Meme Thread... no politics

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Karacticus said:

ShawnG said:

Strange, it's the first house I've seen where the electrical outlets are installed in the correct orientation.

Our house was finished in 2005 and has the outlets installed in that orientation.  

Is there a rationale for that orientation?  Reduced chance that a paperclip dropped into a loose plug would bridge a hot and a return? 

Yep.  Anything that can fall between the plug body and the outlet can not touch the two hots.  (hot and neutral? I'm not an electrician)

 

 

I've heard that wive's tale. Sounds ridiculous. Ever consider how hard that would be to actually happen in real life?

The only logical argument I have ever heard for installing outlets upside down (ground leg up) is that it creates less strain on the ground wire when a pigtail hangs from the plug for an extended period of time (because the ground wire is on the long sweep of the outside curve of the wire, instead of the pinched side of the inside curve of the wire)

Its still upside down. 

I'd always thought it was pretty ridiculous as well.  Until 10 years ago I got called to my grandparents condo to "fix the electrical".  They had somehow dropped a heavy mirror (with metal frame) behind the dresser in their bedroom.  It hit a plug and sheared off the body of the plug leaving the prongs sticking out of the outlet.  There was much sparking and scorching before the breaker tripped.  Thankfully the place didn't burn down and they didn't electrocute themselves.  

The family all thought I was a wizard when I had it fixed in 10 minutes (most folks don't know how to work around electricity apparently).

That example would have made no difference which way it was oriented. 

Toyman01 (Forum Supporter) said:

jgrewe said:

Toyman01 (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

Standards are important, that's why there are so many of them. 

You haven't lived until you have watched two government organizations argue about the standards ... It took them a while to figure that one out.

Let me guess, the locks had to be installed but had to be permanently disabled?

Sort of.  It was like watching two 5 year olds fight over a Tonka truck.

ADA standards used to require 1-1/2" gap between the inside of the rail and the adjacent wall or guardrail.  No more, no less.  This was to allow fingers to grasp but prevent the whole hand from slipping down between the wall and handrail.

State Fire Marshal insisted that gap had to be a minimum of 2-1/4" so a firefighter could grasp the rail with a gauntlet on.

It took quite a while and a number of delayed project approvals before the state Accessibility Board and the Fire Marshal could measure peepees and decide whose was bigger.  SFMO won this one.

Eons ago I was field measuring a house for an addition. I ran the measuring tape behind the refrigerator for a measurement. The tape buckled and, naturally, landed right across the hot and neutral. Tape vaporized almost in half. Scared the E36 M3 out of me. Glad the tape housing was plastic. It may be a once a lifetime happening, but it can happen.

What is happening to this thread?!

Where are all the memes?

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Karacticus said:

ShawnG said:

Strange, it's the first house I've seen where the electrical outlets are installed in the correct orientation.

Our house was finished in 2005 and has the outlets installed in that orientation.  

Is there a rationale for that orientation?  Reduced chance that a paperclip dropped into a loose plug would bridge a hot and a return? 

Yep.  Anything that can fall between the plug body and the outlet can not touch the two hots.  (hot and neutral? I'm not an electrician)

 

 

I've heard that wive's tale. Sounds ridiculous. Ever consider how hard that would be to actually happen in real life?

The only logical argument I have ever heard for installing outlets upside down (ground leg up) is that it creates less strain on the ground wire when a pigtail hangs from the plug for an extended period of time (because the ground wire is on the long sweep of the outside curve of the wire, instead of the pinched side of the inside curve of the wire)

Its still upside down. 

One could argue much of the building codes are written to protect against conditions that rarely happen. 

A main reason for keeping a receptacle with the ground prong on the bottom is I've run across a lot of polarized wall-warts that configured to hang that way. 

Toyman01 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Indy-Guy (Forum Jock Strap) :

Sanford did. About that same color.

1970s shag carpet. Man that stuff was fun to remove. 

Ooooh ooooh.  Can you post a current photo of Sanford?  

I hope I'm not repeating myself too soon, but something about Inigo reminded me of this one...

spitfirebill said:

Toyman01 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Indy-Guy (Forum Jock Strap) :

Sanford did. About that same color.

1970s shag carpet. Man that stuff was fun to remove. 

Ooooh ooooh.  Can you post a current photo of Sanford?  

I don't have a current picture. He did have a cameo appearance in the Lemons build thread along with the rest of my junk. He has had the battery charged and been cranked up in the last month or so. Still runs, still moves. Desperately needs a bath.