial, I go with the ground up. The accepted logic is that sheet metal (and other conductive objects) can slide between the cord cap and the outlet, and with the ground DOWN, this can obviously cause a short. Not only could this cause damage to other sensitive equipment on the circuit, a sticky or bad breaker could let the fault linger enough to cause a fire. I'm sure the other folks on this forum have additional reasons for "ground-up" outlets.

On the other hand, for residential and "office" applications, people just don't want to see an "upside-down" (ground-up) outlet. They're used to seeing things a certain way, and that's the way they want it. Logic does not enter into it. Nobody wants to spend 4 hours flipping all the outlets on a finished job because the homeowner is weirded-out.

I have, however, flipped an outlet (ground-up) in residential work to identify a half-hot. This is usually appreciated by homeowners as long as they understand why it is done.

My $0.02, anyway

Smokey, your profile says you've been registered here for six years. You really ought to know better than to ask this particular question!

Ground up or down?





Ian A..

It depends where they are located. In the basement, they go ground up. First floor and above, ground down. No idea which way they should be on a space station...

Roger

Roger: What is that thing? It looks like a receptacle with grounds and nothing else .

Mike (mamills)

Grounds up or down? Are you kidding?

Oh, you're making the little lock anxious

Mike, it's a safety receptacle, there's no chance of getting shocked when using it.

Roger

Ahhhhh... It's good to see some things never change....

Grounded (Neutral) up.... Ground left....

[This message has been edited by e57 (edited 02-21-2007).]

However, on one of the gazzilion treads on this very topic - there was mention that the lettering on the yoke was right-side up when the ground was up... Which is not exactly true, as most are right-side up when installed ground down. But recently I found some with the printing that way, and they were installed ground - writing up-side down. They had to be the most poorly made Spec-grade recepticals I have ever seen dispite which way the writing was. Every terminal screw was poorly threaded so nearly all connections were loose due to lack of being able to torque them right.

Before everyone starts trying to get all those worms back into the can , the original question did refer to "the rest of the world," which puts a slightly different spin on the topic.

In the U.K., the accepted convention is ground-up, like this:



Very occasionally I'll come across an outlet mounted upside down or even on its side, but it's usually obvious why it's been done, e.g. mounting on a narrow panel or close to a floor. Anything other than the standard ground-up looks distinctly odd, and most people would only accept odd orientations in hidden locations, in a garage or shed, etc.

There are two other contributory factors to ground-up here. First, all of our 13-amp plugs are right-angle types, so anything other than ground-up results in cords at awkward angles:



Second, most outlets used in domestic wiring are the switched type, so mounting the other way up would result in the switches operating upside down as well.

Our older round-pin grounding receptacles (with the same basic triangular arrangement of pins) were also ground-up.

I was always taught that when the outlet is placed sideways neutral is always to face up! as far as normal install ground down for res. ground up for comm.

As there is no guidance in the matter in the NEC, I look at it from a marketing point of view. Here in Northern Illinois grounds are down or to the right. From a marketing point of view...imagine your favorite client paying you $20,000 for their major rewire...they have a grand party and you've installed the grounds up because you think it matters. All the guests are looking at the new remodeling job & saying..."He installed the outlets upside down...GREAT JOB!"

Dave

If you have a grinding wheel, you can ground down the outlets. Of if you have an industrial shredder machine, you can ground them up...

Having seen so many pictures of plugs plugged into receptacles with the ground pin hanging half way out of the slot, by the wieght on the plug, I would tend to think that ground down would be safer.
Just my $0.02 worth.

I install them with the ground to the left. Neutral facing up...

The German solution -- Ground up and down simultaneously!

The 2005 NEC Handbook addresses this in 406.4(D). Receptacles shall be flush or protrude out--- then in the Green Print(which is an explanation of the code) it says The NEC doesn't specify the position (blades up or down)of a common vertically mounted 15 or 20 amp receptacle. it shows pictures throughout mounted both ways. i would recommend checking the job specs if there are any.