NEC Question

[MikePA]

National Electrical Code /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Does the code specify, for a duplex outlet, whether the grounding hole is up or down? IOW, is there a right side up or upside down orientation for an outlet?

 

[johnday]

I'm not sure either. I know on houses I do I always put the groud plug connection down. I've done so many that any other way just looks goofy. You could go to the Mike Holtz web page and maybe get an answer or try one of the billion or so handyman pages. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[_RaT_]

Good question Mike, no it does not. It seems to be territorial. I whole heartedly disagree with Rex Cauldwell on this. In his book on electrical work, he prefers it be on top. Why? Because just in cause you have a lamp plugged in the wall, a metal picture frame hanging above it that falls, it will hit the ground first. OK, well, how many lamps carry a ground wire, what if it simply loosens it, if it did have a ground and bent the plug down disconnecting the ground leaving the neutral and hot live while giveng the user the false sense that it is grounded. What about gravity pulling the corded plug down. If ground is on top, it may disconnect ground by virtue of the angle at which the male prongs engage. The last contact that should be broken is ground. After that, it doesn't matter a hill of beans although I still think the ground on top looks silly. My vote goes for ground at the bottom if for no other reason then thats how we've just always done it. Folks back East tend to like it the other way and since there are more of them on this forum, they may tell you otherwise. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Rat...

 

[Inspector507]

NEC® does not specify the orientation of the ground. There have been numerous proposals to change that and they all go down in flames. Absolutely no logical reason to mandate that. Of course that's my opinion and you're gonna get others that will disagree. Thats fine, we're all allowed to have one /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[JDgreen227]

It's amazing that this question got posted, because I have been visiting family members in the local hospital this week and all the 20 amp outlets there have the ground prong up.

I have been wiring up outlets for 30 years and to me the proper way is to have the ground prong DOWN, but I never bothered to check the code. Now I REALLY wonder why the hospital does it that way.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">...the local hospital this week and all the 20 amp outlets there have the ground prong up.</font>
Today, I was walking down the steps in a stairwell at work and happened to notice the outlets. The grounding holes were all facing up. I am used to seeing them facing down, and that's the way I install them as well, so seeing them facing up seemed unusual. I was careful to notice the outlets on the way back to my desk. Most were facing down. Being in a commercial building, I assumed that the electrical contractor would have done things according to code. So, I thought I'd ask my fellow TBNers.

 

[ns_in_tex]

I think most 90 degree appliance cords will hang properly if the ground is on the bottom. In this case, if ground is on top, the cord will be pointing up and the weight of the cord will be kinking it downward.

 

[_RaT_]

Mike, do it the way you think is prettiest. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[frank_f15]

not sure if there is a right or wrong way /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif i always put them down, just seems right, don't ask me why. i can;t explain it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Gomez]

As my other esteemed collegues have stated, the NEC does not dictate the proper position of the ground hole. Like the hospital that was mentioned, all the outlets install on the facilities (large pharmaceutical compnay) I work in have the ground hole pointing up. My boss, the corporate cheif electrical engineer, says "that's the way I want them". /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
I've seen this debated many times with no clear winner.

 

[OkeeDon]

We've done a lot of rewiring around my commercial property, and about half of the are up, and half are down. I thought at first it depended on which person had installed the outlet, but I asked around, and it seems that what actually happened is the person who installed the most outlets just never looked -- he installed them whichever way they were when he picked them up. Drives me batty. I'm getting ready to sell the building, so I've been going around and changing the ones I don't like -- so the ground plugs are facing down. No reason, other than the way the plugs are shaped, they seem to fall more naturally into my hand, that way.

 

[DUMBDOG]

I have always installed them with the ground plug down when we wired the shop, the horizontal ones were always with ground towards the south wall because that is the way I started and then to keep them consistent kept going with the ground in the same direction, not to start a new debate on the horizontal ones

 

[Lazy]

Hi
I doubt if most Electricians look to see which way the ground is positioned or at least the ones I worked with didn't. I have been doing electrical work since I joined the navy in 1961 and I was a member of IBEW until I retired in 1996 and I never installed them the same, I installed them however I picked them up. They work fine either way. The wiring of the outlet is another story, making sure the right wire is connected to the right terminal and the use of pigtails to connect the circuit to the outlet. Also NOT using the holes to poke the wires into.

Charlie

 

[_RaT_]

"I never installed them the same, I installed them however I picked them up."


That would never fly with homeowners for me. I for one always check, switches too unless of course if its a 3 or 4 way.

 

[dbelisle]

This was a big discussion around 1987 when the new code was getting ready to come out. It was thought that the outlet grounds would have to be installed in the up position, but as has been stated earlier it never came to be. Since then we have Electricians doing it both ways.

Any Electricians might remember that is about the time the ground screw on switch yokes moved from the lower right to the upper left. Not sure if that is what started the ground up or ground down debate.

I actually had a call where banging on the other side of the wall knocked a clock down with metal lattice work on it .
It fell behind the refrigerator and sorted out the circuit. That is the only time I have seen where if the ground was up it wouldn't have shorted.

On the flip side of that if the ground is up and something knocks the plug part way out the ground could disconnect but the plug could still stay energized. Making for a possible unsafe condition.

Due what looks good to you.

 

[RonL]

I believe it was proposed that the ground should be on top. it was never officially adopted. The idea was that if the plug was not completely seated anything that fell across the prongs ( curtains, etc.) could short and start a fire. As far as the plug being part way out and the ground losing contact, the ground is much longer than the hot prongs so that it makes contact first. The plug would have to out substantially for the ground to break contact. As an aside, neutral, as it comes out of the weather head, should be longer than the hot leads. This is so that if a tree or other object falls across the power lines the last lead to disconnect would be the neutral. When I set up my power pole on my property I left the neutral long. PSNH shortened them all to the same length and crimped on their connections.

RonL

 

[RonL]

In retrospect. For some reason i thought that it had been adopted and then rescinded. Maybe I just thought that a proposal had been adopted.

RonL

 

[MossRoad]

Mike, at our job there are lots of metal rulers. Probably 2-3 times a year, someone drops one behind their desk and it falls across both prongs of a plug that is not in all the way and pops the breaker. Our facilities people have started installing outlets with the ground on top. I don't know how I will wire our new home when the time comes. For now, I always put the ground the same way the others in the house are and that is down.

Like Don said, it drives me batty, too, to see them in both directions in the same building.

Someone mentioned 90 degree plugs earlier... as far as I know, they all angle down, except for the ones meant for window air conditioners, which angle up.

 

[Junkman]

What if the outlets are horizontally??? Does the ground go on the right or the left??? Inquiring minds want to know????? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[OkeeDon]

Depends if you're right handed or left handed, right handed folks want the ground on the left. Goes in easier if you can see the ground prong which, because it's longer, goes in first.