Ground pin up or down?

[6PTsocket]

I always installed receptacles with the ground pin down for no better reason than that was how I always saw them. When I saw them in the lobby of an office building, recently, with ground up, I thought somebody goofed. I was just looking in a Hubbell catalog and I see the receptacles shown ground up. Apparantly, other manufacturers show them this way, too but Leviton seems to favor ground down. All the instructions on the back of their gfci's are printed that way On the other hand, right angle appliance plugs, like on my fridge have to have the ground down or the cord comes out the top at an awkward angle. Some heavy wall worts have only 2 prongs but they are polarized and if the ground is up they also stck up awkwardly instead of hanging from the receptacle. There appears to be no regulation on this. The only safety justification for ground up seems to be if you are using a metal cover plate and the plug is not fully seated and the plate comes loose it will land on the ground pin rather than causing a massive short. Somebody suggested that it is common for residential to be ground down and commercial/ industrial to be ground up. Head scratch. Any thoughts?


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[Bert_]

I always put ground down.

Anything else is just wrong

As you already know there is arguments for both ways, neither of them really matter. The augment with a metal plate is ****, wouldn't be surprised if that has never actually happened. Ground down just looks right and people see them the other way around and, like you, assume somebody goofed.

 

[ddawg16]

It's been discussed so many times.....

End result.................what ever you want to do.....there is no code regulating it....each method has it's advantage and disadvantage.

No right, no wrong.....

Now, if you want to talk about back stabbing and pigtails, that is a much better topic

 

[ForceFed70]

From what I've been told - originally designed to be ground-up. No wrong way.

 

[acer66]

I always install receptacles horizontal to end that discussion before it even started.

 

[Show7d3]

I always install receptacles horizontal to end that discussion before it even started.

Do you put the ground on the right or left?

My apartment has the ground on top, with brown receptacles and ivory cover plates.

 

[kaffine]

Around here in residential the outlet with the ground up is normally controlled by a switch.

 

[Stuart in MN]

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.

 

[Tduby]

If you go ground pin up you can’t use these cover plates

 

[Sevenhills1952]

Since electricity flows downhill the ground or "Earth" should be down, unless you're on Mars.

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[slidehammer]

Notwithstanding the issues with certain wall warts, I think residential receptacles are usually installed ground down mainly out of pareidolia.

Bigger receptacles like NEMA 14-60s are usually clocked with the grounding terminal up. The corresponding right-angle plugs are assembled accordingly. I've actually experienced the scenario where something conductive slides down and rests on the plug, so I orient all my receptacles that way.

 

[Norcal]

If anyone says ground prong down is the correct correct way, they are full of ****, if anyone says ground prong up is the correct correct way, they are full of ****, it's personal preference or job specs, BTW, on any professional electrical forum this topic is automatically locked by a mod.

 

[alfredeneuman]

BTW, on any professional electrical forum this topic is automatically locked by a mod.

If not deleted by a mod or admin the comments of ridicule from the forum members would be endless.

 

[PT Doc]

Around here in residential the outlet with the ground up is normally controlled by a switch.

Yes.

 

[toolman9w]

Around here in residential the outlet with the ground up is normally controlled by a switch.

This is neat way of doing things. I like it.

 

[MikeF2316]

My dad taught me from when I was a wee guy to put ground down. So that's what's right, in my mind.

When we moved our warehouse, there was a lot of work done reconfiguring the office space, lots of new walls. All outlets, new and old, are ground down.

 

[shaggyant]

Now, if you want to talk about back stabbing and pigtails, that is a much better topic

What about daisy chaining from the upper to the lower screw terminals to receptacles down stream? It’s totally legal and within code.

 

[The Cobbler]

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.

 

[tdkkart]

I always install receptacles horizontal to end that discussion before it even started.

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

 

[chicken89]

when we had our house built, there was always one outlet per room with ground up- the top outlet was controlled by a switch, and the bottom outlet was always hot. that house was built in 2006. none of our upstairs rooms had overhead lights (we installed those later and made them fans with remotes), downstairs rooms had ceiling fans and switched outlets preinstalled
every other house i've been in has had ground down. i cannot recall being in any houses built after then, however, that may have just been my builder.
if newer houses are built this way, sure would make it easier to figure out which outlet is controlled by a wall switch

 

[BFBOB]

Down.
Up just looks wrong.

 

[ddawg16]

What about daisy chaining from the upper to the lower screw terminals to receptacles down stream? It’s totally legal and within code.

Yea.....it is....but a PIA to mess with....that is why I use pigtails

And telling cop to F'off is legal....but I wouldn't do it.....

And....please don't think I'm ragging on you........you actually brought up a good point....legal (code) vs best practices...

 

[Sevenhills1952]

A lot of three prong things like some power supplies (wall warts), etc. stay in place better with ground lug down and I've had them fall out if plugged into a receptical the opposite way ground up.

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[DougMN]

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.

Ground up is the logical way.

 

[Norcal]

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

From what I understand, it's quite common in the Chicago area, since it is rather easy to turn the ring ninety degrees when everything is in pipe.

 

[Lonstar]

This post was made 10 hours ago and it's only 2 pages??? That's ground down, up rightly shocking!

 

[Sevenhills1952]

Which is happier, top or bottom?

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[Lonstar]

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.

Ground up is the logical way.

Wait a minute! Give me some time to find a scenario where down savad a life too...then these posts are cancelled out.

 

[Jackpod]

Ground down looks like a face, ground up looks like a goat walking away from you

 

[The Cobbler]

Wait a minute! Give me some time to find a scenario where down savad a life too...then these posts are cancelled out.

I know
I was once told by an old electrician the preferred way is to mount ground down, so if the plug falls out of the wall, the last thing to become disconnected is the ground pin...

 

[tab2]

I don’t know if I have ever seen a commercial space with the ground down and I don’t know if I have ever seen a house with the ground up. I just looked at a bunch of engineered electrical drawings and cannot find it specifying it one way or the other; this was between 4 sets of engineering companies.

They do all show labeling each cover plate with a P-touch for the panel and circuit number. At my house I have started writing the breaker number on the inside of the plate.

 

[alfredeneuman]

We did a Kindercare Day Care center and they're reasoning was that ground down would like a smilie face to the tots, so we put them in with the ground up.

Hospital have their own supplements to the Code, and they write in specs for the ground up also.

 

[Norcal]

I don’t know if I have ever seen a commercial space with the ground down and I don’t know if I have ever seen a house with the ground up. I just looked at a bunch of engineered electrical drawings and cannot find it specifying it one way or the other; this was between 4 sets of engineering companies.

They do all show labeling each cover plate with a P-touch for the panel and circuit number. At my house I have started writing the breaker number on the inside of the plate.

It will work well until the painter mixes the plates up.

 

[shaggyant]

Yea.....it is....but a PIA to mess with....that is why I use pigtails

And telling cop to F'off is legal....but I wouldn't do it.....

And....please don't think I'm ragging on you........you actually brought up a good point....legal (code) vs best practices...

Hah! I am just teasing (hence the dead horse smiley). It makes no difference to me how the outlets get wired as long as they meet code. I wouldn’t fault anyone for using the backstabs either. The UL has tested all of the above and put their stamp on it. It must be ok.

 

[acer66]

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

 

[SimS]

... I think residential receptacles are usually installed ground down mainly out of pareidolia.
.

Thanks. I learned a new word today.

SimS

 

[nsula_country]

If you go ground pin up you can’t use these cover plates

Im going to find some of these!
CT

 

[PhantomEB]

The welder plugs are upside down in my shop. Easier to run the thick cord down than up and down, also eliminates stress on the welder cord.

 

[fasteddie]

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.

This is the exact scenario I heard an inspector describe in a discussion on this topic. In my shop, I install them always up, other places I put them down just because they look like they belong that way. What really bothers me is a light switch that has been installed upside down.

 

[Lassen Forge]

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...