# Simple and stupid wiring question...three prong outlet..where is ground? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226 "2021-09-07T11:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/21 "2021-09-07T13:10:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If your local codes do not specify which way they should go, you should at least be consistent. Don’t have some outlets ground up and others ground down. Also known in my life after getting off work in 1999 and see this as the “How many fucking beers have you guys had already?” electrical code of WV. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/22 "2021-09-07T13:14:37Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > and see this as the “How many fucking beers have you guys had already?” electrical code of WV FWIW, when I mentioned that the town I lived in specified ground down and the next town over specified ground up, that was in WV. 😉 That was in the 1980s. The local codes may have changed since then. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/23 "2021-09-07T13:19:40Z")
This will sound like BS, but I have had cats get their whiskers across the slightly-exposed top blades (hot and neutral) of plugs TWICE. They were apparently just nosing around the receptacle. In both cases, there was a big flash (think of _ **National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation** _) and the breaker blew. The cats were excited, but unharmed. I doubt this would have happened if the ground had been up. (I am an electrical contractor myself. All my receptacles go in ground up, even if not specifically required.) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/24 "2021-09-07T13:26:51Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > FWIW, when I mentioned that the town I lived in specified ground down and the next town over specified ground up, that was in WV. 😉 Sounds like the overregulated shit that we put up with that nobody follows. It’s inside the house. Who sees it? Fuck their permit. GQ only as WVians have been doing that our whole lives. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/25 "2021-09-07T13:31:38Z")
Ground is down so you can have the (appropriately) shocked emojis. 😮 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/26 "2021-09-07T17:14:24Z")
Over here in the UK, with our three-pin plugs, the earth (ground) is always at the top. For the last couple of decades at least, the pins are insulated for a half centimetre or so at the root. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/27 "2021-09-07T17:55:33Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > One reason for the change, there has been a few cases of metal wall plates slipping and shorting across the hot and common blades of a plug. When I was a kid, I was screwing around with a metal tape measure, seeing how far I could telescope it out before it kinked and fell. It finally did kink and fall, and slid down the wall until it hit the hot prong of a plug that wasn’t quite fully inserted into the outlet. It also made contact with the metal wall plate, creating a big ol’ short. Popped the breaker with a nice POW and a flash, but not before it burned halfway through my tape measure. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/28 "2021-09-07T18:25:39Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > When I was a kid, I was screwing around When I was a kid, there was a kid in my class who had been held back a few times. You know, the third grader who had to shave every morning. When the teacher had to leave the room for a minute, he asked me for two sticks of gum and my pencil. He quickly folded the foil from the gum into two long rectangles, then carefully inserted one, then the other, into an electrical outlet holding them with the pencil’s erasers. Then he said, “watch this” and he tapped them into each other using a textbook. There was a pop, flash, and the lights went out. When the teacher came back nobody had any idea what had happened. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/29 "2021-09-08T01:22:56Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > This will sound like BS, but I have had cats get their whiskers across the slightly-exposed top blades (hot and neutral) of plugs TWICE. I do confess, this has at least one of my eyebrows raised. I suppose I can imagine a really salty wet whisker causing a spark and flash but the breaker blowing would need a load of under 8 Ohms (assuming a typical 15 Amp household breaker) for long enough and hair just seems too resistive and, even with enough voltage, too fragile and flammable. Also, cats being cats, there would be reports of a lot of similar accidents. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/30 "2021-09-08T01:27:59Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Over here in the UK, […]the pins are insulated for a half centimetre or so at the root. I noticed that when I visited there and never thought about why it was so. Now I know. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/31 "2021-09-08T01:41:34Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Then he said, “watch this” and he tapped them into each other using a textbook. There was a pop, flash, and the lights went out. When the teacher came back nobody had any idea what had happened. The classic joke in Electronics class in high school was to stick electrolytic capacitors in the bench outlets, which faced away from the teacher at the front of the class. At the end of his lesson or demo, he would turn they key in the master switch to enable the bench power and all the capacitors would blow up at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/32 "2021-09-08T01:43:07Z")
As a kid, I had a good length of solder bent in half (because it was safer if I was far away from the socket, yup) and carefully poked one end into one rectangular slot then the other eBZZRBTTTT ABnzObxSzuqp%\_G68L9^9`L")wva.Vv~ecO{gg\_6wEfax68DF{\>HjB&,AOOYLDMKS^InGjOZy%R# NO CARRIER ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/33 "2021-09-08T09:09:59Z")
This is why we have our sockets with a shutter on the two live holes. The earth pin pushes the shutter out of the way as the plug goes in, but inquisitive toddlers can’t stick anything in there to get a 220 volt shock, ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/34 "2021-09-08T13:32:59Z")
A local code specifying orientation is exceedingly rare. My cite for this is that having purchased and sold several houses over the past decades, and having a home inspection done on every one (the hired gun inspectors, not the town inspectors) not one has ever mentioned ground orientation on a report - and these guys don’t miss a chance to ding things - even things that are perfectly up to code and just offend their sensibilities. Idiots. More significantly (as has been mentioned) is that the NEC is agnostic on this matter. Everywhere I have lived has long since switched over from some local code to NEC (and other standardized codes for structures, plumbing, etc.). My currently preferred method is ground down for unswitched outlets and ground up to distinguish switched outlets. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/35 "2021-09-08T16:55:44Z")
The NEC doesn’t say, despite efforts over the years to legislate one way or the other. So the proper way to do it is to match orientation to the other receptacles in the house. It’s quite annoying when they vary all over the house! ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/36 "2021-09-08T17:36:19Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I was a kid, there was a kid in my class who had been held back a few times. You know, the third grader who had to shave every morning. > > When the teacher had to leave the room for a minute, he asked me for two sticks of gum and my pencil. He quickly folded the foil from the gum into two long rectangles, then carefully inserted one, then the other, into an electrical outlet holding them with the pencil’s erasers. > > Then he said, “watch this” and he tapped them into each other using a textbook. There was a pop, flash, and the lights went out. When the teacher came back nobody had any idea what had happened. We had a guy in school whose yearbook comment was “spent 25¢ on electrical wiring course”. The guy bought a replacement plug end and connected the two prongs with a chunk of wire. He would surreptitiously plug it into a wall socket in a classroom, popping the breaker - all the lights go out etc. A brief interruption of regular routine. He apparently did this one day in the cafeteria, and instead of blowing the breaker, flames started climbing the wall from the plug; he quickly had to kick the plug out before any teachers noticed. I remember going back to the school a few years later, and there were still scorch marks up the wall. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > I’ve seen exactly one house get dinged for it on CO inspection. I’ve seen only one inspection for Electrical Work ding a company I worked for, for it. Now I’m not a working electrician, but I’ve kept my hand in it for a long time. A friend of mine built his own house, with help from assorted tradesmen he was friends with. The electrician gave him this advice - “when having an inspection done, always leave one thing for the inspector to notice and tell you to fix. If he can’t find anything wrong, he’ll go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. If he can put at least one thing on the inspection report, he looks like he’s done his job.” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/37 "2021-09-08T17:44:53Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I replaced a few outlets in my house and figured I’d “do it right” and put the ground on top. > > Half the stuff I plug in is all screwed up because the device / cord is designed assuming ground is down. I have upside down nightlights, right angle plugs that turn upwards instead of downwards, I wound up having to turn the plugs back around for my own sanity. This post makes me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/38 "2021-09-09T08:08:19Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Half the stuff I plug in is all screwed up Australia is all ground-down. It’s been that way much longer than the USA has been using grounded plugs, or the UK plugs, so it’s not likely to change. But it we _did_ change … China uses exactly the same socket, ground up. All we have to do is buy Chinese stuff on Alibaba. China has a 220V system and angled spades like us. In the USA, you’re screwed 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/39 "2021-09-09T15:18:06Z")
Well, combine a curious, nuzzling cat with a probably damp whisker (from washing), along with plugs that don’t quite stay as plugged in as they should. It’s only a 0.5" gap between the prongs. And the cats had singed (and shortened) whiskers afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226/40 "2021-09-09T15:43:42Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Ground is down so you can have the (appropriately) shocked emojis. 😮 And if it is drawn accurately, you have a shocked face with one droopy eye. Bell’s palsy? I grew up in an old house that wasn’t wired three prong. (probably had cloth insulation on the wires, too.). We had to buy three prong adapters - the ground was supposed to connect to the panel screw. Even as a kid, I suspected the outlet boxes weren’t a) metal or b) actually grounded. but at least we could run our modern tools and appliances. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-and-stupid-wiring-question-three-prong-outlet-where-is-ground/950226.md?page=3)