Upside down receptacles?

[Julie Moriarty]

Honestly, I have never seen receptacles with the ground up. Is it a Chicago thing?

No. The only time I've seen a ground up installation was when it was done by a homeowner, unless it's in a hospital or medical facility. When I started my apprenticeship, the horizontal installation was just coming into favor, ground to the right. Any time you see a vertical installation, it's a sign the building was built pre-1970. The horizontal installation was entirely an aesthetic choice.

[Mike Henderson]

No. The only time I've seen a ground up installation was when it was done by a homeowner, unless it's in a hospital or medical facility. When I started my apprenticeship, the horizontal installation was just coming into favor, ground to the right. Any time you see a vertical installation, it's a sign the building was built pre-1970. The horizontal installation was entirely an aesthetic choice.

Julie - do you mean that residential installations in your area are horizontal? Or only commercial? Or is it hospitals?

Around here, outlets are installed vertically with the ground down in all new residential housing. (except for switched outlets)

Mike

[Pat Barry]

Its mind boggling - I have never seen a sideways outlet. I guess I just haven't looked hard enough.

[Dan Hintz]

Its mind boggling - I have never seen a sideways outlet. I guess I just haven't looked hard enough.

I think the only time I've seen one was in a bathroom where wall space above the sink was at a premium.

[Lee Reep]

I've got outlets in my shop ceiling for lights. Talk about fretting over which way to orient them. After much hand wringing, I chose to orient the ground on the west end of the boxes ...

[Jason Roehl]

I've got outlets in my shop ceiling for lights. Talk about fretting over which way to orient them. After much hand wringing, I chose to orient the ground on the west end of the boxes ...

Now that's funny right there.

[Wesley Morgan]

Julie - do you mean that residential installations in your area are horizontal? Or only commercial? Or is it hospitals?

Around here, outlets are installed vertically with the ground down in all new residential housing. (except for switched outlets)

Mike

In an early post, David Richards referenced a standard that we can all read. NECA 130-2010 specifies the neutral pin is on top.

"Gounding-type receptacles mounted vertically should have the grounding conductor opening at the top. Receptacles mounted in the horizontal position should be mounted with the neutral conductor (long slot) up."
NECA 130-2010 5.5.3.e.

I am old timer that has always installed my receptacles ground up. You can read my post also.

David made a good point with his post of the standard from NECA that I was not familiar with. Look it up on the web and see what you think. If NEC adopts a standard, they may accept the NECA standard.

[Lee Reep]

[...]
Look at GFCI receptacles an example. For those GFCI with the push to test buttons in the horizontal position, the text is usually oriented to be read with the ground in the bottom position.

"Usually" may be the key word. Our home (built in 1983) has a GFCI outlet in the garage that is installed ground up, so that the button text reads correctly. (And it drives me crazy since it is the only one like this ...)

Other GFCI outlets I've added all are conventional ground down, with text reading correctly. Maybe I got a model designed for a hospital, or it is so old it was hand-assembled, and the assembler was having a bad day when he installed the buttons.

[W Craig Wilson]

Back in my days in the USAF, my shop once received a gig from a higher HQ inspector for having Hz receptacles on one of our workbenches upside down.
I cannot remember his reference, and in hind sight he might have just been looking for something to write up to fill in his report.

[Dave Richards]

In an early post, David Richards referenced a standard that we can all read. NECA 130-2010 specifies the neutral pin is on top.

"Gounding-type receptacles mounted vertically should have the grounding conductor opening at the top. Receptacles mounted in the horizontal position should be mounted with the neutral conductor (long slot) up."
NECA 130-2010 5.5.3.e.

I am old timer that has always installed my receptacles ground up. You can read my post also.

David made a good point with his post of the standard from NECA that I was not familiar with. Look it up on the web and see what you think. If NEC adopts a standard, they may accept the NECA standard.

And whether or not the NEC adopts the NECA standard, it is a standard used in medical facilities and by manufactures of medical equipment. I spent most of the last week dressing new anesthesia machines and installing them. They have convenience outlets on the back for powering other devices mounted on them. Those outlets are installed with the ground on top.

As for outlets installed horizontally, they aren't common in our hospital although we have them in the shop. There's a surface mount wiring chase with two separate channels, one for high voltage (120V) and the other for low (data). The outlets are mounted horizontally following the standards with the neutral on top. This puts the ground pin to the left.

Late last summer there were new standards put in place governing the use of outlet strips in patient care areas. That's good for companies like Triplite and Leviton.