Ground pin up or down?

[Norcal]

Does it matter when you cut the ground lug off the plug strip to use in your 1930''s 2 slot receptacles?

On a serious note, as long as it's wired correctly (Silver to white is all right, and black to brass won't kick your ***) you're fine.

What if it's ceiling mount plug? Should the ground be to the north or east, or south and west?

Just be glad we're not in the EU... I could go on at length between 8 amp, 16 amp, and Schuko sockets... and not even broach 220 vs 230 vs 240...

The EU settled the 220,240V situation, by harmonizing everything at 230V.

 

[fourjeepin]

Same thing as arguing over how to hang the toilet paper, with it rolling over the top or down the back. There's no rule one way or the other.

That’s is flat wrong. TP must roll over the top

 

[Jim greengo]

Neutral has always gone on the left as long as I can remember,even on ungrounded outlets.

 

[Norcal]

Neutral has always gone on the left as long as I can remember,even on ungrounded outlets.

There is nothing in the NEC requiring ground up/down orientation.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

What if you are "down under?"

 

[Norcal]

What if you are "down under?"

Not relevant, different system.

 

[jdieter]

Worked a ton of commercial construction and on one of the jobs the supv. wanted the receptacles below waist height ground up and above the waist ground down. His theory was nobody pays attention that the ground pin is longer and pushes an attachment plug in exactly perpendicular to make the ground connection first. He explained his scheme provides the safest way to get the ground established before current flows. Every other job and everything I've done for my self, ground down.

 

[Jim greengo]

There is nothing in the NEC requiring ground up/down orientation.

Didnt say there was.
Just saying all the years I've been wiring that's the way we've always done in all the states I've ever worked in is all.

 

[Norcal]

Didnt say there was.
Just saying all the years I've been wiring that's the way we've always done in all the states I've ever worked in is all.

My point is that it’s purely personal preference or job specs, it’s beating a dead horse

 

[NUTTSGT]

Same thing as arguing over how to hang the toilet paper, with it rolling over the top or down the back. There's no rule one way or the other.

Do electricians hang toilet paper the same way they do spools of wire on a rack or caddy ?

 

[AntonLargiader]

Only legal if you're in Canada.........

Really? All of my baseboard receps are horizontal, but it's an old house.

 

[alfredeneuman]

He is mistaken.
By Code, a building could have all the outlets mounted horizontally.

 

[rburke65]

Ground down.

 

[PartsGuy]

What really bothers me is a light switch that has been installed upside down.

AMEN, brother! My entire house is wired this way, and it drives me freakin' nuts! If I wasn't always so damn busy out in the shop re-organizing my tools, I'd do something about it, too....

 

[rbrock]

When I started my new house 5 years ago (still working on it) the local code here in Ohio was ground pin up. By the time I got my inspection done it had changed back to ground pin down. The inspector didn't care. So far I have only changed the outlets that have directional plugs so the cords don't point up. Eventually I will change the all back to G.P.D.

 

[yeldogt]

I do tall baseboards -- so mine are horizontal in the baseboard.

have done 36" switch hight in my last two projects ..

 

[justsam]

Would PG&E get it wrong?

 

[Norcal]

Would PG&E get it wrong?

Hubbell was the first manufacturer of that receptacle & they orient them the other way.

 

[6PTsocket]

I just emailed Hubbell and asked them why their catalog, ads, instruction sheets, labels, stamped writing on the mounting brackets and molded writing on the back of their duplex devices all seem to favor ground pin up. I got a quick reply and it was one of the reasons I had heard before. If the plug is not fully seated and something conductive drops on it, ( like a metal cover plate) it is better caught by the ground pin rather than shorting the hot and neutral. You may think it is improbable but that is Hubbell's reasoning. Mabe I should ask Leviton why they do it the other way.

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[6PTsocket]

AMEN, brother! My entire house is wired this way, and it drives me freakin' nuts! If I wasn't always so damn busy out in the shop re-organizing my tools, I'd do something about it, too....

Apparantly that is the norm in Europe. They did some electrical work in the office building where my wife worked. They had some guys from Poland doing the work and all the light switches went in up side down. I am sure that is the way they had always seen them installed. Working as an electronic tech , I remember a piece of British test equipment made by Marconi. The power toggle switch was up for OFF, down for ON. I thought it rather strange at the time. If you have 3 way switches around your house, it can end up either way

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[MikeF2316]

AMEN, brother! My entire house is wired this way, and it drives me freakin' nuts! If I wasn't always so damn busy out in the shop re-organizing my tools, I'd do something about it, too....

That's nothing. You know what's worse? Alternating switches in the same box. In our old warehouse, when we moved in, there were 2 pairs of 3 way switches for the lights, one pair by the door to the offices, one pair by the rear door. One switch did aisles 1,3 & 5, the other 2,4 & 6. But in the both on or both off positions, in one of the locations one switch had to be up and the other down. Drove me crazy, so bad I came in early one morning and turned one of the switches around!

 

[egdede]

... What really bothers me is a light switch that has been installed upside down.

Yeah, me too. Sometimes the kitchen light by the backdoor is upside down, and sometimes it's not(?). Same thing with the kitchen light by the den.

 

[Bert_]

Yeah, me too. Sometimes the kitchen light by the backdoor is upside down, and sometimes it's not(?). Same thing with the kitchen light by the den.

It's a 3 way switch, it will never be the same unless you never use the other switch. But then what's the point of having a 3 way.

 

[gtae07]

We bought a house at the beginning of this month. It was built in 1998. Every outlet is ground pin up. Not a problem really... until you have a device with a low profile plug that assumes ground pin down.

Oh, and all the switches in the kitchen are in really strange places. If it weren't such a PITA to move them I'd fix that.

 

[Codyboy]

here they ground pin is normally down.
having said that I did a fire job where the cause of the fires was; the homeowner had removed aluminum stair nosings in preparation for new flooring on the steps to the basement. he laid the nosings on top of the old latch close fridge in the basement.
over time the nosings fell off the back of the fridge, the fridge plug was partially out of the receptacle, one of the nosings fell behind the gap and started to spark. caught the wood paneling on fire & fire resulted. house was almost total loss.
had the ground pin been at the top, the nosing would not have touched the hot blade & fire wouldnt have happened.
Now adays, I suppose an arc fault breaker would have saved the fire too.

Zinsco or FPE breaker didnt trip?

I'll only ever install ground down because it looks right and is right.
Also all the 90° plugs I've seen have the ground pin down and the cord hangs down accordingly.

As far as a metal cover plate falling down and balancing on the ground pin is a good way to cause a shock. A person sees the loose plate , grabs plate and swings it into the hot blade.
Would be better to let the cover plate fall across the hot and neutral and just trip the breaker.

 

[txvwnut]

I was in another discussion about this topic and was told the ground pin goes up. The reason being if you remove a plug and there's something conductive laying on it that you don't see it will hit the hot and neutral and create an arc issue. I took as good advice and thought what's the likelihood of that happening. Well turns out it was pretty good. I have a receptacle that is close to my lathe and when I went to unplug something there was a metal chip string that I didn't see when I pulled the plug and got alerted to it by the rather large arc and spark. So now that plug is rotated so the pin is up with the expectation of any form of a metal chip would fall away from the hot leg if it were to happen again.

 

[Norcal]

What if you are "down under?"

They are all ground up NZ would be the same since they both use the same obsolete American receptacle configuration.

 

[Stuart in MN]

What about more important things, like which way to put the toilet paper on the holder.

 

[rd65]

What about more important things, like which way to put the toilet paper on the holder.

That depends on location for that particular toilet. Really.
I did install the outlet for my shop sink water heater with the ground pin up. I was thinking that I may store short pieces of scrap metal under the counter.

 

[dave*99]

That depends on location for that particular toilet. Really.
I did install the outlet for my shop sink water heater with the ground pin up. I was thinking that I may store short pieces of scrap metal under the counter.

Can you reach the lathe from the toilet? Turn and burn. Or use your parting tool and farting tool simultaneously.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

What about more important things, like which way to put the toilet paper on the holder.

Only one correct answer there - the original patent shows it over the top.

 

[minke]

My 1992 house has ground-up sockets. (No, no grinder here.) It is annoying when using a
lamp timer or kill-a-watt power meter because their displays are upside-down.

 

[Bad Eye Bill]

Only one correct answer there - the original patent shows it over the top.

Regardless of which way the paper hangs it goes over the top doesn't it?

 

[dave*99]

Regardless of which way the paper hangs it goes over the top doesn't it?

The patent shows it over per your naming convention.

 

[Gozo]

And here’s a link to the patent: https://swlattorneys.com/toilet-paper-patent/
I keep it on my phone as my wife is an under person and requires “proof” of why I turned the roll around.
Kinda sad we’ve been married so long that this type of thing is all we have left to fight over.

 

[Steve_P]

Ground pin down. I understand the theoretical justification behind it going up, but the chance of "the plug was partially out, and I dropped a butter knife...." is a million times less likely than all of the Victoria Secret models showing up at my door tonite to endlessly pleasure me. If we used the same statistical justification as "ground pin up" for everything in our lives, we would never leave the house on even a sunny day because the chance of being struck by lightning is greater.

All of my three prong right angle cords are set up for the ground to be on the bottom with the cord being on a ~45* angle.

 

[sparky 1971]

And here’s a link to the patent: https://swlattorneys.com/toilet-paper-patent/
I keep it on my phone as my wife is an under person and requires “proof” of why I turned the roll around.
Kinda sad we’ve been married so long that this type of thing is all we have left to fight over.

At least your wife hangs it up. Mine thinks the best place for TP is the side of the bathtub.

 

[mm08822]

At least your wife hangs it up. Mine thinks the best place for TP is the side of the bathtub.

Could be worse.......you , then you realize she left only 1 sheet or hid it all together. and she doesn't answer your screaming cries..........and then........... see ya, bye!

 

[dave*99]

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Regardless of which way the paper hangs it goes over the top doesn't it?

One of those says "Over" while the other one clearly says "Under"...