Plug Code Change

The General

I have a friend that is in the final stages of completing his house. For a better rate on the fixed financing he used another bank and told his construction loan bank a month before completion. Here is the strange part. After all that was told an inspector for the bank shows up and says all the plugs are upside down and the ground has to be on top new code change. He subed out the electrical and all i have ever seen was the gound on bottom. What is you opinon. Is the bank messing with him.
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Speedy Petey

This totally bogus. Unless it is some weird local thing.
Politely ask him for the code refrence citing this requirement. If he can't produce the exact refrence, & as long as you are OK everywhere else, tell him to go scratch.

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marxlaws

are you in w va? thats insane. we put the rept upside-down so that nothing can come to rest on the n and hot. imagine a plug half in the outlet, and then imagine something falling between the plug and the recp. if it is ground up it will be harder for anything to find purchase and cause a short. generaly used in commercial / factory, a good idea i assure you, but not practiced in residential.

Electricmanscot

This is bogus. There is no up or down. It is either personal preference or job specifications. Not Code unless there is some local rule which the inspector should be able to cite.

Mike Finley

I mount all my boxes diagonally or inside out to avoid this problem.

Teetorbilt

Mike, I was reading the NEC 2005 a few weeks ago and I think that inside out is wrong.

DecksEtc

Mike,

What way do you angle them? This way, / or this way \ ? And, what about receptacles that are horizontal to the floor - should the ground be on the right or the left?

This poses another question for me, should stove receptacles be placed at 45 deg., so they look like a diamond???

PipeGuy

HELLO! The ground goes down - towards the GROUND!?. Pleeeeeease.

Similar codes in the pipe industry that require the 'hole' to always be manufactured on the inside of the pipe. We have a strict rule that any pipe that gets delivered that has the hole on the outside (inside out) doesn't even get taken off the truck.

jbfan

I think you would have to have the ground pointing north, when in a north/south line, and the ground facing east in an east/west line. I never did like the insideout outlets.

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We are the people (our parents warned us about) (Jimmy Buffett)

Mike Finley

I need to hire you, it would save me time from walking around and turning all the screws in one direction.

Its a small thing, but if you take care of the details the big problems take care of themselves. I have never had the nerve to ask an electrician to put in all the screws in the same directions, so I just go around and turn them myself at some point.

marxlaws

i harp on that all the time. its a pro thing, how ever i m not sure about leaving them loose. and ... im not sure why they should be vertical. it just looks better i guess.

boogie

the code doesnt state the direction of the ground exept for the part that state equiptment shall be installed in the maner that it was intended by the manufacturer
that being the case if there is a top (what you will find on some outlets and switches)that is the direction it is to go

as far as the screw cover screws go mike i think all the years of hearing the general sigh in the next room and pulling out a screwdriver and straightening the screw in the vertical position, has wore me down when i put on a cover for the last five years or so i give that little .5 second tweek and walk away knowing that atsome point he wont carry that screwdriver and i can wink at him as we walk out the door both happy.

mtp

I have heard that the gruond should be up. So that when an object such as a paper clip falls on the outlet the ground prong will deflect the object this preventing a dead short. I have also heard it is code but not read it myself

bigboy11

to whom it may concern, i have never installed plugs grounds up and i have installed my fair share. grounds down always !