thanks for this post - I was beginning to think the electrician installed the outlets in my house upside down with the ground on top because the couple 4 watt night lights I use are designed to plug in with the ground on the bottom to be right side up. bottoms up!
Fred
· 1 year ago
I too was wondering about this. Many night lights / etc, are designed to be plugged in ground-down. Even though ground-up may make more sense, many products simple don't work when they are reversed.
Joe Fish
· 9 months ago
I have to respectfully disagree, and I admit to having been annoyed at this trend in recent years. Grounded plugs generally have more insular heft around the ground pin, making the "bottom" of the plug better able to hold the weight/drag of the cable. Whereas when your average molded 5-15 plug is inverted, the smaller amount of material at the hot and neutral pin-end doesn't prevent the plug from walking away from the wall nearly as well.
When installed with the ground at the top, the plug is more likely to be exposed to begin with, although if it's a full moon and black cat crosses your path and you walk under a ladder while breaking a mirror during the apocalypse AND a metal picture frame that happens to be less than 3/8" thick falls exactly square centered directly above that outlet, it won't short out, that's true.
When I encounter them installed that way, I invert them.
All Comments
When installed with the ground at the top, the plug is more likely to be exposed to begin with, although if it's a full moon and black cat crosses your path and you walk under a ladder while breaking a mirror during the apocalypse AND a metal picture frame that happens to be less than 3/8" thick falls exactly square centered directly above that outlet, it won't short out, that's true.
When I encounter them installed that way, I invert them.