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posted
I'm not expecting much sympathy on this one...

Most of the outlets (grounded) in my house are upside down; except for kitchen/baths where the house has been remodeled. (Just moved in last summer).

How do I know they're upside down; because the molded appliance plugs, and right angle flush mount ext. cords would be pointed up the wall, if I didn't rotate them.

I asked an electrician once. "Because if a piece of metal (like picture hanging wire) were to slide down the wall, and the plug is slightly out of the wall...it could cause a short. If the ground plug is on top, it offers some protection."

I know, it takes a couple minutes each to flip 'em around, and I will probably do all of them at some point... just cause it bugs me.
 
Posts: 199 | Registered: March 08, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Get my pies
outta the oven!

Picture of PASig
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It's code now.

When we moved into our circa-1910 home 2 years ago, it had been completely rewired with 200-amp service and not only was every outlet "upside down", they were all the nearly-impossible-to-plug-into childproof type outlets too.


 
Posts: 33608 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: November 12, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
No more Mr. Nice Guy
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I actually prefer them, I have made all of my outlets "upside down"


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Posts: 12401 | Location: Middle TN | Registered: November 20, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Jodel-Time
Picture of Mboroman
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That was my first thought when we moved to Tennessee 20 years ago, "Hey, these outlets are upside down!". I've become so used to it that when I visit other places, I now think that they are the ones that are upside down. Smile
 
Posts: 559 | Location: Middle Tennessee | Registered: May 16, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Great! Now I need to replace my outlet covers...

 
Posts: 3663 | Location: PA | Registered: November 15, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Shall Not Be Infringed
Picture of nhracecraft
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quote:
Originally posted by PASig:
It's code now.

When we moved into our circa-1910 home 2 years ago, it had been completely rewired with 200-amp service and not only was every outlet "upside down", they were all the nearly-impossible-to-plug-into childproof type outlets too.


Could be a local code, but NOT req'd per NEC or NFPA 70.

petr - Feel free to maintain your present outlet covers! Wink


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Posts: 8786 | Location: New Hampshire | Registered: October 29, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of ravens1775
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Just use upside down plugs. You'll be fine.
 
Posts: 744 | Location: Virginia | Registered: January 21, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes
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Not code either way. We use the "upside down" outlets to identify a receptacle where one half is controlled by a switch.


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Posts: 1956 | Location: Douglas County, Colorado | Registered: July 13, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
Picture of Skins2881
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quote:
Originally posted by nhracecraft:
quote:
Originally posted by PASig:
It's code now.

When we moved into our circa-1910 home 2 years ago, it had been completely rewired with 200-amp service and not only was every outlet "upside down", they were all the nearly-impossible-to-plug-into childproof type outlets too.


Could be a local code, but NOT req'd per NEC or NFPA 70.

petr - Feel free to maintain your present outlet covers! Wink


It's not NEC, but AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) can make up any silly rules they want. District of Columbia requires upside down outlets. Another silly rule in DC is that you must install switch below dishwasher to act as a disconnect, there is a number of reasons I think that rule is dumb.



Jesse

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Posts: 20757 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: December 27, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Drill Here, Drill Now
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My home was built in '16, has 200 amp service, and all of my outlets correctly have the ground on bottom. Also, every outlet plate screw is perfectly vertically aligned.



Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
 
Posts: 23100 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
is circumspective
Picture of vinnybass
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quote:
Originally posted by sandman76:
Not code either way. We use the "upside down" outlets to identify a receptacle where one half is controlled by a switch.


This is the way I've seen them also. The switched outlets in my house are upside-down.



"We're all travelers in this world. From the sweet grass to the packing house. Birth 'til death. We travel between the eternities."
 
Posts: 5473 | Location: Las Vegas, NV. | Registered: May 30, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Spread the Disease
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I want mine that way. I have had a hanging wire cause a short. It wasn't pretty.


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Posts: 17248 | Location: New Mexico | Registered: October 14, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His diet consists of black
coffee, and sarcasm.
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My home (apartment) and workplace both have upside-down outlets.
quote:
Originally posted by Skins2881:
It's not NEC, but AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) can make up any silly rules they want. District of Columbia requires upside down outlets.

I know we're talking about DoC here, but is there some "real world" reason for this?
 
Posts: 27835 | Location: Johnson City/Elizabethton, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
Picture of Skins2881
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by egregore:
My home (apartment) and workplace both have upside-down outlets.
quote:
Originally posted by Skins2881:
It's not NEC, but AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) can make up any silly rules they want. District of Columbia requires upside down outlets.

I know we're talking about DoC here, but is there some "real world" reason for this?


The reason I've always heard was if you drop a metal object and the plug isn't all the way in and that metal object falls perfectly into the gap between the receptacle and plug it won't short out. Seems like a pretty unlikely scenario.



Jesse

Sic Semper Tyrannis
 
Posts: 20757 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: December 27, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His diet consists of black
coffee, and sarcasm.
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It can't hurt. Maybe this "extreme outlier" actually happened once.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,
 
Posts: 27835 | Location: Johnson City/Elizabethton, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
thin skin can't win
Picture of Georgeair
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Welcome to my world. Or worse yet, the one my wife lives in where we had to rotate a half dozen light switches when we moved in because they weren't down when off....... Roll Eyes

quote:
Also, every outlet plate screw is perfectly vertically aligned.


Yeah, another by-product....



You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02

 
Posts: 12350 | Location: Madison, MS | Registered: December 10, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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Yeah I do not like it. I was installing some outlets at work, so 20 years ago and a coworker told me that the correct way was to put them in upside down. I did not do it. So, he was installing some and did it his way. The company made him change them as so many complained. There are codes, at least for hospitals, not sure about anywhere else.


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Posts: 2794 | Location: Ohio | Registered: December 18, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Delusions of Adequacy
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quote:
we had to rotate a half dozen light switches when we moved in because they weren't down when off......

i guess she's not up for a three-way... switch.




I have my own style of humor. I call it Snarkasm.
 
Posts: 17944 | Location: Virginia | Registered: June 02, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I could buy the switched outlet reason as items needing a ground are not likely to be wall switched, but the wire-falling-shorting-out scenario sounds more like Old Electrician Tales than anything else. Would drive me nuts (then again it would be a short drive)



I should be tall and rich too; That ain't gonna happen either
 
Posts: 358 | Location: NW NJ | Registered: December 07, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of sigcrazy7
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It's so the crazies at the hospital don't see the faces of people doin' it doggie style when they see the outlets. Razz



Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus
 
Posts: 8202 | Location: Utah | Registered: December 18, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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