The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/31/2011 5:11 PM, HeyBub wrote:
Art Todesco wrote:
Thanks for all the good discussion. I was primarily curious what
everyone thought and I now have a good idea. I will probably use
the pigtail/wire nut method as much as possible, when I make the
changes. But, I probably won't go and do it wholesale, all at one
time. Actually, the other day I had to open 3 outlets for another
reason.
I did use the screws to daisy chain in 2 of 3 outlets. The 3rd, as
I had mentioned used the back stabs plus one pair of screws. On this
one, the 3 wires were connected together with a wire nut and a 4th
wire stub to the outlet screw. Yes, I guess I should have demanded
that the electrician do it "my way", however, the guy was kind of a
jerk and I didn't want to push the issue.

Trick: Are all your original outlets ground-plugs pointing in the
same direction? Either up or down? As you replace or improve on
them, reverse the orientation - if the ground plug was up, rotate
the outlet so the ground plug is down. Or vice-versa.

Then, as you progress with the project, you can tell immediately
what needs fixing.

Pay no attention to those who say God told them that a certain
orientation was righteous and the other sinful. Or that a Mayan
monkey spoke to them in a dream and relayed the straight skinny.


The engineers on The Army Core of Engineers job I was on wanted all
ground holes at the top of the receptacle for vertical installations
and the neutral at the top for horizontal receptacles. Obviously it
was to prevent fireworks or unintended enlightenment of someone if a
piece of metal fell on a partially inserted plug. I've seen some
European standard plugs that that have partially insulated blades to
prevent that sort of thing from happening. It's a bit odd looking to
see that huge European plug on a small lamp cord. o_O


What did the Army Corps of Engineers insist upon back when all plugs were
two pronged? Covering the outlet with a deflated football? At least
prominent warning signs? Prayer?

I've heard that rationalization before. Consider:
* What are the chances a plug is only partially inserted? Further, it's
inserted enough to make contact with the live terminals inside the fixture
but a small amount of the prongs are visible.
* What are the odds that something is dropped where it will hit this
mal-inserted plug.
* Now what are the chances that this dropped something is a) Conductive, and
b) Thin enough to fit in the gap
* Assuming all of the above probabilities come to pass, so what? The
intruding bit of metal will spark and sputter and it will either explode out
of the socket or the breaker will flip.

I suggest, based on the odds, that anything deleterious happening because
the ground plug is beneath the hot/neutral has never happened in the history
of the world.