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Checkmate, DoW #1[_2_]

In article , says...

On 9/28/2016 6:18 PM, 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?

This is a question I tackled, successfully, years ago, here at Sunset
Chateau.
The neutral pin on the top is a safety precaution all us expert
electrical types know about and perform on a routine basis. The purpose
of such arrangement is to prevent a short should, for example, someone
drop a metal object on partially exposed pins.

May the Eye of Horus be which you.

You're partially correct. The ground pin is not known as a neutral pin.
The flat blade that's currently made wider than the other flat blade is
the neutral. While both of them are grounded, the neutral is intended
to carry current, and the ground only carries current in the event of a
fault. It is safer to have the ground on top for the reason you
mentioned, but I know of nothing in the NEC that dictates which way you
mount them, unless it's a recent change.

This was one of my main complaints with electrical inspectors, back when
I had to deal with them. Sometimes they make **** up and claim it's a
code violation, when it isn't. We had an old saying: "Those who can,
do. Those who can't, inspect".

--

Checkmate, Royal Order of the DoW #1, and Official Ko0K Wrangler
AUK Hammer of Thor award, Feb. 2012 (Pre-Burnore)
Destroyer of the AUK Ko0k Vote (Post-Burnore)
Originator of the "Dance for me" (tm) lame
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