I inspected a new house…one receptacle in everyroom had an
inverted receptacle…one plug tested open hot, the sellors realtor
who just bought a new house also said they connect the recepacle to a wall
switch for lighting…thats why it tested open hot…(its tied to a switch)
Can anybody validate this in new construction?
David
That is not NEW, it has been in PRACTICE for years and years now. It is used also when there are 2-3 switches in bedrooms, one for outlet (inverted), one for light and sometimes one for Ceiling fan.
OPEN HOT ???
Every bedroom needs at least one switch controlled lighting outlet. That may be an actual lighting fixture on the ceiling or wall, or a switched receptacle. Some installers prefer to invert that switched receptacle for easy identification. This isn’t really too “modern” of a construction practice. It was more popular from the mid 60’s through the mid 70’s, in my experience, but it still occurs. It’s a budget saver, for the builder.
You can split a standard 2 ganged outlet to have to two individually wired outlets. One can be hot all the time and the 2nd can be wired to a switch.
It you do this yourself, you need a deeper junction box to hold all of the wiring and wire nuts.
Deeper than what? What if it is already deep? How deep *is *deep? What’s deeper than deep? You’re talking like a clerk from the depot on this. “Put in a deeper one”. Yeah, sure. Don’t worry about those pesky box fill rules. Just put in a deeper one. Maybe I want to put in a wider one instead? Maybe the one that’s there is fine?
Marc, you seem a bit perturbed.
Hope everything is alright. I always appreciate your contributions here. Keep it up.
Thanks everybody
David
I am a tradecraft protectionist, you could say.
Ah, Union man then. No offense intended.
Been their done that. Was shop Steward and got tired of representing members who didn’t want to do their job.
I know that’s not true of all unions but it left a bad taste in my mouth so to speak.
I think you mean a standard duplex receptacle…yes you can break the TAB on the ungrounded side and do as stated…
The standard 20 Cu in ( and the 18 cu in as well if we are only speaking of say (1) 14-3 and a (1) 14-2 NMC…) as their is plenty of space within those nail up boxes for this application…
Turning one upside down is done by some EC’s to simply help the HO to know which receptacle is the switched one.
As marc stated…if their is no light in this room ( ceiling wise ) then these switched receptacles are mandated…if their was a switched light in the room then they would not be…just another option for the contractor and electrician is all.