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	Subject - Installing a 110 volt electrical receptacle ..... ZZZzzzz What is the proper orientation when installing a 110 volt electrical receptacle. When looking at a electrical receptacle that is installed in the wall most receptacles have the "long neutral (white wire) slot" on the left side and the "short hot (black wire) slot" on the right side with the "ground slot" at the bottom. I have also seen receptacles installed 180* opposite to the above configuration which would put the "ground slot" on the top. What does the "code" say ... or can you install them either way ??? Thanks in advance. Scott Vickrey The 2002 NEC doesn't specify the mounting orientation of the 120 volt receptacles. This is the reason you see these receptacles mounted in different orientations. Think about this, if this is a general purpose outlet most angled cord ends have the ground at the bottom. Should you mount the ground up then most angled cords will come away from the wall with a big unsightly loop. BillA I was told once that "ground up" is better because should something fall onto a partly plugged cord it hits a ground and not a hot. Perhaps this is for commercial applications? I do think by observation that hospitals and medical offices seem have outlets oriented ground up. Is it code that ground up is for commercial installations - or only for specific commercial installations like hospitals? David Hyatt Code does not require ground up in any situation that I know of, that is just someone's "bright idea" if the same plug is partcially pluged the object could still hit the ground and fall to the hot side at the same time. I seen this for a while but dont see it very much now. I guess it is how ever you want it to be. ZZZzzzz "Scott Vickrey" ... "BillA" ... "david" ... Thanks for the quick feedback. It seems that the "code" does not regulate orientation of the receptacle ... though, as Scott says, the use of "angled plugs" would looks a lot better inserted into a "ground" located on the bottom. Thanks all. BillA Furthermore, "wall warts" which are polarized are designed for "normal" orientation. Larger wall warts often won't even stay plugged in in upside down receptacles. Thanks for the discussion - I'm glad to get the facts on it myself. Bill A. Scott Vickrey Didn't think of that! cal_sparky This isn't a Code issue, as has been pointed out. In industrial or laboratory settings, where the cover plates are steel, it really makes sense to put the ground hole up. Wall plates can and do come loose, and can fall onto the blades of a plug if it's not fully inserted on the receptacle. I used to think this was unnecessary for residential installs--I mean, who uses metal wall plates in a house? But I've had two service calls that changed my mind. One in particular--a call to a starter house, young family. Complaint: power out in a couple of the bedrooms. Get there, check outets, two bedrooms with no power. Ask lady of the house if they had space heaters etc plugged in. Response--no. Go to breaker panel, find one tripped. Go back and check out the outlets in the bedrooms, and find one with streaks of soot on it, and up the wall. The face of outlet and wall plate show a fair amount of soot and outlet face is a little pocked up. A TV is plugged in at the outlet, with a good quarter inch of exposed plug blades. Pull the plug, look at the blades, and--whoa! There's slots burned in the two blades, about halfway through. Obviously, a sewing needle or bobby pin (or something) got behind the plug and fell across the two blades. And it sat there and arced for a while, cutting its way down through the blades of the plug. I didn't find what caused the problem--it might've been vaporized. This was in a bedroom shared by two cute little girls, sisters. There was a bit of lint and dust at the baseboard below the outlet, and window curtains close by. I broke into a cold sweat thinking about what might have happened. So, now I install outlets with the ground hole up, except where I know there's gonna be a rt angle plug (like refrig). If someone's using a wall wart xfrmer, they can flip the outlet, or use a power strip. Our inspectors are now "suggesting" that the gound hole be installed at top. The only down side, people think it looks kinda weird. They get used to it. Cliff David Hyatt Good point cliff really makes you think. Be safe gregm one last thought, there is a definite rule to have grounding connectors be the first to make and last to break. since gravity will tend to pull the cord down, the top connections will come loose as the plug pivots on the bottom pin(s). if it is the ground, no problem. if the receptacle is oriented ground up, the ground would come out first and leave a definite safety problem. but this is a stretch of an interpretation and shows how many what ifs there are to think about.