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Electrical Outlet Orientation

We've grown up with the ground prong slot at the bottom of all the electrical outlets we ever saw but many electricians are now installing outlets with the ground slot on top which actually makes the most sense. Some heavy duty electrical appliances like washers, dryers, and refrigerators have immediate-turn plugs which have the cable pointing in some direction. These outlets should typically point down or in the direction of the cable so it's not wrapping itself around the plug.

But for most applications, orienting the outlet with the ground slot at the top will prevent shorts in the strange occurrence that your plug pulls a bit out of the wall and something metal like a utensil or picture frame drops down it will only hit the grounding and not the hot pin.

Tags: electrical, outlet, safety, tip

Charles & Hudson | September 24, 2008 | Comments () |

Jewel

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

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

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.

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