On Monday, September 7, 2015 at 11:31:00 PM UTC-5, HerHusband wrote:
I'd always spend extra money on wiring devices instead of purchasing
the $0.59 receptacles. I'd go with at least commercial grade then up
to hospital grade depending on the application.

I installed commercial grade receptacles in our kitchen when we built our
house. Like you, I figured they would be a better choice for outlets that
would have things plugged and unplugged frequently.

However, after a couple months of living in the house, I replaced them with
the cheap 59 cent versions. The insertion and withdrawal pressure needed
with the commercial receptacles was just too excessive. It was very
difficult to plug anything in, and it seemed like the plug would be damaged
trying to unplug the device. Either that or we would end up getting shocked
wrestling with the plug.

The cheap receptacles are easier to insert plugs into. If they start to
wear out, it's easy to replace the outlet with another cheap socket.
Replacing a broken appliance cord is often a lot more work and expense.

The one situation I can see the commercial sockets working better is for
outlets where appliances are always plugged in, like a microwave or
something.

For what it's worth, we've lived in our house 11 years now and the cheap
sockets still work like the day I installed them.

Just my experience...

Anthony Watson


I don't know what brand commercial outlets you were using but I've never had one that required excessive force to insert or remove. Even the tighter hospital grade outlets have never seemed to take excessive force to me but that's just me. Me and my brother completely wired a beauty shop with the high end commercial grade outlets because of the loads from all the hair dryers. The handheld dryers were plugged in and removed often at the operator stations and none of the outlets ever failed. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Plug Monster