House wiring question

[Giles]

I have rewired or updated several homes in my 44 years of marriage. This does not qualify me as an electrician but I have a good knowledge and respect for any type wiring.
I am in the process of purchasing a rural home and I have not found the usual problems of an uninspected wiring system.
I inspected the electrical system as thouroughly as possible and the only two things I am curious about is--
Why is every 110v recepticle installed upside down? The ground (round) is on top.
Why is the main 200amp breaker box installed upside down with the main disconnect on bottom?
I don"t see any problems with these two items but I am curious as to why they were done this way.

 

[ActionDave]

While not common it is permitted to install a breaker panel with the main on the bottom. This usualy occurs when the panel is fed from below.
Also not common but preferred by some electricians is to have the ground up in a standard 120V recept.

 

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[Alternety]

I asked about the upside down receptacle once and I was told that was so if something fell between the plug and receptacle it would not short out the line. I did not buy that explanation.

 

[Giles]

I asked about the upside down receptacle once and I was told that was so if something fell between the plug and receptacle it would not short out the line. I did not buy that explanation.

In my unprofessional opinion, I think it is easier to hook the ground wire up with the ground on top. Therefore, why couldn't a compitent person rotate after hookup---maby a little more wire would be required!
Some electrical items are designed to be plugged into a recepticle with the ground on bottom. Etc.--refrigerator and many airfreshners, just to name two.
Many many times I have found the ground wire cut off even with the shiething---guess they decided that bare copper wire was unnecessary!

 

[Jar546]

The preferred method for mounting duplex receptacles is to have the equipment ground facing up. It is not a code requirement but a safer practice recommendation for the following reason:

1) Not all plugs are placed tightly against the receptacle and with them pulled slightly out you run the risk of a conductive material falling on top creating a direct short. A good example of this is a loose metal cover plate. Other conductive objects have been known to fall across these exposed terminals causing severe arcing.

Again, it is not required but recommended. Some professional electrician text books use the same explanation. Some appliance cords have 90 degree plugs that are better installed with the ground down so it is a case by case situation but general use plugs should be installed ground up.

I approve them both ways during inspections because it is not a code. If I see them ground down with metal cover plates then I mention it for safety purposes.

That is the sole purpose of ground up.

 

[Speedy Petey]

In my unprofessional opinion, I think it is easier to hook the ground wire up with the ground on top. Therefore, why couldn't a compitent person rotate after hookup---maby a little more wire would be required

How could it possibly be easier or harder??? Also, how in the world would it require more or less wire???

Some electrical items are designed to be plugged into a recepticle with the ground on top. Etc.--refrigerator and many airfreshners, just to name two.

Well, I don't know what appliances you are looking at, but pretty much every residential refer and washing machine I have ever seen has had a ground DOWN right angle plug.
Commercial appliances are different. There seems to be no discernible pattern there. In fact, many do not even come with cords installed.


I typically do ground up in commercial and ground down in residential. I won't address the ground up or down issue further because I personally am sick to death of this topic.

Why is the main 200amp breaker box installed upside down with the main disconnect on bottom?

There is NO such thing as an upside-down modern panel. The main breaker moves side to side, so there is no up=on and down=off issues.
They can be installed breaker down for bottom feed, or breaker up for top feed. If you notice, all the labels and writing are printed sideways.

 

[Billy_Bob]

With main panels, the main wires are usually quite large and difficult to bend. It can be quite a chore just to install them straight down or straight up! Let alone run them up and then back down. Could be quite a "wrestling match"!

And then there are "real estate" issues inside a large breaker panel on the sides. You have grounding and neutral bars going down the sides. And need to run wires into the sides of the breakers. Limited space for all the wires, let alone one or two large wires running along the sides as well.

Like this picture...
If feeding from the bottom, the large wire at the top left would want to lay right over the screws on the neutral bar on the left side of the panel. And if it was a "main panel", that wire would be live. I would not want to move it out of the way to add a new circuit. Imagine someone forcing a screwdriver in there to screw down a neutral, then the screwdriver scrapes the insulation off the large (live) wire...

 

[Giles]

How could it possibly be easier or harder??? Also, how in the world would it require more or less wire???


Well, I don't know what appliances you are looking at, but pretty much every residential refer and washing machine I have ever seen has had a ground DOWN right angle plug.
Commercial appliances are different. There seems to be no discernible pattern there. In fact, many do not even come with cords installed.


I typically do ground up in commercial and ground down in residential. I won't address the ground up or down issue further because I personally am sick to death of this topic.



There is NO such thing as an upside-down modern panel. The main breaker moves side to side, so there is no up=on and down=off issues.
They can be installed breaker down for bottom feed, or breaker up for top feed. If you notice, all the labels and writing are printed sideways.

Sorry---I made a "typo" error. I should have said that many electrical items are designed to be plugged into a receptical with the ground on bottom (not top)
I edited my original post.

 

[Giles]

With main panels, the main wires are usually quite large and difficult to bend. It can be quite a chore just to install them straight down or straight up! Let alone run them up and then back down. Could be quite a "wrestling match"!

And then there are "real estate" issues inside a large breaker panel on the sides. You have grounding and neutral bars going down the sides. And need to run wires into the sides of the breakers. Limited space for all the wires, let alone one or two large wires running along the sides as well.

Like this picture...
If feeding from the bottom, the large wire at the top left would want to lay right over the screws on the neutral bar on the left side of the panel. And if it was a "main panel", that wire would be live. I would not want to move it out of the way to add a new circuit. Imagine someone forcing a screwdriver in there to screw down a neutral, then the screwdriver scrapes the insulation off the large (live) wire...

Thanks ----excellent explaination