10 Things You Didn't Know About Outlets

So number one on the 10 things you might not know from a standard electrical outlet is what this little tab does between the two screw terminals .

So it really doesn't matter what brand or type you have here are three examples with an eaten residential grade has a tab , eaten industrial grade has a much larger tab and then a Hubble commercial grade with the tab on the reverse side .

Now , what that tab does is if you removed it from the hot and neutral side of your outlet , you then would separate the top receptacle from the bottom receptacle and now they can work independent of each other .

And this is often called a switched outlet .

You actually might have had these in a house or an apartment you lived in over the year where you had a bedroom or a living room that had no ceiling lights .

It was super dark and you had a light switch on the wall that seemed to not do anything .

Well , that light switch might have actually controlled the top or bottom receptacle on all of the outlets within the room .

This is much more common in little older homes in my area , ranch style homes built in the 19 fifties or sixties .

It was pretty common for the living room and possibly even the bedrooms not to have ceiling lights , but they had switched outlets that you could plug lamps into .

But associated to this , it's also very common and I have purchased homes in the past where somebody updated the outlets .

It was a room that was supposed to have switch outlets .

It had a switch on the wall , but they just replaced the outlet without removing the tab .

So now all the outlets are powered all the time and the light switch literally doesn't do anything .

So maybe something to look out for if you have that issue around the house .

But let's move on to number two .

So number two deals with a feature called speed wiring and you can see that by these holes here and the slots also relate to this feature .

It's called a few different things by different brands .

But speed wiring is one of the most common terms .

Now this only works with 14 gauge solid core wire .

If you do not know whether or not you have 14 gauge , you can use the nickel and dime trick comparing the thickness of a dime .

So if that matches up , you have 14 gauge , if it matches up with a nickel , then you have 12 gauge .

So we have 14 gauge here .

Now speed wiring I do not recommend , but it is very common .

So let's at least talk about it .

So it's that easy as you just push it into the hole .

And now you are wired .

The second point is associated to some confusion in that these screw terminals are not associated with holding in this wire when you use speed wiring .

So I will tighten in the screw terminals because you should never leave screw terminals just hanging out independent on if you're using speed wiring or not .

But me tightening in this wire does not hold this wire in .

So point number two is that the screw terminals are independent of speed wiring .

Point number three is that speed wiring can be removed .

So I can put a screwdriver in this slot and remove the wire .

But that feature is one and done .

So I should not use this outlet again and use that speed wiring because it should only be used once .

Now , why is that ?

We'll look at the internals of this Levitin outlet .

So with speed wiring , you really only have this tab that's biting into the wire and holding it in place .

So when you push through the spot , you're pressing that tab open and you might deform it , thus making the wire loose the next time you actually apply it to speed wiring .

So that's why with point number three , if you are using speed wiring , which I don't necessarily recommend it is a one and done .

Feature .

Point number four builds on speed wiring but shows the other acceptable ways to wire .

So there's three different ways to wire an outlet .

We're showing speed wiring , which we just reviewed and I'm not the biggest fan for it .

This is a residential grade outlet with , with the speed wiring built in .

Here's a commercial grade eaten outlet with back wiring , which is another method .

And the method I prefer back wiring is , is again just a straight strand of copper .

I'll take that out to show you that's just a straight strand of copper and then it is being placed , we'll get that plate to come between the plate and the screw itself .

So the screw tightens in and that is what holds that wire in place .

I prefer commercial grade outlets and I prefer back wiring .

I think back wiring produces the most consistent and safest result .

But that is just my opinion and I am not a licensed electrician .

And then the last way to wire is the most common , but you might not know there are some features within different receptacles that can help you do this .

And that is called side wiring where you put the wire underneath the screw .

And this one specifically , you could strip the insulation off and get your copper exposed , use this hook here and then actually bend your wire around the screw terminal .

And now you have a shepherd's hook or AJ hook in the clockwise direction around the screw terminal and you're ready you're ready to tighten it .

Now , remember you want to go in the clockwise direction for this third and most common type of wiring , which is side wiring .

So we'll hit number five really quick and I do have a favor to ask of you guys if you have some time .

But number five is associated to the stripping guide that you'll find on the back of the housing for pretty much all outlets that are out there .

Now , the thing to know is that for this stripping guide , for this specific outlet , it's for one type of wiring .

So we just went through speed wiring , back wiring and side wiring .

And specifically for this one , when I matched that up , it is actually for the back wiring feature .

So if I wanted to do side wiring , I actually need a little bit more insulation removed to do that effectively .

So the strip guide can be very handy , but just make sure you're matching up how much insulation you're removing to the type of wiring you're doing .

So the favor I have to ask of you guys is feedback .

One , we always welcome your comments and get great feedback from the audience which I really do appreciate .

But specifically on this video , I really want to see the the experience level of the viewer .

So first thing I need to know is just if you're a pro or ad I wire , so that's all you got to put down pro or D I wire associated to your experience level .

And then a number following that and that number is the number that you didn't know .

So if you go through all 10 of these points and you actually knew everything except for three of those , just put pro three or D I Y three , then I'll know the experience level and that will really help to target the correct video and content as we move forward .

So that's it pretty simple .

Just a little feedback down below would be greatly appreciated .

But let's move on to number six , number six associates to why some designs are not flat , like this one , this one's a flat face , but this one is not .

Let me show you why .

So the reason for this is to actually help especially two prong plugs or adapters such as this find the slots .

So you can see the angles if you push against , want to set you in the correct spot .

So especially in the dark , you're trying to plug something in , this helps you find the correct position and get your plug securely fastened in the outlet , small design change , but actually pretty handy .

So number seven associates to the word Deora now Decorah , usually for most people just means a more modern contemporary looking flat , rectangular faced outlet compared to your standard duplex .

So most people say , hey , do you want standard duplex or Decorah if you're building a home or if you're working with an electrician and they're doing some work for you .

But Deora is actually a trademark by Levitin , which is only one brand and they have a whole line of different components that go under the Deora series .

This is very similar to other industries like Bobcat .

Hey , go grab the Bobcat and they mean a skid steer loader or completely different industry .

Can you give me a Kleenex when they actually mean tissue paper ?

But because one brand was so common and so dominant , their name kind of became synonymous for one product within the industry .

So a little fun fact for you .

But now we're hitting the home stretch with number eight .

I actually showed this in another video I had , but I think it's kind of cool , not super useful but pretty interesting .

And that is many eaten components like light switches and outlets like this one have built in wire strippers for number 14 gauge wire and number 12 gauge wire .

Now not wildly useful in terms of speed .

I don't think anybody's gonna be rewiring their house using this at their wir strippers .

Maybe in a pinch , maybe if your wire strippers were left in your truck and you just had one more wire to do .

This comes in useful where you can strip the wire , get the outlet mounted and go on about your day .

So you have to at least give it to Eden for some creativity in their design .

Now , number nine goes to a great debate within the community and that is , do you install your outlets ground facing down or ground facing up ?

Now , this was a video I've done in the past as hundreds of thousands of views and a ton of comments , I also had people vote on what their preference was by hitting the like or alternatively , by hitting the dislike button on the video .

And from that , it looks like about 75 to 80% of people do ground facing down and the rest ground facing up .

Now , this is not called out nationally by N E C .

So there is no standard to go off of unless you're on like a commercial job , maybe a hospital job .

And then specifically for that job , they're calling out in the specification for the electrical system on that job .

So depending on what region you're from , what electrician you use , who trained you , you can have different opinions on this over time .

But from the feedback on tens of thousands of people hitting the like and dislike , I would say three out of four people do ground facing down .

And now for number 10 , and that is this is technically not an outlet more properly .

This would be referred to as an receptacle .

Now , those are two of my friends that might have already left comments in this video saying stop calling in and out when it's a receptacle .

Uh But I think most people relate to outlets .

So that's why I use the word in my titles and in other videos that I do .

But just so , you know , the last one , number 10 is that this is technically called a receptacle .

So that's it .

That's the 10 things that you don't know about an outlet .

But let me know in the comments .

Are you a pro or are you ad I wire ?

And how many of these things did you not know that's gonna really help myself in the channel ?

Just make sure we're targeting these videos for you as a viewer and make them as helpful as possible .

Now , any other comments you have are always welcome .

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Take care .