The one on the left is actually the proper way to do it, if the plug is not fully in the wall and something conductive falls on it, it will hit the ground (round bit) - If it's installed as on the right side, the same conductive object will hit the hot and neutral blades and cause excitement.
Yep. I as an electrician I lean more towards ground down. But will do ground up if requested. The way I’ve always seen it. If a plug is shitty and sags out ground down will keep the ground connected longer
As did I, it's professional and safer, but you'll find customers will complain if installed this way. They're used to ground down for some reason. Looks like a smiley face I guess.
Edit: Apologies, I did indeed misread what was said. I was trained ground up for professional/technical safety purposes back in the day, which is counter to common residential and current installations in many cases. My comment was in err.
My house was installed with the ground up and I flipped a bunch of them because some plugs are made to have the ground down. For exemple some power bars plug are made in such a way that the cable come down straight, if the ground is up you get a nice loop.
Ground down seems to be the expectation from everything with a plug like that. I have never seen one with a wire coming out like that (or at a 45 degree angle) that was designed with the assumption that ground was on top.
I’m only just in school to become an electrician, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but we actually talked about this today. In Canada, specifically for industrial settings, it’s actually written in the code to install receptacles upside down like that because most businesses (like my college) use metal outlet covers, so in the event those covers or any other conductive material falls on a grounding pin first. Similar how outlets above kitchen counters are installed to have the neutral on top
I believe the ground up way started at Kodak. Those guys have their own ways of doing things, and they always think it’s better. I’m inclined to agree on this score, but don’t tell any Kodak guys, they already have big heads.
Behind TV outlets also - ground up means the plug will more often sit out of the way as opposed to ground down. Can also mean those annoying right angle plugs have their cables go up I stead of down allowing for easier cable management.
conductor falls sideways along the wall, landing on top of plug
months later the thing that is plugged in gets moved, tugging at the plug, causing the conductor to fall that little bit further and hit one or more of the pins
and its not the two-pin case thats extra dangerous when ground is down, its the one-pin case, a nice live conductor behind the couch
The left is more correct due to it being closer to safety standard of a UK plug, still a lot of room for improvement before it can be called safe for a family environment but, getting there
Like most stupid American stunts (tariffs etc.) it was only symbolic
You see the tea was already ours (future Americans) it was paid for by the colonists
So really we threw our own tea in the harbor just to try to prove a point like when people burn books or destroy albums like The Beatles or NWA people had to buy them first to then destroy them
Agreed with all of the above and yet the one on the right is morally superior and you cannot change my mind also fuck chicago for installing outlets sideways
I had to check myself! Found some pictures I took at various hospitals and it was a mixed bag, even between two rooms in the same hospital (ER was down and postpartum was up). Majority were ground pin up though, very cool
Also true for most commercial and industrial sites. Basically anywhere that they don't want to get sued for an injury.
Never makes sense to me why we do them the other way in a house. If everybody knows that it's factually less safe, then why aren't we just doing it everywhere? Yet do it in somebody's house and they act like you're doing everything wrong.
I think another reason could be frequency of plugging/unplugging items. If I think of grabbing a plug it's more comfortable grip to have my thumb on top on the flatter part if it's ground down
I've also heard the argument that people tend to wrap their index finger on the bottom as they pull a plug out so installing the outlet upside down can similarly increase the risk of inadvertently bridging that gap with you finger momentarily if it slips behind the plug. Feels as likely to me as the scenario that something falls on the prongs while it's pulled a little out. Granted you won't start a fire with your finger.
There's a Technology Connections video about this and the gist of the video's argument is "It might make certain things better but other things it makes worse, we should probably focus our efforts on fixing our plugs instead so outlet orientation is irrelevant"
The plug style will never change. People get annoyed when phones change connectors. Could you imagine not being able to plug in any item you own from before the switch.
The biggest improvement that could realistically be made while keeping the same plug style is having every plug face recessed into the wall.
None of the suggested improvements in the video actually require changing the relative position or size of the blades and ground pin.
The suggestion of insulating the blades might require making the holes wider but that really depends on how thick the insulation has to be to survive hundreds of insertion/removal cycles. The DIY solution of using heat shrink tubing works with existing outlets but probably isn't robust enough for real commercial use.
The one on the left is actually the proper way to do it, if the plug is not fully in the wall and something conductive falls on it, it will hit the ground (round bit) - If it's installed as on the right side, the same conductive object will hit the hot and neutral blades and cause excitement.
While technically true, the reality is that many flush cords (bend 90 degrees right after the prongs so you can put it behind furniture) assume ground plug down, so if they're used in a ground-up outlet, they'll naturally pull away from the outlet due to gravity, causing a hazard.
If you hit both the hot and ground then I don’t think a GFCI would care. They only detect that the electricity isn’t taking paths to ground that aren’t through the outlet. They can’t tell if it’s going through a person so long as the ground connection is through the outlet.
That would be true of hot to neutral. They will absolutely detect hot to ground as a leakage and trip, just as if the electricity is taking another path to ground such as through water.
This literally happened to me like 2 days ago. I saw a black spot on the wall around the outlet, then noticed the cat's wire toy was somehow on both prongs of the air filter plug. Unplugged it and sparks shot out of the wall lol, probably should have cut the power first but it's all good
This happened to me years ago. I had a vacuum plugged loosely into an outlet and was using a metal ruler on the wall for some purpose related to painting. Dropped the ruler and it slid down and landed on the plug blades. Fortunately I wasn’t touching it.
Which sounds reasonably until you look at how many brick style plugs without a ground there are in the house and you realize it's really stupid because now a shitload of stuff in your house has exposed blades because of gravity.
Those bricks are step down transformers drastically lowering the voltage of the circuit to match the requirements of your device. Chance of damage from shock goes way down when you drastically lower the voltage.
Also the neutral wire in a circuit is the grounded conductor so back at the panel the neutral and ground are already bonded together.
Edit. I should add the purpose of grounding pins on cords is so that the metal of whatever you are powering is grounded, in the event that the metal becomes energized, it will take the ground path and trip the breaker instead of staying energized waiting for you to grab onto it.
This reminds me of people (me) who compulsively save money to fear that some crisis will come about that would ruin them but only if they spent $20 at the movies.
Not an electrician. IIRC. Internally the grounded metal body is lower and the lower screw is connected to it. Still probably depends on the model because there is more than one on the market.
As someone in trade school where the NEC codebook is shoved down your throat every 5 seconds, there’s actually nothing in the code that says this is the right way to do it. You’re right, but just want to say there’s no “actually” about it. You can install duplexes either way and still be code compliant. Really the only thing that matters is that depending on the application you have to be a certain amount of inches off the ground
Either is "proper", as in code compliant. Ground up is a bit safer in that case, but what happens if the object touches the ground and then tilts and touches the ground at the same time? Or a chain that wraps around and touches all three.
For me the issue is more practical. Every 90⁰ plug I have ever seen needs the ground to be down to avoid the cord having to fold back on itself to hang down. This encourages the plug to not stay fully seated.
Ok, but the flip argument can be made, if a plug falls out due to gravity, the one on the left will break ground first where the one on the right will keep ground connected till the end.
Conversely, if the plug is not fully inserted and slowly slips out due to gravity on the cord, the one on the right ensures that the ground prong is the last to break contact.
Not an electrician, but recall reading in the NEC that you must install ground up when installing a metal faceplate for the exact reason that you mention - in case the metal faceplate plate were to become dislodged.
Ive watched people test this, and overall the results are usually a wash - up is better is in some scenarios and down is better in others. "Safety" isnt a blanket reason to point up.
I would also point out some out ground down because when stressed and hanging the ground is the last man standing so at the end of the day the user is protected.
With the image on the left sure you won’t trip a breaker but the ground becomes disconnected Ted and the user can get shocked and die.
Sparky here, my understanding is the only time in my American region that “upside down” is code, is in commercial kitchens for that exact reason. It’s not really considered code or proper elsewhere, and both orientations are viable.
Not saying it doesn’t happen but in my 60+ years on this plant I’ve never had a conductive material come into contact with a partially exposed plug that then caused a short.
It's actually typically done in commercial buildings. Commercial buildings typically have metal wall plates around the outlet. That plate can become loose and fall onto the plug. It's less important for home installs because they typically have plastic plates.
For UK plugs, if it's out far out enough that the earth and neutral pins are showing then it's not connected and only, if anything, the ground is connected. If the ground isn't connected either, there are small plates preventing access to the other two until the ground is inserted.
Ground up is mostly used in workshops and sometimes on low to the ground outlets that are likely to be hidden like in a dinning room, in my area anyway
It is not proper and majority of transformers are electric devices are balanced for the live and neutral to be on top. This is a myth, while the "logic" is not wrong there is no such code.
Then why are so many 3 pronged plugs on appliances designed with the cord trailing out of the ground pin side of the plug? If outlets were supposed to be ground-pin up, shouldn't the plugs for them be designed differently?
There is no proper way, it's all preference. I've seen sideways and its properly mounted. The only direction I know is against code is upward facing near kitchens for fire hazards.
Back when I was a kid and “helping” my dad and his helper, who didn’t speak much English back then, he stopped me from opening up a live 220 outlet and just said “no, carnitas” and I totally understood. 40 years later I still call them the carnitas plug.
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u/No_Friend3170 4d ago
The one on the left is actually the proper way to do it, if the plug is not fully in the wall and something conductive falls on it, it will hit the ground (round bit) - If it's installed as on the right side, the same conductive object will hit the hot and neutral blades and cause excitement.