Receptacle Ground Prong Up or Ground Prong Down?

[@stevewilliams2629]

I’ve had clients ask me to change all their outlets because they were ground prong up. They asked me why all of the outlets were installed upside down. Thank you for enlightening me on this topic.

[@theinternetelectrician]

Well, that’s a nice make-work project! Next time send them the link to this video (unless things are slow!) Thanks for watching!

[@theinternetelectrician]

Thanks for watching!

[@awaiting...His...return]

In the Chicago area, it is ground prong down, purpose being that when cords are pulled improperly often enough ... yanked from a distance ... the lower plug prong is typically the one to break, exposed out from the receptacle. I have personally witnessed this on multiple occasions, as opposed to never a face plate falling behind a plug.

[@theinternetelectrician]

Interesting perspective! Thanks for watching and for the comment!

[@Nikiaf]

I think the only real determining factor is the "regular" 120V flat plug; those are always oriented so that the wire will point straight down when the ground is on the bottom. When the ground is up, your wire ends up rising out and over the receptacle and both looks bad and has the potential for something to catch on it. For this reason, I have all mine with the ground down; but I'm tempted to have my kitchen outlets have the ground up, for possible better safety.

[@theinternetelectrician]

Yes, you're correct about most 120V 15A angle plugs! Good input! I'm not sure what is your line of thinking with your kitchen outlets however? Please elaborate!

[@seinundzeiten]

it should be standardized

[@Eddy63]

I'm in the old GP down majority as well ... What ever happened to that old vid of your electricians bag load out ? That was a while ago , wasn't it ? Thx

[@theinternetelectrician]

Welcome to the club! I took that tool bag video down. I took A LOT of grief over that one!

[@josephmichuda6447]

I install receptacles with the ground prong down.

[@cruzitolopez2166]

I like ground prong up but thank you anyway for reveal this mistery about that very good video God bless you

[@theinternetelectrician]

Thanks for watching, and for the kind words!

[@lindakloth3688]

I say as long as they are all mounted the same.either up or down. I like the ground up.

[@theinternetelectrician]

You make an excellent point! (as long as they are all mounted the same.either up or down) I should have included that in the video! And as a side note, make sure you line up all the plate screws either vertically or horizontally. I like vertically! Thanks for watching!

[@jordanclarke8305]

Ok so in your example you knowingly touched the cover as if it was going to balance on that ground and the customer would just gently plug something in. That would NEVER happen. That's is a ticking time bomb for shock hazard. Tilt that cover a few mm sideways and she's shorting hot to ground and most likely the customer was touching it. Ground down if the cover came loose it would short, scare the customer but would trip the breaker instantly and customer would be less likely to get shocked

[@jordanclarke8305]

Turn that plug on, redo the demo like a customer who would be blindly reaching around their couch trying to plug a phone charger in.

[@theinternetelectrician]

Unless of course, you tilted it a few mm towards the neutral prong? There's many scenarios that can play out here, but thanks for your input, and thanks for watching!

[@robertkat]

It depends if you are north of the Equator or south of the Equator.

[@theinternetelectrician]

That could be true, but the current swirls through the wires in opposite directions depending on what side of the equator you’re on 😊

[@marka8486]

so much babbling

[@theinternetelectrician]

Thanks for watching anyways

[@FruitCakeReaper]

all of north america needs to scrap all the house electrical and make it like the UK system. Much better looks and safety.

[@theinternetelectrician]

That would be a monumental task consisting of changing all of our generation facilities to slow down to 50 HZ, and then modification of the distribution grid and transformers. Looks better and safety? That's debatable and a matter of opinion! 🙂Thanks for watching!