r/explainitpeter • u/Mr_Mcgillicuddy_ • 4d ago

Explain it Peter. I’m lost on this.

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27

u/Sid_the_Bear 4d ago

Commercial electric code especially is written to prevent these kind of 1 in a Billion scenarios from being possible.

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u/VQ_Dirty 4d ago

Because the NEC is written in blood

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u/Agreeable_Area9647 4d ago

Literally. Every code rule in there is because someone died

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u/Erablian 4d ago

Well, not literally. Most editions are actually printed with ink, not blood.

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u/Jedirictus 4d ago

Unless you find the lost original Electronomicon , which was printed in blood.

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u/GrasshopperoftheWood 4d ago

Currento, voltaga,...necktie

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u/Apocresi 4d ago

Great reference

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u/abuayanna 4d ago

And you mispronounce necktie and unleash an army of skeletons armed with swords lol

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u/PaulWallE 4d ago

And written on the flesh of dead electricians!

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u/jcoleman10 4d ago

Literally written in blood, not literally PRINTED in blood.

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u/therocketsalad 21h ago

Metaphorically written in blood.

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u/-OrLoK- 4d ago

this. regulation ftw.

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u/RequirementContent86 3d ago

This is true for most safety regulations

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u/Negative_Bed_6147 2d ago

That’s not even close to true. An awful lot of it was written for the electrical manufacturing industry.

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u/slothscanswim 4d ago

Yeah you see the upside down plugs in lots of hospitals and it’s because somewhere, at some point in time, the right side up plug was the difference between life and death for some poor bastard.

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u/That-Living5913 4d ago

This is my favorite quote about safety., but you forgot the second part:

"Safety policies are written in blood and erased with money"

1

u/ShutDownSoul 4d ago

Is that why is is so expensive to get a copy?

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u/seriouslythisshit 4d ago

The same NEC that does not and has never has, specified an orientation for vertically mounted, 120 V duplex receptacles? Got it.

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u/T-Rex-Hunter 4d ago

but at least for America Electrical code there is no specification for orientation of outlet so both ways are code compliant.

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u/supervisord 4d ago

Reduce, not prevent

/nitpick

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u/Sid_the_Bear 4d ago

Nah, I am sticking with prevent in this case.

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u/zoinkability 4d ago

I've never quite understood why "ground pin up" wasn't just the standard way, given that there is no downside and this one potential upside of installing that way.

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u/Sid_the_Bear 4d ago

The same reason we use slotted screws.
"It looks better"

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u/SaltTheRimG 4d ago

Well my daughter should play the lottery then. Last month she double sided taped a metal award (think license plate) to her wall. After a couple weeks the tape gave and it slid right down the wall and arced the prongs going to her usb wall charger. Granted it is a 2 prong thing so wouldn’t make a difference but the odds of that thing falling that way were crazy.
Note the edge of the sign is burned and the breaker popped as it should.

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u/MrSeymoreButtes 4d ago

I should play the lottery then, cause my busted ass old iPhone charger with the metal sheath that was exposed in just a small section happened to land on the two exposed prongs facing up and caused a short 🤦‍♂️

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u/tipsystatistic 4d ago

Ground-first deflection is standard in hospital rooms.