My house is over 100 years old, hasn’t been updated since the 50’s, and it’s kind of all of the above. Other than the kitchen, the outlets are all two prong. There aren’t many of them, and they are all on baseboards in the exact center of a wall where of course heavy furniture goes. Up till four months ago I had a 60 amp box, they had to put in 125 for me to get the new HVAC. Tripping a circuit breaker was a common occurrence. My box is on the side of the house where my property only extends about 18" in a trench a couple of feet below ground level (we call it my moat). It’s enclosed in my neighbor’s fence, so I have to open the neighbors gate and walk all the way down their driveway a few feet from their house to access it. If I should ever get unfriendly neighbors, or ones with the obligatory vicious pitbull, I’m going to completely lose access to my breaker box.
@therealjrn Yep. The “moat” is the whole of my property on that side of the house; the raised edge is the neighbor’s driveway. The scary door is directly across from the old tan breaker box. There’s a 10 foot drop at the end of the driveway to the tiered back yard. These old houses were hand built, every one is different and nothing about them is standardized.
@RiotDemon It was there when I moved in 32 years ago. No telling how long before that. I was thinking that now, while the house is sitting empty, I should put in a fence. It would give me access in the event of hostile neighbors, but not hostile canines.
@moondrake@narfcake I know it’s fairly common, I just don’t understand it. Most houses with a garage have it inside there. Every place I’ve lived in without a garage has had it in a hallway.
@ZeroCharisma Just as long as they weren’t figuratively screwed onto holes in the walls where no electricity has ever been. I hate it when that happens.
we once had a server go down on our program. During the morning ops call the lead IT guy said they determined there was an issue with one of the four 6-outlet surge protector strips they had daisychained together that the server was plugged into (I’m not an IT gal or electrician but my jaw hit the ground wondering how that daisychain had been allowed), but that was now fixed and the server would be finished it’s reboot soon. After a pause the program PM (also not an IT guy nor electrician) said “I take it there will be a separate call to discuss why you don’t daisychain surge protectors?”
@mollama LOL yeah, that’s 15A max (some surge-protector strips supporting only 12A), 1800W peak, 1440W continuous for common surge protectors. Servers can draw kilowatts apiece. A full rack can draw as much as 30kW. I’m surprised some melting didn’t happen. Unless that’s what he meant by “issue.”
@PocketBrain i think that point was brought up and they were sufficient (UPS type or something) but the daisychain was because they didnt have a long enough cord. like i said, most of the discussion was off that call, it was just how did these “pros” think daisychaining was a good idea. i learned that in elementary school science class.
@DrGaellon@RiotDemon Yeah, but every outlet? One idea in that link is that it’s “safer” because a half-unplugged plug won’t have live conductors exposed on top. Well, if you have a polarized transformer block (“wall-wart”), it’s going in upside-down and its weight will cause it to tilt away from the wall, exposing the two live conductors. I submit having universally upside-down outlets is more dangerous.
@PocketBrain@RiotDemon This is EXACTLY the problem. Big heavy transformers which fall out of the socket because the wire is now coming out of the TOP of the block and pulling it away from the wall. (In particular, there is only one outlet in the bathroom, and it’s actually mounted into the wall-sized mirror, so I can’t even tape the wire to the wall without ruining the mirror, so the hair dryer transformer and the electric toothbrush charger are constantly pulling out.)
All answers are “Too few outlets.” Additional outlets will solve all the other problems.
Two-prong outlet and three-prong plug? Install a three-prong outlet next to it.
Outlet behind furniture? Install an outlet that isn’t.
Outlet controlled by a switch? Install one that isn’t.
Outlet blocked by a big plug? Guess what: moar outlet is good outlet.
@medz Neat. That whole thing about fuses in the plug and just a loop of wire through the house is some scary shit, though. The fuse isn’t to protect the appliance. It’s to protect the wires inside the wall from overheating and starting a fire. One could, in theory, plug in enough of those safe-plug-equipped toasters to toast all the bread on the property without blowing a single fuse.
Especially given that a copper shortage is credited for this development–the wire could be under gauge as well.
The prices aren’t really all that much better than at the retail stores.
These poll options are the hardest I’ve ever seen to choose from.
I thought the same thing. I was hoping for an “all of the above” at the bottom.
The whole apartment being on one-or-two weak-ass, faultily-grounded circuit(s) type issue.
I live in a house where EVERY top outlet is controlled by a light switch. It’s not fun.
The fuse box is so annoying. Why do they limit the power, anyway?
@hchavers
The outlets that catch on fire
My house is over 100 years old, hasn’t been updated since the 50’s, and it’s kind of all of the above. Other than the kitchen, the outlets are all two prong. There aren’t many of them, and they are all on baseboards in the exact center of a wall where of course heavy furniture goes. Up till four months ago I had a 60 amp box, they had to put in 125 for me to get the new HVAC. Tripping a circuit breaker was a common occurrence. My box is on the side of the house where my property only extends about 18" in a trench a couple of feet below ground level (we call it my moat). It’s enclosed in my neighbor’s fence, so I have to open the neighbors gate and walk all the way down their driveway a few feet from their house to access it. If I should ever get unfriendly neighbors, or ones with the obligatory vicious pitbull, I’m going to completely lose access to my breaker box.
@moondrake Is that the haunted house side?
@therealjrn Yep. The “moat” is the whole of my property on that side of the house; the raised edge is the neighbor’s driveway. The scary door is directly across from the old tan breaker box. There’s a 10 foot drop at the end of the driveway to the tiered back yard. These old houses were hand built, every one is different and nothing about them is standardized.
@moondrake That’s an impressive moat!
@moondrake how were they allowed to block your yard with their fence?
I never understood why any house’s breakers would be outside.
@RiotDemon It was there when I moved in 32 years ago. No telling how long before that. I was thinking that now, while the house is sitting empty, I should put in a fence. It would give me access in the event of hostile neighbors, but not hostile canines.
@moondrake This would be a good time to do it.
@RiotDemon It’s common for exterior panels in places where there’s no basement.
@narfcake @RiotDemon Oddly, I have a basement, sort of. I’d rather it was outdoors, although it would be nice if it were accessible.
@moondrake @narfcake I know it’s fairly common, I just don’t understand it. Most houses with a garage have it inside there. Every place I’ve lived in without a garage has had it in a hallway.
/image tamper resistant outlets
@awk
They’re Watching
@awk A standard outlet is covered in paint or some mystery substance. I find that very accurate.
Not enough amps on usb ports
I have outlets that are just decorative with no juice at all. Literally outlets screwed onto holes in the walls where no electricity has ever been.
@ZeroCharisma Just as long as they weren’t figuratively screwed onto holes in the walls where no electricity has ever been. I hate it when that happens.
@ZeroCharisma Sorry.
We need to have a “most-annoying grammar-related issue” poll…
we once had a server go down on our program. During the morning ops call the lead IT guy said they determined there was an issue with one of the four 6-outlet surge protector strips they had daisychained together that the server was plugged into (I’m not an IT gal or electrician but my jaw hit the ground wondering how that daisychain had been allowed), but that was now fixed and the server would be finished it’s reboot soon. After a pause the program PM (also not an IT guy nor electrician) said “I take it there will be a separate call to discuss why you don’t daisychain surge protectors?”
@mollama LOL yeah, that’s 15A max (some surge-protector strips supporting only 12A), 1800W peak, 1440W continuous for common surge protectors. Servers can draw kilowatts apiece. A full rack can draw as much as 30kW. I’m surprised some melting didn’t happen. Unless that’s what he meant by “issue.”
@PocketBrain i think that point was brought up and they were sufficient (UPS type or something) but the daisychain was because they didnt have a long enough cord. like i said, most of the discussion was off that call, it was just how did these “pros” think daisychaining was a good idea. i learned that in elementary school science class.
Every outlet in my apartment was installed UPSIDE DOWN.
@DrGaellon
/google what is the advantage of installing outlets with the ground on top
Electrical Wiring & Circuitry Why Your Outlets Are Upside-Down and …
https://www.thespruce.com/why-outlets-are-upside-down-1821535
@DrGaellon @RiotDemon Yeah, but every outlet? One idea in that link is that it’s “safer” because a half-unplugged plug won’t have live conductors exposed on top. Well, if you have a polarized transformer block (“wall-wart”), it’s going in upside-down and its weight will cause it to tilt away from the wall, exposing the two live conductors. I submit having universally upside-down outlets is more dangerous.
@PocketBrain @RiotDemon This is EXACTLY the problem. Big heavy transformers which fall out of the socket because the wire is now coming out of the TOP of the block and pulling it away from the wall. (In particular, there is only one outlet in the bathroom, and it’s actually mounted into the wall-sized mirror, so I can’t even tape the wire to the wall without ruining the mirror, so the hair dryer transformer and the electric toothbrush charger are constantly pulling out.)
@PocketBrain at least the electrician was consistent.
All answers are “Too few outlets.” Additional outlets will solve all the other problems.
Two-prong outlet and three-prong plug? Install a three-prong outlet next to it.
Outlet behind furniture? Install an outlet that isn’t.
Outlet controlled by a switch? Install one that isn’t.
Outlet blocked by a big plug? Guess what: moar outlet is good outlet.
@PocketBrain
/image 24 outlet power strip
When the builder didn’t properly secure the gang/junction box in the wall. Gonna have to cut some drywall to secure or replace it…grrrr.
@medz Neat. That whole thing about fuses in the plug and just a loop of wire through the house is some scary shit, though. The fuse isn’t to protect the appliance. It’s to protect the wires inside the wall from overheating and starting a fire. One could, in theory, plug in enough of those safe-plug-equipped toasters to toast all the bread on the property without blowing a single fuse.
Especially given that a copper shortage is credited for this development–the wire could be under gauge as well.
Every time I jam metal objects into my outlets, I get zapped.
Every time.
Very annoying.
@DennisG2014
/image HTF Cuddles with fork
All of the above