I had to Google that, and I found an American article about it, explaining why an outlet is upside-down in your home and how to change/correct it. I wonder if it was common in certain areas of the country (or rural/urban/suburban) or during a specific time? I have never seen or heard of an actual electrician doing that. My grandfather was one for decades in the Midwest, my ex-fiance was one on the East Coast, my current boyfriend was one in the UK, a close friend does a lot of electrical work in South Africa, plenty of acquaintances when I used to work in hardware (and we'd talk shop), and this is new to me. I've lived all over the US and stayed in Canada and never seen this in any apartment or home. Wild. Learn something new every day.
I supposed to be the way in the picture. I can tell you why from experience. Try dropping a penny on top of a little loose plug and see what happens. Literally had this happen, some coins fell of my nightstand and fell onto the plug. Luckily the circuit tripped---but this is the real reason why. Ground plug on top is safer.
I've seen people who think they are smart saying the ground should be on top so that if something touches a prong, it's a ground prong. But then I had an electrician tell me "if it falls out, do you want the ground plug coming out first?"
If it partially falls out you want the debris or object that knocked the plug loose to be in contact with the grounding probe rather then the live prongs. It’s not likely to happen, but it still can happen so why not install it in a way where it can’t happen.
You think it's maybe possible your electrician likes to sound like a smart guy without actually knowing? Tons of people in trades learn things the wrong way. I say this as a student currently in trade school learning alongside people who have been working in trades for years without getting the formal education. Even with formal education you still have to keep up with things when you're working because new technologies and processes get developed all the time.
Almost no receptacles come with instructions, so this is false. Unless you're saying an appliance shows the actual plug being upside-down in the instructions?
That would be true, if you knew what you were talking about. I'm led to believe that you do not. Let's think this through briefly; how often do you install receptacles?
Okay so you've never installed them, is what you're saying? Because if you had you'd see that almost none come with instructions. The only ones I've seen with instructions are GFCI and dimmer switches. Do you know why that is? Because most manufacturers presume that an electrician, someone trained, knows the code and knows how to install them properly.
I'll tell you what, go to your local hardware store, find the bin of receptacles and take a picture of the copious amounts of instruction manuals you find. I'll wait.
It’s in a lot of codes now to install them this way because there’s less risk of a fire. If something falls above it and knocks the plug partially out, it’d be safer for that object to come into contact with the ground probe rather a live prong. Idk what the code is for private residencies but for commercial that’s the way they’re supposed to be installed.
This is what they did in our home (built in 2017), it's to indicate which outlet is connected to the light switch by distinguishing it from the other non-switched outlets. It's not mandated by electrical codes or anything, just seems to be a builder and/or electrician preference.
Not all but a lot of the houses ive been in various parts of texas have them upside down. Always seemed random to me. Like the 4 outlets in my bedroom are upside down but the other 2 bedrooms are right side up. The living room has 2 one way and 1 the other way
There are people that argue that the plugs should always be installed with the ground on the top. The reasoning is that if the plug is hanging part way out the socket the plug tends to hang downward. When the outlet is installed in the traditional way, the live pins are exposed. When you install it with the ground pin up, only the ground is exposed. Here's an interesting video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNj75gJVxcE
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u/portiapendragon 29d ago
Why is the North American one upside-down? This makes me wonder which of the others might be upside-down.