On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:58:42 -0800, mg wrote:

On Nov 4, 6:35 am, John Ross wrote:
I unplugged the television and noticed that one of the blades on the
plug was bent (not straight out, but sorta curved). Surprisinly it
easily fits into the outlet, and I have checked to see if the plug
gets warm, which it doesn't. I tried pliers to straighten it, but it
did not work.

Is this something to be overly concerned about? If it's bent in such a
way that it makes a tight connection, can it still cause arcing if the
whole blade is not fully in contact with the inside of the outlet?

The true test is to see if it gets warm, which you have already done.
So, in my opinion, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Televisions use a relatively small amount of current anyway. So,
they're not likely to be a problem. Electric heaters (120V), for
example, are something that you do have to worry about and when the
plug gets hot, I would throw away the entire heater, just on general
principles, and replace the receptacle.


You'd throw away the whole heater because of a bent prong on the plug?
That's about the dumbest thing I heard in awhile. You can buy a
decent plug for under $5, or get a hospital grade plug at any
hardware store for about $8. Most of the time these plugs exceed the
quality of the original molded plug that came with the appliance.