My wife was watching a show called “House Hunters” where a couple looks at three houses then picks one to buy. Last night it was in Chicago. She pointed out to me that in all three houses the duplex wall outlets were horizontal instead of vertical. Sure enough it was that way in all the rooms ( I believe that one home was new and the other two newly remodeled).Is this a new trend or more a regional thing?
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Replies
it is a regional thing. I believe the reason was to keep the top plug from forcing the bottom one out. and was most likely part of the Fire Code
I never asked why since I figured that was the way they were done
one other interesting note ALL of the homes in and around Chicago are piped with EMT
absolutely NO romex
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, wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
I wish I had the time and money to pipe mine with EMT that would be the ultimate.
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"I tell you, We are here on earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5MG1ZfFiZ8&mode=related&search= Mercy now
it does have it's advantages.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
It has lots of advantages.
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"I tell you, We are here on earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5MG1ZfFiZ8&mode=related&search= Mercy now
I am just curious how the horizontal installation of duplex can avoid forcing the other plug out?
plug two heavy cords in or a couple three ways or four three ways.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
I've seen pictures of your work. You're good.
IBEW in the Chigago area likes to brag that they have the best conduit people in the country because everything there is run in pipe. You either learn run conduit or find another trade I guess.
dave
Thank You Dave,
yes Chicago spends a lot of time teaching their apprentices all about pipe bending and they are the best !.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
Chicago and conduit.
I assume the Chicago conduit requirement was adopted to increase fire safety and reduce the incidence of residential home fires caused by faulty wiring.
That being said - has it worked? Is there a, statistically significant, lower rate of residential home fires attributed to electrical wiring?
I'm not arguing the merits of wiring run in conduit which are many, just curious as to the net effect of the Chicago code.
Many / most home fires are caused by "faulty electrical wiring" here in DE (Romex is used 99+%) but more often than not it turns out the actual ignition point was an overloaded extension cord or faulty appliance.
In other words, many of these fires actually started outside of the walls rather than inside where Romex vs conduit would be in play.
There is a big older home about 2 miles from me built in the late 1800's. An executive from the DuPont safety department bought it and as part of an major rehab, had the entire house electrical system switched from a haphazard patchwork of k&t, BX and early romex to all EMT. He has the actual conductors replaced every 6 years, I guess that was the schedule at the chemical plants he was responsible for........ I have no idea what the cost was - don't ask, don't tell - but the electrician who did the work just smiles when asked about the job.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
I've only seen them installed horizontally in baseboards, as someone else mentioned. And that's always been because of the height restriction of the baseboard.
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory or defeat. [Teddy Roosevelt]
"Chicago and conduit.I assume the Chicago conduit requirement was adopted to increase fire safety and reduce the incidence of residential home fires caused by faulty wiring."Now I admit I am way too cynical, but my take on it is that the conduit union in Chicago wanted job security and lobbied to get this in place. They probably used the fire reason to get everyone scared, but had no actual real world data to back it up. I would have to believe that if it really made a difference it would have migrated to other parts of the country by now.
When we lived in Chicago in the 1980s they required cast iron or galvanized drain pipes -- they did not allow PVC or ABS pipes at all. Is that still the case? I always assumed that was a union thing. Trade shows are another sore point -- my company recently had to pay the (union) electrical contractors at the convention center over $100 to plug in our ordinary extension cord for the lights in our small display booth. You can't carry in any of your own displays either, you have to use the (union, of course) workers, even if the display case is only suitcase-sized and on wheels.
My wife was a project engineer at a food plant in the city, and she had a hard time with the building inspectors wanting bribes, or else they would go through the plant and invent all sorts of nuisance complaints, like the fire extinguishers being 1/2 inch too high off the floor, etc. She never paid the bribes, but just had to deal with a lot of huffing and puffing.
No, you guys got it all wrong.
Betsy the cow had them running scared.
You mean Rpmex is not allowed in Chicago?
it is NOT allowed.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
some will argue the collusion between City Hall and the Unions but for the most part the fire code went into overdrive after the Fire, and probably a few moments later, a legal way to make some big bucks...there was at one time only two types of exit signs that were "approved" by the City plenum rated raceways and hardware are also favorites of mine. along with a disconnect within 5' of every motor
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
Edited 10/24/2007 3:53 pm by maddog3
Never under estimate the power of the unions to corrupt political decisions.
I never have... or vice versathere are a lot of make work requirements in the Chicago Electrical Code, but trying to figure the code out was sometimes as easy as leaving $50 in a cup somewhere or calling the Hall for a few more guys... besides, where do you think ALL the inspectors came from in the first place ???is there anybody who doesn't know about corruption in that toddlin town.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
When we put outlets in baseboard we always put them horizontal. Of course that has something to do with the constraints of the baseboard but it did look better then the ones that I saw that were vertical in baseboard.
Doug