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Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Question:
CQD Comment on Submitter's Comment July 9, 2020:
Ground up or Ground down: Charley, I think you missed the boat on this one, this issue is not preference or cord orientation, but rather a safety issue. I prefer ground up for any receptacle installed below 50 inches AFF. The reasoning is if you think about when you plug an item into a receptacle you’re typically coming in at it from above (Unless your 18-20” tall) and your plug is typically at an angle going into the receptacle. It’s a lot safer to have your grounding conductor to make first contact. Secondly, and probably not as much of a risk but if your face plate ever falls off and your plug is not Fully inserted, or when you pull the plug out, the plate will / may fall down on top of and cross both the neutral and hot conductors when the receptacle is installed ground down.
Dan James
A
Answer:
Hello Dan,
Thanks for participating and the comments. We have not missed the boat at all. Let's go back to the original question that was submitted to this forum several years ago. The questions was "Does the NEC require a ground down or ground up receptacle orientation? The answer is NO and all the answers or responses to this question have been consistent every time it is submitted. Now for all the reasons everyone has submitted to try to justify a receptacle orientation, all we can say is there's a lot of imagination and opinions out there. There is a process to submit justified proposed revisions to the NEC. This issue has never been substantiated to warrant a real NEC rule specifying ground up vs ground down, at least not yet. We really do enjoy the chatter and enthusiasm though...keep the ideas and opinions coming. For now we will move on to another topic, but no doubt this one will bubble up again.