Diesel has brought this to us :
CRNG
Sat, 03 Sep 2016
12:08:21 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

On Fri, 2 Sep 2016 20:15:25 -0700 (PDT), bob_villa
wrote in


No, but, sometimes a lazy electrician/wannabe and/or home owner
who doesn't care about the pleasant looking panel aspects might
leave wires chilling a bit too far towards the sides. Some might
say parts of the code is all about keeping stupid from being
dead.

And others might say the "code" is mostly about putting $$$ in the
pockets of electricians.

I'm not so sure about putting money in electricians pockets in so
much as keeping themselves in a job and better the pockets of the
electrical industry. The electricians themselves are the low person
on the totem pole. GE, Fluke, IDEAL, etc, make tons more when the
code changes requiring this or that type of breaker, etc. We have to
have arc fault breakers in bedrooms now because many fires start in
the bedroom (which doesn't automatically mean the fire was electrical
in nature or that an arc fault could have prevented it if it was).

A few years ago, when we first started installing these damn things
inside the panel, they were very sensitive and an treadmill, etc,
could cause them to trip. That forced the home owner to buy an
additional surge suppression strip that might (didn't help in one or
two cases) prevent the breaker from tripping when they turn on their
vacuum and/or the treadmill or some other piece of exercise
equipment. The sensitivity issue has been cleared up somewhat, but,
you're still talking about a breaker thats $30 or more vs a standard
breaker that's around $3 or so.

Another code change is the way the receptacle is supposed to face
you. Ground pin up now. The reason being I was told.. In case someone
has metal things hanging from the wall, if one should happen to come
loose and side down the wall between the plug and the outlet,it'll
hit the ground pin and most likely, neutral; no short circuit
condition. And, if it does hit the hot wire, it's going to send it
right to ground. This all assumes two things: Someone has something
plugged into the outlet and they have a metal poster of some kind
also hanging on the wall above this same outlet.

Okay.. so, when was the last time you've seen someone who had a
street sign or something mounted to their wall like a poster? What's
the chances should someone have one, that it would actually stay
towards the wall while it slides all the way down the wall to get
between the plug of something and the outlet?

Could also be a metal wire for hanging a picture on the wall.

Some newer plugs and outlets are designed with skirts and accomodating
recesses to make this problem moot.