On 10/4/2012 3:07 AM, Robert Green wrote:
"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
...
On 10/3/2012 8:56 AM, Robert Green wrote:
"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
news:k4h934

An electrical supplier can sell you a hospital grade receptacle made of
nylon or polycarbonate that is pretty much indestructible. They are
expensive but have been designed to resist the power cord from a floor
polisher being ripped out at an angle and keep working despite abuse.
^_^

Yabbut. Consider the source of the question. A hairdresser. Through a
friend, at that. She's apparently not the owner or manager. As my Army
wife would say, any solution that involved rewiring the shop is probably
"above her pay grade."

Besides there's an assumption the outlet is at fault when lately all I
see
coming from overseas are flat bladed plug without dimples or spring
blades
to seat fully in the outlet. If the blades are too thin (who ever heard
of
our overseas partners shaving a few mils here and there? - /sarcasm
alert/)
even a high quality outlet may have trouble holding a bad plug.

The extender has a ground pin that can be smushed a bit to really fit
tightly. The internal slot covers of the outlets on the extender have
to be
pushed aside by the force of insertion and that really acts to lock the
plug
in place - even the lousy thin, non-dimpled, hole free, spring-blade
free
cheap overseas junk that passes for a line cord plug these days. I use
this
setup with a Craftsmen heat gun with a funky plug. No more trouble.

The problem is we have no pictures and not many concrete facts. When I
get
my hair cut I'll ask the manager if I can look at his setup. I tend to
believe the wet nature of a hair salon requires a better grade of outlet
than the Home Depot truckload kind, but I only have the NEC highlights
book.
Maybe a sparky here knows for sure.

Overall, I still think that a "purchase safety slot outlet extender for
under $2" solution is the right one considering who has the problem. I
can
think of some people here, who, if they owned a salon, would fire a
hairdresser who suggested that their salon was wired with cheap junk.
(-:
A lowly hairdresser suggesting an expensive rewire probably *should* get
the
stinkeye from her boss. She might consider herself an expert in salon
management as well as commercial electrical wiring, too.

FWIW, I agree wholeheartedly that saving a hundred buck wiring a house
with
crappy outlets is just asking for trouble. Unless you're flipping it
and
long term reliability isn't your problem. (-:

--
Bobby G.



I doubt you have rewired as many hair salons as I have or repaired any
commercial hair dryers. ^_^

TDD

Is that all you've got? What does that have to do with *anything* here
except perhaps your ego? You suggested an expensive solution without
knowing nearly enough details to make that decision

I will explain again, because it doesn't seem you understood.

The problem with "replace all outlets immediately" solution, as DerbyDad
noted, is that no one ran any tests to confirm that the outlet was defective
in any way. We just don't know.

I based my comments on the increasing number of plugs I see coming from
overseas that have flat, undimpled blades that ANY outlet has a hard time
holding. If there was truly an outlet problem, we might have been told that
everyone has this problem. But it seems limited to the clippers this one
hairdryer uses.

Even *you* probably wouldn't rewire a salon on the say-so of
hairdresser/employee. In suggesting a rewire you pretty much failed to
consider an employee isn't in a position to make that decision. Even worse,
her suggestion that her boss had the place originally wired with bad outlets
could blowback very badly on her. Not many bosses like that kind of
technical advice - from a hairdresser.

What if he did the suggested rewire and it turns out that the same (perhaps
defective) plug fell out of the new outlets? Would you charge him for all
the work that you did that he didn't need doing? Is *that* really a good
solution to this problem?

As DerbyDad suggested, a little investigation is in order before anyone
declares an expensive rewire is necessary because one hairdresser's clippers
don't stay firmly in. A $1.42 outlet extender *designed* to clamp down on
the plug blades is a pretty cheap solution that worked for me in a similar
situation. My barber uses 6 outlet power strips to accommodate all the
various clippers he uses. I doubt his aesthetics would be horrifically
compromised by the use of a 3 way outlet extender despite opinions to the
contrary.

--
Bobby G.


I'm glad you're such an expert on all things electrical. ^_^

TDD