On Thu, 29 Sep 2016 00:21:29 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 21:18:13 -0400, "TomR" wrote:

A friend of mine asked me today why the electrical outlets in my house were
"upside down". They are positioned with the ground pin hole at the top and
the two slots of the outlet on the bottom. I agree that, to me, they "look"
like they are upside down, and I think they would "look" better with the
ground pin hole on the bottom. But, my belief is that the National
Electrical Code (NEC) is silent on this question and that there is no right
or wrong orientation for electrical outlets.

My friend said that he has had code enforcement officials tell him that
electrical outlets with the ground pin hole on top were "upside down" and
that they needed to be reversed to be with the ground pin on the bottom to
pass the electrical inspection.

Is there anything in the NEC that says that one way is "upside down" and the
other way is the "correct" orientation?

Short answer, No. There is no rule about how they are mounted and
there is even a school of thought that ground up is better. Something
falling between the plug and the wall would hit the ground.

Typically when a receptacle is different than the rest, it is
switched.

I think they look stupid when they are upside down (ground on top). I
put them with ground on bottom because thats what I'm used to and what
looks best. I dont make a habit of dropping paper clips on plugs, and
actually if a metal object was to fall on a loose plug, it could contact
the ground as well as the hot terminal too (with the ground on top).

Any inspector who wont pass someone's wiring because of the mounting
direction of outlets is an idiot. I'd like to see that one taken in
front of a board of electricians. It's not code, so it cant be enforced
either way.