Receptacle color question

[Junkman]

I have been looking at some receptacles on eBay, and I have been finding many that are orange in color. I have seen orange colored receptacles in hospitals that are orange, and I believe that they have separated neutrals and grounds, and that is what the orange means, however, I don't understand why there would be orange receptacles for twist locks, such as a L6-30. When would you use an orange twist lock, and is it wired differently that a black twist lock of the same type? thanks

 

[Norcal]

They are isolated ground devices, the metal yoke of the receptacle is isolated from the grounding slot of the device, they are connected to a insulated grounding conductor to the panel, in a hospital you would see a lot of red receptacles which denote being connected to a emergency power source.

 

[Richard Cranium]

thanks for the colored info

 

[Slowgsr]

Orange is isolated ground - some IG receptacles just have an orange triangle
Green triangle is hospital grade

Twist lock since some server towers have integrated power bars which connect to a heavier supply. Lots of applications.

Unfortunately most IGs don't actually give an isolated ground - they don't get installed properly

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I have been looking at some receptacles on eBay, and I have been finding many that are orange in color. I have seen orange colored receptacles in hospitals that are orange, and I believe that they have separated neutrals and grounds, and that is what the orange means, however, I don't understand why there would be orange receptacles for twist locks, such as a L6-30. When would you use an orange twist lock, and is it wired differently that a black twist lock of the same type? thanks

An outlet, ISOG or not should NEVER have neutral and ground bonded. U are confusing things.

An isolated ground menas that the ground terminal on the outlet doesnt connect to the yoke of the recepticle which means the conduit and any bonded metal as well.

Neutral and ground should only be bonded in one place and thats the main service panel.

Orange is isolated ground - some IG receptacles just have an orange triangle
Green triangle is hospital grade

Twist lock since some server towers have integrated power bars which connect to a heavier supply. Lots of applications.

Unfortunately most IGs don't actually give an isolated ground - they don't get installed properly

yup. I did a mcd electrical upgrade project almost 6 yrs ago and NCR(national cash register) required isolated ground circuits for all the cash registers, KVS(kitchen video system) and servers. Many stores had existing twist lock ISOG outlets but whoever wired them didnt do it properly and there was no isolated ground.

 

[nh_yota]

Isolated grounds are overrated these days and really only still exist because engineers continue to spec them out of habit. They were important (theoretically) back in the early days of computers and electronics because back them, stray current and EMF noise could lead to lost data bits and cause communication errors. Modern equipment has much more built-in protection and shielding so isolated grounds offer trivial benefit.

Besides, as others have mentioned, most of the time they're not installed correctly.

 

[Junkman]

My garage panel, where this receptacle is going to be located, has the grounds and neutrals separated. The grounding bar goes to a driven rod, and then to the well casing. Based on this, would it be proper to use the orange receptacles? The reason that I ask, it seems that many times, the orange receptacles are priced lower than the black receptacles. Thanks for your knowledge, and answering this question.

 

[nh_yota]

No, isolated ground receptacles are not needed.

 

[sberry]

You shouldn't be using them, they are special purpose. And,,, you are confusing where the ground wire goes, it goes back to service main neutral. It is NOT go to a rod or casing. It is hooked the same place the wire that does is.

 

[sberry]

A great insulated (as Alfred said,,, I used the wrong term here,,,should have said isolated) edited) ground circuit is a Romex in a plastic box going to the main service. If one needed a true insulated ground,,, which you don't it may have an additional insulated wire which actually passes thru a sub and back to service main.
Its been a while but I believe a hot tub has an insulated wire, not always back to main but to the ground bar, they do not want other stuff connected to it etc. In general circuits the ground may be shared with several circuits but not for the tubs,,,,, Others can elaborate.

 

[alfredeneuman]

A great insulated ground circuit is a Romex in a plastic box going to the main service. .

sberry,

Aren't you mixing up INSUlated grounds with ISOlated grounds??

Hot tubs and pools are required to have INSULated grounding conductors.
Romex in a plastic box is a good example of ISOLATED grounding conductors

 

[sberry]

I may not have been clear but I know the difference, I was trying to give examples of the different types, as I said, feel free to expand on this.
Whoops,,, I see I used the wrong word.
I blast thru this too fast. Great thing about forums, someone will catch it. Thanks.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Isolated grounds are overrated these days and really only still exist because engineers continue to spec them out of habit. They were important (theoretically) back in the early days of computers and electronics because back them, stray current and EMF noise could lead to lost data bits and cause communication errors. Modern equipment has much more built-in protection and shielding so isolated grounds offer trivial benefit.

Besides, as others have mentioned, most of the time they're not installed correctly.

No kidding.

That MCD project i was on called for them because NCR wouldnt warranty their equipment if it wasnt plugged into an ISOG system. It was unneeded but required by NCR.

My garage panel, where this receptacle is going to be located, has the grounds and neutrals separated. The grounding bar goes to a driven rod, and then to the well casing. Based on this, would it be proper to use the orange receptacles? The reason that I ask, it seems that many times, the orange receptacles are priced lower than the black receptacles. Thanks for your knowledge, and answering this question.

First off, an ISOG outlet has NOTHING to do with how the oanel is bonded. ISOG has to do with preventing noise and transients from getting into electrical and computer equipment via the ground on the outlet.

Trust me. Ive done ISOG systems for years and u dont need it.

Second, u mentioned that the neutral and EGC/ground bars are separated and u have a ground rod and well casing connected to the EGC bar. Is the neutral bar isolated? If so, u should also have an EGC that goes from the EGC bar back to the main service panel.

Is this panel in your garage a main service panel or subpanel? Is this garage attached or detached?

I may not have been clear but I know the difference, I was trying to give examples of the different types, as I said, feel free to expand on this.
Whoops,,, I see I used the wrong word.
I blast thru this too fast. Great thing about forums, someone will catch it. Thanks.

Sberry- i knew what u meant. When i first joined this forum it was hard for me to read your comments and I thought u only half knew what you were talking about. Over the years Ive learned to read them and I've also realized for the most part u get it right and know what youre talking about. Carry on.

 

[Autorotica]

I thought I saw some orange receptacles were that color to designate they were on a backup power system...

Chris

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I thought I saw some orange receptacles were that color to designate they were on a backup power system...

Chris

That would be red colored receptacles.

 

[Moto]

That MCD project i was on called for them because NCR wouldnt warranty their equipment if it wasnt plugged into an ISOG system. It was unneeded but required by NCR.

If I were MCD, I would have demanded NCR pay the extra cost of the isolated ground needed to accommodate the defective equipment.

 

[the gypsy]

So to have a proper Isolated grounded, does the wire being used as ground wire have to be insulated so as to not touch any metal except for the yoke? And once at the panel is it attached the same way a ground wire is attached or is there a specific place to attach this wire?

 

[Moto]

It's an insulated ground wire that is in addition to the regular ground wire or conduit. It connects to the panel as usual.

 

[Autorotica]

That would be red colored receptacles.

Thanks Wylie!

Chris

 

[vartz04]

I use them to differentiate circuits/dedicated outlets. Makes labeling the panel easy for the shop (I.e gray outlets, black outlets, ect)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sberry]

So to have a proper Isolated grounded, does the wire being used as ground wire have to be insulated so as to not touch any metal except for the yoke? And once at the panel is it attached the same way a ground wire is attached or is there a specific place to attach this wire?

The yoke in an isolated recept is not bonded to the ground screw or pin. It can be screwed in to as metal box and the only way it is grounded is thru the wire. It is attached to the neutral bar in the main service panel. I spose it could be to the ground bar there also.

 

[Cmreschke]

Did the mcdonalds thing too. What a joke. We had to upgrade all stranded 12s to solid 10s. I so grounds back to their is ground panel, fed from switch gear on 40 amp circuit. It was 3 phase gear. Single phase panel, with a and b phase jumped together, yup it was a 120 volt panel only, fed off of c phase in the bucket. Also the io ground was using a number 4 thhn. The panel was fed with a number 6.

 

[Junkman]

You shouldn't be using them, they are special purpose. And,,, you are confusing where the ground wire goes, it goes back to service main neutral. It is NOT go to a rod or casing. It is hooked the same place the wire that does is.

There is a disconnect on the back side of where the meter is mounted, and as such, the main panel was considered a sub panel, and was required to have the neutrals and grounds separated. The grounding bar, is connected to the grounding rod, and then to the well casing. This is per the electrical inspector and the utility inspector. Since I live in a rural community, the electrical utility also checks how the panels are wired prior to connecting to the utility pole. Both inspectors said that it was done correctly, and according to code.

 

[Falcon67]

My garage panel, where this receptacle is going to be located, has the grounds and neutrals separated. The grounding bar goes to a driven rod, and then to the well casing. Based on this, would it be proper to use the orange receptacles? The reason that I ask, it seems that many times, the orange receptacles are priced lower than the black receptacles. Thanks for your knowledge, and answering this question.

Cheaper than a box of 10 15A receptacles at Lowes? Either way, you don't need the orange parts. And pretty much neither does anyone else which is why so many of them are floating around. We're got 100s of PCs here and you won't find any orange receptacles.

 

[Falcon67]

You shouldn't be using them, they are special purpose. And,,, you are confusing where the ground wire goes, it goes back to service main neutral. It is NOT go to a rod or casing. It is hooked the same place the wire that does is.

Maybe not if he was wired on older code that allowed 3 wire feeds.

 

[Norcal]

Maybe not if he was wired on older code that allowed 3 wire feeds.

Has nothing to do with it.

 

[sberry]

As Norcal eludes to,,,, the reason I worded this the way I did. It is hooked the same place but the equipment ground does not go "to them" in this sense,,, it goes "to" the service neutral. Its done right first of all is what counts,,, now we can get to "why". The ground rods are rather hooked "to" this vs the other way around. It seems like semantics and is somewhat but we always try to help with the understanding of what does what here.

 

[sberry]

Maybe not if he was wired on older code that allowed 3 wire feeds.

Remember,,, on a 3 wire feed the neutral wire between panels becomes the "ground" wire or more accurately the fault return pathway back to the main. It MUST be connected to the equipment grounds at the second panel and BONDED to the enclosure. (panel box)

 

[Falcon67]

True as you say, made an ***-umption that I likely should not have made.

 

[sberry]

This discussion is a good thing. After a while a guy thinks it thru, forward and backward and it becomes second nature. It can take a while to get ones mind wrapped around it and have the thought become a reflex.
I was ignorant a long time, I think my sparkie friends never got a grasp I didn't understand it. I did a lot right even though I didn't know I didn't know and passed inspections, I did what they said. As I mentioned my mentors were not very good teachers.
Most of the issues I harp over in these threads are where I really fell down on.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Junkman's question was not if he needed the orange receptacles, but rather IF HE COULD USE THEM, simply because he might get them cheaper.

Charles

 

[Cmreschke]

He can use them. Just hook the power wire to the brass scre, the neutral wire to the white screw, and the ground wire to both the metal box (which it should be in because the terminal and yoke are isolated from each other.) And hook the ground to the green screw on the receptacle.

 

[Jazz1]

Orange is isolated ground - some IG receptacles just have an orange triangle
Green triangle is hospital grade

Twist lock since some server towers have integrated power bars which connect to a heavier supply. Lots of applications.

Unfortunately most IGs don't actually give an isolated ground - they don't get installed properly

Thanks,,I thought they were "appliance specific" I unplugged bed in my hospital room to plug in laptop. Later wife brought me extension cord so I could plug the bed back in.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

I learn something every day on the GFJ! Thanks!

 

[Junkman]

I purchased 10 black Hubbell 6L-30 receptacles on eBay today for $35 with free shipping. This is probably 6 more than I will need, but I will have some spares. When they arrive, I will look them over as to the number of terminals that are on them, and if I have any questions, I will ask them in this thread. I never expected so many answers to a simple question about color.
Thanks to everyone for the assistance.
Junk

 

[sberry]

Use standard stuff to do standard intallation. Look at common work, copy that. As was said, the right receptacle is 50 cents a piece.

 

[sberry]

While it's true it can be wired safe it is kind of beyond me why a professional would endorse this cobble job. To the op,, do you see orange recepts in other people's homes? Why not?

 

[Junkman]

Today, while looking for another electrical component in my box of parts, I came across this green receptacle. I have never seen a green receptacle before, and I was wondering if it was the color indicating a grounded outlet prior to the change to orange? It is a 15 amp, 125 volt twist lock receptacle.

 

[rburke65]

Not. That I know everything, but I have never seen a green receptical! Ya learn something everyday here.