Just wanted to say, I enjoyed your insights for the commercial grade and residential grade receptacles, which UA-cam recommended to me, and your in depth examination. I foolishly did not subscribe at the time, but UA-cam once again recommended this video and I instantly subscribed after giving a more thorough examination of your channel. Thank you for the tips and insights, they are greatly appreciated.
Also, maybe I missed it by not looking hard enough, but I would request this same kind of look at GFI outlets/receptacles if possible, since I have noticed huge differences in quality, especially due to the thickness of button plastic. I was taught in trade school not to directly push a tripped GFI button to avoid being shocked/electrocuted, and to use a tool to safely depress and reset the button. I'm an HVAC tech working on both residential and commercial buildings, I always used wooden or shielded tools to depress a GFI buttons and can say that residential buttons have broken under minimal stress, where commercial have not. My instructor told me how he used his lead from a multimeter to avoid injury based off what his instructor told him about the dangers of pushing the reset or test of a GFI (this would be several decades ago) and my instructor told me the sharp point of his lead penetrated the plastic button, created a bright spark and a short.
i am a master electrician and i think you did a very good job of explaining these outlets and I hope that people that do their own wiring see your video.
But which one is better he didn't mention, and the hospital grade just be installed in a residential home or does the in home panel needs upgrading as well..
The orange receptacle is actually an isolated ground spec-grade receptacle, not hospital grade. The orange face with the green triangle indicated the ground terminals are isolated from the yoke. A hospital grade receptacle will have a round green dot on the face and will contain much beefier/stronger contacts inside.
Hey Derek, Thanks for the feedback. Not sure why the supplier switched these receptacles out as I ordered Leviton 8300-HW (amzn.to/2JmydKR) and seems like they sent me Leviton 5262-IG which as you pointed out is an Isolated Ground receptacle. With that said the I think the internals and housings are the same between the 8300 and 5262 but will know soon when the supplier provides the correct outlet. Appreciate the help.
Thanks, your right though it is possible for it to be both hospital grade and isolated ground and would/should have both marks. but check this link... www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/outlets-and-receptacles/commercial-receptacles/isolated-ground-heavy-duty-hospital-grade-receptacles-back-side-wire-20a-125v-white/p/ig8300 they say its hospital grade with only the triangle
@Everyday Home Repairs As Derek says, this is simply a spec-grade isolated ground receptacle. It is not a hospital grade receptacle. Hospital grade receptacles have a green dot on the front (although it *may* be optional on orange & red receptacles), but they are definitely marked with "hosp grade" or "hospital grade" on the back.
Being an Isolated Ground, it requires special wiring, in the form of separate equipment and bonding grounds. This is commonly done with MC that has an extra aluminum bond (like in BX / AC), that bonds the _metal_ outlet box, and the regular green ground that connects to the green terminal, for equipment ground. IG has some very specific uses, none of which apply in the home. Look out for hospital grade with the green dot and no green triangle.
Casey Cooper... That thin aluminum conductor inside of bx is a "low impedance conductor in intimate contact with the cable armor". It is to assure a quicker path to ground for a fault current. Without it, a fault current would theoretically have to travel around all those twists in a loosely would cable, which, I guess, used to happen and rather then blow the breaker or fuse, the cable would heat up like a toaster element in the wall. True story. So that small wire bonded the cable armor to itself, not as an equipment ground.
Congratulations, you’ve won Algorithm Roulette, as I watch no videos that should suggest I would want to see this. That being said, this video was way more interesting then I would have though.
I was going to say it if no one else had. A pure oxygen environment is a very dangerous place for sparking of any kind. In the interest of mitigating any know hazards after the Apollo disaster these plugs began to be tested and certified as level 3 spark resistant. So that in the event of a pure oxygen leak in a confined space such as a storeage room the result would not led to another tragedy. Although, these outlets are not spark proof they have been deemed resistant enought to mitigate to a reasonable extent the possibility of a an arrant spark.
Pure oxygen isn't flammable. An arc in a Pure O2 environment wouldn't do a thing. Oxygen is the oxidizer for the fuel. At 100% there is no flammable fuel to react with. Just to be pedantic.
The orange outlet you had was a isolated ground receptacle (green triangle) . A hospital grad receptacle (green dot) and inside there is a spring to keep pressure to help keep plug inside.
I was very confused as to why a video about outlets showed up on my recommended. I'm still confused as to why it showed up, but it was a good recommendation.
@@killianmmmoore good question. I think it might be since many people from Europe and Australia have clicked on the video to see the differences and ultimately to let us know how old and inferior the designs are compared to their receptacles 🤷♂️
Thanks man! I am doing a new service panel in my garage - and adding GFCI. Hospital grade outlets sound like a perfect compliment. To power a small air compressor or other tools. Found this at the right time.
In the Netherlands we only use "quickwiring"/push-in wiring for sockets and switches, and the sockets are a lot more expensive here as well. I've managed to wiggle some wires out when working with sockets, but generally it's not a problem and it makes a really low resistance connection
Notice on the back of the hospital grade that it warns that the mounting strap is not connected to the plug ground. Grounding of hospital wiring is a specialty process with many isolated grounds for patient protection. Hospitals and industrial wiring often use on ground-fault alarmsinstead of breaker trip clearing when unexpected loss of power during a critical process would be bad. If you use these in regular wiring you'd have to pay attention to the grounding and not assume the ground is transferred to metal boxes, faceplates, etc.
@@YTInnovativeSolution there are several different reasons why receptacles could be installed with the ground facing up. In my area, over the years electricians have placed the ground facing up on receptacles that are wired to be switched. Also, seems like the ground facing up is gaining steam from a safety perspective so if the plug starts to come out of the receptacle and something falls on the blades it would hit the ground first as opposed to hot and/or neutral.
@@YTInnovativeSolution If you're talking about the orientation on how you install a 3 prong receptacle, it's really a matter of choice but If you're using METAL receptacle plate, it's a lot safer to install the receptacle with the GROUND ON TOP. The reason is, when the mounting screw of the metal plate loosened up, the plate can fall between the two prongs of the plug in use and short the prongs. Office people sitting behind their desks are also known to create this problem by accidentally dropping metal objects ( paper clips, fasteners, etc..) right on top of partially plugged-in 3 prong plug. This is just my 2 cents experience as a retired hospital employee.
Hospital grade can be a bit of overkill for most residential situations, but they're great for where you want ruggedization for similar reasons (like in a workshop). For my money, I'll definitely take commercial over residential in almost every case. It's kind of like buying cheap garbage bags; they may not break, in fact they probably won't, but do you want to risk trash all over your kitchen floor? Now what if you're talking about electricity vs. trash? No contest! Keep up the awesome videos!
I use a red and orange 20 amp outlets in a Home made extension cord that I use just for my power tools just so they hold up for a very long time and don't wear out. Plus I got the outlets for like $.25 each in unused condition and they look cool too. LOL
I sampled a bunch of different receptacles before deciding on a Hubbell commercial model to replace original receptacles in my 1964 house. Most of them were loose or painted over. I liked the high quality feel of the nylon face and how they securely grabbed the plugs with a positive feeling. And they installed easier with large screws and large drywall ears.
Yah don't want the machines keeping someone alive shutting off cuz the retaining system was wore out and some viberations knocked it loose enough to loose power
It would probably be a good idea to redo the video as it has a lot of misinformation in it. It would also be helpful to explain the self grounding feature found on both of your receptacles in your video. Also point out the cautionary statement on the back strap of the isolated ground receptacle. You might want to contact a qualified electrician or a local electrical code official for correct information.
IG is for places where you want the ground to be free from random EMI picked up via the conduit and building structure. AKA Single point grounding. Large buildings can have Earth currents flowing in the grounded structure (I actually ran into a case of Current flowing UP from the Basement of a HIGH rise, and down from the roof equipment that was bonded together (IMHO they should have used insulated cable instead of bare)
As a newcomer, let me say what annoys me about an otherwise good video. And you're not the only one. When someone references a previous video, and points to a place where they intend to add the link, but then never bother to add the link. Even worse, it doesn't appear to be in the description. But you still took the time to add all the annoying little like and subscribe animations. And I'm sorry, I know you're trying to grow your channel, but they really are a turn-off.
Agreed, *BUT* what's stopping you from going to his channel page (click on the name), go to the video tab, and click on the video. Easy peasy. This is inconvenient, but not a showstopper.
They're always isolated except for the first "disconnecting means" service panel. What you mean is that the "outlet" has to be wired with a separate grounding conductor in respect to the electrical system. This means it has to have a dedicated ground wire and not be bonded to the electrical box, yet the electrical box must be grounded using a separate bonding means.
@@jamess1787 not "bonded" to the electrical box? A separate ground copper wire (copper, white & black) here in Canada is connected, bonded to the fuse panel, although on a separate bar. Why I don't really get though.
@@truckerdaddy-akajohninqueb4793 Hospital Electrical plugs are supposed to have an isolated ground wire that grounds the receptacle is separate to the electrical box. It probably has something to so with old hospital appliances, and also probably keeps the maintenance man in check. Technically you can use a ground as neutral, but this could potentially kill someone (working on electrics) working on a circuit downstream or connected elsewhere in the immediate vicinity. No one expects current present on metallic housings, and in some cases it would be very difficult to detect (how does one amp clamp in use conduit?). With this in mind having a separate ground protects a worker from another workers stupid mistake.
@@jamess1787 I think you might be making a slight mistake on isolated ground systems. Isolated ground does not mean you are separating neutral and ground wires as that is the point of the equipment grounding conductor. In a normal electrical system you run three wires to the receptacle which are hot, neutral, and ground. The ground should only carry fault currents and not normal load currents, this grounding conductor is also used to ground the metal conduit and junction boxes along the way. This is what an equipment grounding conductor is for. However Isolated ground makes a change to this, there is four wires ran in an isolated ground system A hot, Neutral, safety ground conductor, insulated and isolated ground conductor. The hot and neutral are hooked up the same, however the safety ground is used to connect to the conduit and metal box work as well as any other outlets not marked isolated ground, the outlet ground pin is not connected yet. The outlet ground pin is connected to the IG wire which has insulation around it and runs back to the sub panel where it has a special isolated ground bar that does not contact the subpanel electrically. Then it runs back across another insulated ground wire to the main power distribution panel where it is grounded at the main ground bar. Isolated ground means there is only receptacle ground pins on the IG conductor, there are no metal boxes or conduit or regular sockets on the IG conductor.
These outlets actually have the contacts to make them NEMA 6-15 as well. Its a standard that is not seen much anymore, but I have an old 4kw generator that uses NEMA 6-15 receptacles. I actually really like the 6-15 standard as it allows for 240 V plugs and receptacles that are much smaller than say a typical dryer plug/receptacle.
This is a isolated ground outlet identified by the green triangle. These have to be installed in grounded metal boxes per code or the yoke and cover screw will not be grounded. Since most houses use plastic boxes and romex wiring these could be a safety hazard in some situations.
@@briank8482 You can, but you need to use metal boxes and ground the box with a pigtail. No reason to use hospital or isolated ground outlets in a house, though, just use commercial.
You can certainly use plastic boxes in Canada. But there's no reason to because metal boxes are cheaper up there, and far more common. In the US the plastic ones are cheaper and used almost exclusively for residential. That said, metal boxes are far superior.
Not sure how I ended up on this video but I find it interesting because I didn't know they were supposed to be grippier. It's funny though because even though the outlet is stronger, the mounting isn't (at the hospitals that I've worked at). Some of these outlets grip so hard that when you unplug, you can see the outlet come out the wall a few mm. Also, in LA county in southern CA, hospital emergency outlets are red. I've never seen any green dots mentioned in the comments. Is this a sticker? My role in the hospital requires me to plug my machine into outlets throughout the hospital and we have a tendency to find "broken" outlets that don't charge our machine which is annoying as hell. I wonder if that's an outlet thing or something else.
These videos have been awesome man, thanks for taking the time for this. Would you be able to compare different GFCI recepticals as well? And maybe different breaker panel components?
Hey Kevin, Really appreciate the support and recommendation for future videos. I will put the GFCI and breakers on the list as I do plan to integrate these type of videos moving forward into my normal DIY videos. Cheers!
@@EverydayHomeRepairs awesome, you rock dude. Keep up the awesome work. One more sub earned :) these have kind of like a diet Project Farm feel to them, I like it!
The design of the interior contacts on the hospital grade has allowed Leviton to just change the front cover to make a 20 amp receptacle and a 15 or 20 amp 240 volt receptacle as well.
LOL. Maybe I should send him a real hospital grade receptacle. That is not one. They do make isolated ground hospital grade, he is showing a plain isolated ground. An isolated ground hospital grade would have a black triangle and green dot. What he is showing is not for emergency power. By code all emergency power receptacles are RED. He needs to delete this video as it makes him look silly. I worked in a hospital as a maintenance electrician for 42 years up untill I retired recently. Maybe I should make a video and show how tough hospital grade are. The internals are heaver, the casing is tougher, and it is required to periodically check the prong tension with a tool to make sure there is proper tension. You can't beat a Hubbell HBL8300HI and there are different grades of hospital grade between manufactures, they all make a cheaper 6 dollar version. Even Hubbell makes a cheaper version (Bryant) or you could buy an more expensive Hubbell HBL8300HI and never ever have to replace in in your home. You can tell a heavier version by the sides, they are much wider and heavier than the lower cost versions. They get away with selling lower cost versions of hospital grade as long as they meet the minimum requirements.
Opinion from an experienced electrician on receptacles ... Install spec-grade (commercial), tamper-resistant receptacles in your home. Use GFCI versions where required, and use WR versions outside. All spec-grade receptacles will be marked with the text "spec-grade" somewhere on the yoke. Never install residential grade receptacles. Every receptacle I have ever replaced due to failure has been one of these. Don't waste your money on hospital-grade, industrial-grade, or heavy-duty. If you have a machine shop, or something, where you forcefully insert/remove plugs multiple times per day, every day, then maybe install heavy-duty receptacles there. But, I would not bother unless the customer asked for it; those heavy-duty receptacles are designed for factories and such, and I have yet to find a residence where I thought it was needed. I never install isolated ground (IG) receptacles in a residence. IG requires two ground wires (one insulated) or a properly installed metal conduit infrastructure and an insulated ground. You need to connect the insulated ground to the ground screw, and connect the bare ground wire to the metal junction box. Most houses use plastic junction boxes, don't use conduit, and they are never wired with a "spare" ground. If you install a IG receptacle without the aforementioned requirements, then it is no different than a regular receptacle (maybe worse because it is hard to ground the yoke), and it is a waste of money. Also, IG receptacles, even when properly installed offer little/no value in a residence. A word on the markings... Those little symbols on the plug mean something. If there is a triangle there, it signifies the plug has an isolated ground. If you install a IG receptacle, but don't properly wire it, then it will fail inspection due to code violation. Why? because the receptacle says, "hey, I'm IG!", but only you know it is not. In the future, some unsuspecting person might "need" a IG receptacle for whatever, and think it's safe to use that one. When you install a hospital grade receptacle, that green dot tells everyone that it is installed according to NEC Article 517. But, in your house, it most certainly is not. It requires an insulated ground like IG receptacles, but not an extra ground wire. Unless it's a hospital grade IG receptacle, of course. If you *need* a heavy-duty receptacle, then install a heavy-duty receptacle, and avoid hospital grade. A little off topic... If you have an old house, you cannot just replace the old 2-prong receptacles with 3-prong receptacles. The 3-prong receptacle tells the world "hey, I have a ground wire here", but it doesn't. There are ways to install a 3-prong receptacle without rewiring the house, but that's beyond the scope of this post.
Tony dropping some knowledge bombs 💣. I think I get the most from posting these videos and having people like yourself share tons of useful information. Appreciate you taking the time and effort to share so much good info. Happy New Year!
@Tony Pombo Beautiful! Care to a word for those asking about putting 20 amp receptacles on 15 amp circuits, and what the insurance *won't* do if you burn your house down from it? Thanks!
As others have stated, this is a designated or isolated ground receptacle. I actually used these when I renovated, to create a special entertainment centre. The theory behind it being , that the separate grounding, can reduce RF noise... I have some stereo vacuum tube equipment, and this was a great feature in the setup.
In hospitals, there are basically 4 Branches for circuits to run from. 3 of the Branches are known as Essential Services. They consist of: 1) Life Safety Branch 2) Critical Branch 3) Equipment Branch The 4th Branch which is not part of the essential service, is the Normal branch. In a power failure, the Normal Branch goes bye-bye and stays off after the Emergency Generators kick in. In that same power failure, within 10 seconds maximum, the Generators must fire up and the ATS’s transfer power to the Essential Service Branches. The code only requires a unique identifying color. The hospital project I was a part of last, all essential service receptacles and switches were colored Red. All Normal branch receptacles and switches were White. For the end user (hospital staff and patients) if the building is operating on generator power, any Red receptacle and Light switch will fully function. All equipment that keeps the hospital functioning is on the Essential Equipment Branch and continues to run behind the scenes. In critical rooms like Operating rooms, there will be a light circuit that has its own battery backup power that turns on instantly when the power drops. It’s sole purpose is to provide lights for that 10 second span of no power while the generators are turning on and the ATS’s transfer over. If you want to crap your pants, stand next to a large ATS for your first time when it switches over. The sound is intimidating.
I replace these Outlets all the time in a hospital and I will tell you there is no way a residential Outlet could hold up to the plugging and unplugging of carts the way hospital grade outlet can
I agree, the MAJOR difference in a hosp grade is the amount of tension it puts on the plug and the durability to accommodate many plug ins and unplugs.
Great video I see a lot of orange outlets in cash register and server rooms applications my understanding is they have an isolated or dedicated ground running back to the panel? I also recently used some gray outlets for cosmetic affect only to realize they were $5 each. any thing different on those except the color?
@@EverydayHomeRepairs actually it what the electrical engineer specs out on a job, i have installed many red receptacles indicating they are for critical power in a hospital, like in patients room. They are on UPS/generator power. I also installed orange receptacles without the isolated ground indicating back up power at a warehouse for battery charging station. I also installed white or ivory receptacles with isolated grounds (orange triangle) but not on a back up power. Mostly for computer equipment that are not critical but need the isolated ground. There different types of receptacles and color combinations too. Residential, commercial, industrial, hospital, AFCI, GFCI, TVSS.
AFAIK, orange is always supposed to be isolated ground, backup power is usually red or green. At least, that's what it was when I was building out datacenters 20 years ago....
@@ckm-mkc Traditionally, orange is used for isolated ground and red is commonly used for emergency--but there is no standard, so any color could be used for any application.
I'm currently a student in an electrician trade course. This is more practical information that you're posting than is covered in my $200+ dollar textbook. I will be subscribing and recommending your videos to classmates. Just wanted to say thank you for the content and keep it up, as an aspiring electrician this an amazing resource from a practical perspective.
I worked on medical equipment in the hospitals, I have always used the Hubbel hospital grad plugs,they never wear out also the 3 face screw a half of a turn and the screw was in also the face of the plug was keyed into the lower body. Well worth it.
Another little fact about those "hospital grade" receptacles, they have an isolated ground, the ground terminal is not connected to the yoke like a standard residential grade.. The idea is to have a separate grounding conductor that goes from the receptacle to the ground bar without anything else connected to that ground wire, it eliminates outside "noise". We used to use them for computer and sensitive electronic equipment.
Isolated ground and hospital grade are independent. As mentioned elsewhere, isolated ground receptacles are denoted by the orange triangle, and hospital grade receptacles are denoted by the green dot. All combinations of these features are available.
Correct y’all this is a isolated ground recept. Does share some features with the hospital grade. Certainly don’t want anything in a hospital getting accidentally unplugged :o
The JCHA, Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, publishes standards for electrical hospital safety. When I was performing those tests, earlier in my career, they included tension tests on the hot, neutral, and ground contacts on a semiannual basis. Failure on the tension test required immediate replacement of the outlet. Every outlet and it's related tests were documented.
Interesting, makes sense but I wasn't aware of the set testing schedule / maintenance after the receptacles were installed. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Not sure where you live, but in the US it's JCAHO that does accreditation. I tried to look up JCHA and all I found was "Jersey City Housing Authority."
@@uiopuiop3472 Techtronics made a tool that measured the tension. One end was shaped like a ground the other like a spade. It was a spring loaded tool with a pointer and a scale. This was 50 years ago so I would expect the tools to have improved significantly by now.
You showed the outlets UPSIDE DOWN. Just look at the embossed stamping by Leviton on the metal and resin parts of the outlets. The ground pin is supposed to be on top.
Hey Gary, I did a whole video on this and currently NEC does not call out receptacle orientation. Lot of different perspectives with the majority preferring ground down. Thx.
quite a curious recommendation from UA-cam but I am glad to know that there is a community dedicated to comparing differences in electrical apparatuses
The orange plug with the triangle on it is not a HOSPITAL grade receptacle it's an isolated ground 15amp receptacle thats Industrial grade, I used the 20amp version throughout my shop with metal boxes grounding them at the box with pigtail in a steel building, They come in 8 different colors. I flipped them ground side up for SAFETY, many people look at my plugs and scratch their heads all I say it's for safety. They are worth the extra money will last 30+ years of daily use. The Hospital versions now, there is 8 colors they come in Orange, Red, Blue, white, Brown, Black, Grey and Bisk the Dots are Green with green triangle, Orange triangle with green dot, Red dot with green dot, and Orange triangle. Have you seen Green receptacles?
I think both are Nylon but the orange did have thicker plastic and just more structure. the cheap $0.50 outlets are usually some type of polycarbonate.
Green triangle ( plus orange color ) means the green terminal connects to the ground socket, but does not have continuity with the yoke / enclosure / conduit. ( isolated ground )
Red is the color for an emergency powered receptacles in a hospital. also at one time GE hospital grade receptacles used spring steel around the brass contacts to reinforce them . Newer hospital grade receptacles now only last as long as industrial grade ones and do wear out with much use whereas I've seen 40 year old GE receptacles still having as much tension as a new receptacle due to the spring steel reinforcement. Part of my job for the last 40 years was to do an annual receptacle tension testing with a Daniel Woodhead tension tester on ALL of the hospitals receptacles.
Nice, 40 years of frequent use and still maintaining like new hold on plugs is not too bad 👍. Hard to find any components these days that even have a 10 year lifespan.
@@allalphazerobeta8643 here is a link to new old stock on E-BAY The good ones have UL stamped between the blades with a kidney bean shaped indent www.ebay.com/i/283263698799?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=283263698799&targetid=1068323857870&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9007456&poi=&campaignid=10897343893&mkgroupid=114065833424&rlsatarget=aud-412677883135:pla-1068323857870&abcId=9300403&merchantid=119091584&gclid=CjwKCAiA57D_BRAZEiwAZcfCxcXFC5PyYyz2JgNB__qcpi4uaXll9zT3VYLVN6EwjQkjr0dI2NhckBoCzQEQAvD_BwE
If you want an interesting comparison, look at RV grade outlets. They are just sketchy as hell. They are made to be used as a single unit with the faceplate as part of it. The back is open and once you wire it you just shove it into the wall into a rough cut opening. No box or anything. And for something that is clearly cheap junk, they usually cost $10 or more.
@@EverydayHomeRepairs Motorhomes, camper trailers, 5th wheels, park models, and FEMA trailers. Anything that is meant to always be on wheels. They fall outside normal residential wiring codes and use them. Manufactured homes AKA "Mobile homes" that are meant to be installed and the wheels removed, they have normal residential outlets.
Yep, that is correct I was wrong in the video and the orange would more accurately represent an isolated ground in addition to the small green triangle which also calls out the isolated ground.
I don't even bother with residential outlets and I CERTAINLY don't use those hateful push-in features. Those are so horrible to get undone reliably and I just can't imagine the contact area on that to be reliable enough. I bough a whole box of commercial power outlets for doing the workshop AND to replace a lot of them in the house, because it's worth having good plugins!
I’m sorry, how? Is there like a 10,000% tax on them or something? These things are just ceramic and metal and plastic. Maybe there’s a Swiss regulation where they have to be made out of gold or something.
Great info! Just some of my opinion, (so take it for what ya will) I don't recommend using those little animations for liking and subing. Not something you really see on the most successful channels of this type. Again great content just try not to look thirsty for those likes haha.
@@dro3m yeah that's excellent for me and that's why I have proper plugs installed at my home 😂😅 not those shitty once u use in the US but hey ur all a bit strange u don't even use the metric system instead u measure with ur body lmao
I thought the orange ones were to denote the receptacles that that were tied into the back up generator system. Only for use of vital life supporting machines and the like
Hey Buddy, I think Red indicates emergency power and orange is a quick reference to isolated ground. I misspoke in the video and stated that orange indicated backup / emergency power.
In some hospitals the orange one's are connected to the generator. It probably also depends on the building code in a given area or state. Here in my area near Pittsburgh, PA, the hospitals emergency power goes through the orange ones. It may be the newer hospitals use the red one's too.
What am I missing here on the ‘backstabbing’? Is this unsafe? I ask, because I’ve been using it for 30ish years and have never had a single failure. Did I just get lucky or is not a thing? I genuinely need to know if I should stop.
cheaper outlets are notorious for letting the wire back out in backstabbed applications. more or less, it's usually more often the install ala not enough wire stripped for the backstab to get a good bite on the wire, wire bent are sharp angle leads to loosening
There are 2 types of outlets that allow wire insertion from the back: one type has a plate that clamps onto the wire when you tighten your screw; just about every expensive receptacle is built this way. The other type represents the cheapest garbage you can buy: there is nothing but a sharp spring plate that bites into the wire when you "stab" it into the back of the outlet. My house was wired with these and I've literally had them disintegrate in my hand when I pulled them out of the wall. And if someone is running an electric heater at the end of a circuit of these back-stab outlets the current draw will overheat the spring plates to where they no longer grip the wires, and the circuit fails. Some cheap outlets used to give you the option of "backstabbing" or using wire-binding screws. The wire-binding screws are far better. The other thing you may notice with cheap outlets is that over time the internals get loose and sloppy, so your plugs almost fall out.
@@TNickel555 Agreed! The "rising clamp" terminals are *SO* much more secure! Often the back wire teeth are so bad, that 3-4 twists while pulling will fully remove the wire. Kinda scary!
this is an isolated ground receptacle can be used anywhere i use these in commercial where you are using large amount of computers or other devices that are sensitive usually computer related like servers data centers, ect. The little green Triangle on the receptacle identifies it as isolated ground.
Yes but let's clarify for other readers that you must have a true isolated ground system for these to be of any benefit. That means a separate ground wire back top the service or some designated central ground point. And that point must be bonded to the building earth ground and service neutral. Isolated ground systems prevent noise pickup from metallic conduit coupling to the device electronic system ground. Also if you do use IG receptacles without an IG system you would need to tie the ground terminal to the box ground. Otherwise it's floating. I'm not even sure if code allows IG receptacles to be used in non-IG systems.
@@ironmatic1 Modern computer equipment with switch mode power supplies don't care. But there are still applications where ground loops and noise are a problem. Sensitive measuring equipment in labs. Anyplace analog audio is still used such as in recording studios. Microphones are still low level analog devices which require sensitive analog preamps before being converted to digital audio.
Get the hospital grade in the same color as the rest of the outlets in your house, but with the green dot. Put them in your shop and wherever the wife plugs the vacuum cleaner in on a regular basis...trust me, it'll save you money and aggravation about every 18 months.
@@josegomez6549 Extremely rugged, meant for lots and lots of plug/unplug cycles. You can get them in white and ivory so they match what you likely have. The green dot can be covered over with touch up paint so its not such an eye sore. Hardware stores don't often have them, but any electrical supply house will.
@@tonyc.4528 i would not waste the extra money for hospital grade, commercail is just fine, being doing electrical for over 40 years my house, that i wired 30 years ago has the same commercail devices no problems.
I've enjoyed these videos. It reminds me of when I was a teenager and worked as an electricians helper. Even as a kid with no experience, I thought those "Stab-Loc" connectors were sketchy, but they saved a ton of time, so my boss made us all use them. This was in the 80's. I don't know how much has changed since then.
There are different types of backstab connections. Some receptacles have connections that grab the wire when it is pushed into the hole with no other tightening method. Then there is another type where the wire is pushed into the hole but a screw must be tightened down to secure the wire. I wouldn't use the first type but I think the second type is ok.
go with the cheap one,,,hospital ones are to keep sparking at its lowest due to the oxygen and sensitive equipment use,,,,unless you have supper sensitive equipment use than go with the orange ,,otherwise no big difference from the other,,,,,,,,,
The bottom plugs on those two receptacles are scares and worried, because you ripped their friends faces off and shows their insides. Just look at those faces of sheer terror.
I’m finding a lot of this channel’s videos contain significant errors, omissions and misinformation pertaining to key details. It doesn’t appear the host adequately researches some of these subjects before presuming to speak on them as an authority...
You should do a video on tension testing an outlet. When I was in biomed training we had a special tool that could be plugged into each part of the outlet and pull out slowly. It had to have so much resistance to coming out.
I put a few hospital-grade outlets in my house but they're not the isolated ground they are the common ground hospital-grade with the green. They were about $6 a piece
The left hole is taller as it is the neutral slot with the smaller to the right being the hot wire. This helps with ensuring 2-prong plugs are connected in the correct orientation. With that said you will see phone chargers and other devices with the same size neutral and hot prong and this is because they can be plugged in either way as built in electronics can reverse the polarity if needed.
Recepticals that are on emergency branch would be red in color or have a red cover plate or a combination of both. The green triangle on an orange receptical would indicate an isolated ground, more commonly seen in data centers or labs that use sensitive electronic equipment.
By the way, the orange color and green triangle indicate this is an "Isolated Ground" receptacle meaning that the ground wire is supposed to go directly to the main panel without any connection to any other device.
One recommendation, between all the 15a receptacles is to do a test on what the max amperage they can handle before melting down. Ie like the residence ones may fail at 24a commercial 30a and hospital fail at 40a type of test. That may sound like a not real world test but i have seen where where “non electricians” incorectly put larger fuses or breakers on the circuit. Also seen was two breakers of same phase hook to loop allowing a 20a circuit to have 40a. One neat feature of some hospital grade products is transparent plastic. Allows for inspection without disassembly. Thanks for the great videos.
The orange is isolated ground. Green triangle. Measure your ground screw to the mounting yoke. Hospital is green dot much better contact on hospitals grade.
I may replace just my bedroom plug with hospital grade, because I cracked the face from trying to plug in the dark and the cable pulling in different directions
The video is misleading. The main reason of this orange outlet is that the ground pin is isolated from the back plate and housing to be connected to real indeoent grounding. This for interference and its use for sensitive equipment like medical gear yes but also communication gears, computers etc. One ground for the outlet and security and a real direct ground for the round pin. Check it out on a multimeter, they are not the same on an orange outlet!
I'm not sure this comment is going to help your explain of Hospital vs Commercial. I am not a licensed electrician. I did work in a hospital setting for 38 years in a IT role. To my point, "RED" receptacles in a hospital setting (my hospital) meant it was emergency power (EP). On the hospital floor only the RED receptacles are coming up (staying up) if utility power has dropped. I don't know if the non-RED receptacles were "$6". They look like $2 commercial receptacles. And yes, from an IT perspective we knew where our equipment was plugged in. Every Tuesday at 5:30AM the hospital would do a "genset test". Yep, all EP powered receptacles were going to "bounce" when the genset was cut over. For the next 15 minutes the EP receptacles were going to be on "soft power".
The big difference in all the different grades basically comes down to physical durability. I've always used the cheap sockets for semi-permanent locations like refrigerators - something that is going to be plugged in and not messed with. Most other locations are worth the upgrade.
I would not use the inexpensive residential grade receptacles for any appliance that has a high current draw such as an air conditioner or refrigerator or in any location where equipment is frequently plugged in and unplugged. The commercial grade receptacles have better quality contacts which can take abuse and still last a long time.
@@Lughnerson Not as long as the outlet is in good condition. Outlets that don't grip the plug tightly aren't going to have good electrical contact, either. That can cause voltage spikes and overheating of both the plug and the appliance.
UL 498 Standard for Safety Attachment Plugs and Receptacles, is the standard for the testing criteria of receptacles and how manufactures built them. Hospital grade for example must hold the plug when a 10lbs weight is dropped 24 inches (yank test) 8 times. After 20 insertions the ground pin must retain 4 oz when inverted (Ground Pin test). After 20 insertions the hot blade shall support 1.5 lbs for 1.5 minutes (Power blade retention test). There is more to it than described but you get the point that there are very specific testing criteria to be rated as hospital grade.
WAGO Lever-Nuts: amzn.to/3n6r2EE
Just wanted to say, I enjoyed your insights for the commercial grade and residential grade receptacles, which UA-cam recommended to me, and your in depth examination. I foolishly did not subscribe at the time, but UA-cam once again recommended this video and I instantly subscribed after giving a more thorough examination of your channel. Thank you for the tips and insights, they are greatly appreciated.
Also, maybe I missed it by not looking hard enough, but I would request this same kind of look at GFI outlets/receptacles if possible, since I have noticed huge differences in quality, especially due to the thickness of button plastic. I was taught in trade school not to directly push a tripped GFI button to avoid being shocked/electrocuted, and to use a tool to safely depress and reset the button. I'm an HVAC tech working on both residential and commercial buildings, I always used wooden or shielded tools to depress a GFI buttons and can say that residential buttons have broken under minimal stress, where commercial have not. My instructor told me how he used his lead from a multimeter to avoid injury based off what his instructor told him about the dangers of pushing the reset or test of a GFI (this would be several decades ago) and my instructor told me the sharp point of his lead penetrated the plastic button, created a bright spark and a short.
I would like to see your comparison of the the GE, Ultra Pro Duplex Heavy-Duty Receptacle and these receptacles.
i am a master electrician and i think you did a very good job of explaining these outlets and I hope that people that do their own wiring see your video.
But which one is better he didn't mention, and the hospital grade just be installed in a residential home or does the in home panel needs upgrading as well..
The orange receptacle is actually an isolated ground spec-grade receptacle, not hospital grade. The orange face with the green triangle indicated the ground terminals are isolated from the yoke. A hospital grade receptacle will have a round green dot on the face and will contain much beefier/stronger contacts inside.
^THIS.^
Right on Derek! 👍
Hey Derek, Thanks for the feedback. Not sure why the supplier switched these receptacles out as I ordered Leviton 8300-HW (amzn.to/2JmydKR) and seems like they sent me Leviton 5262-IG which as you pointed out is an Isolated Ground receptacle. With that said the I think the internals and housings are the same between the 8300 and 5262 but will know soon when the supplier provides the correct outlet. Appreciate the help.
Thanks, your right though it is possible for it to be both hospital grade and isolated ground and would/should have both marks. but check this link... www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/outlets-and-receptacles/commercial-receptacles/isolated-ground-heavy-duty-hospital-grade-receptacles-back-side-wire-20a-125v-white/p/ig8300 they say its hospital grade with only the triangle
@Everyday Home Repairs As Derek says, this is simply a spec-grade isolated ground receptacle. It is not a hospital grade receptacle. Hospital grade receptacles have a green dot on the front (although it *may* be optional on orange & red receptacles), but they are definitely marked with "hosp grade" or "hospital grade" on the back.
the red switches and receptacles are used for the always on/emergency circuits; especially the life safety appliances.
IIRC the red circuts are the ones attached to the generators, where most of the other outlets aren't powered
Very correct. The red ones will be connected to UPS and backup generators.
Huh, Such a great price difference and yet they're both equally suprised to be in the video
Shocking
=O
D=
👏 Top tier joke here
=-
I would like to see military grade. They would probably be the cheapest, nastiest, most dangerous outlets out there.
Military outlets? You mean regular outlets that the pentagon likely payed 7000% above market value for.
HOW DARE YOU!!! SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!!!! NO COST IS TOO HIGH!!! YOU ARE UN-AMERICAN FOR QUESTIONING MILITARY CONTRACTORS!! COMMUNIST!!!!!!!!!!!
@@ransom182 your troops are all gay
@@tonyabbot6771 You know they're being sarcastic right
Lol, right?!
The orange receptacle is NOT hospital grade, it is "isolated ground".
Hospital grade has a green dot.
Was looking for this comment. Thanks.
NGinuity - I'm glad my forty years as a master electrician finally came to fruition.
I can die now. 🍻
Being an Isolated Ground, it requires special wiring, in the form of separate equipment and bonding grounds. This is commonly done with MC that has an extra aluminum bond (like in BX / AC), that bonds the _metal_ outlet box, and the regular green ground that connects to the green terminal, for equipment ground.
IG has some very specific uses, none of which apply in the home. Look out for hospital grade with the green dot and no green triangle.
Casey Cooper... That thin aluminum conductor inside of bx is a "low impedance conductor in intimate contact with the cable armor". It is to assure a quicker path to ground for a fault current. Without it, a fault current would theoretically have to travel around all those twists in a loosely would cable, which, I guess, used to happen and rather then blow the breaker or fuse, the cable would heat up like a toaster element in the wall. True story. So that small wire bonded the cable armor to itself, not as an equipment ground.
Congratulations, you’ve won Algorithm Roulette, as I watch no videos that should suggest I would want to see this. That being said, this video was way more interesting then I would have though.
Hahaha, the UA-cam Gods have been kind. We will see for how long 🤞
That’s an isolated ground receptacle. Not hospital grade. Hospital grade has a green dot on them.
Another thing about the Hospital grades is that it have provisions to prevent arcing in rooms with breathing equipment.
Thanks for the feedback Peter.
I was going to say it if no one else had. A pure oxygen environment is a very dangerous place for sparking of any kind. In the interest of mitigating any know hazards after the Apollo disaster these plugs began to be tested and certified as level 3 spark resistant. So that in the event of a pure oxygen leak in a confined space such as a storeage room the result would not led to another tragedy. Although, these outlets are not spark proof they have been deemed resistant enought to mitigate to a reasonable extent the possibility of a an arrant spark.
Pure oxygen isn't flammable. An arc in a Pure O2 environment wouldn't do a thing.
Oxygen is the oxidizer for the fuel. At 100% there is no flammable fuel to react with.
Just to be pedantic.
@@etherealrose2139 At 100% everything is fuel.
The orange outlet you had was a isolated ground receptacle (green triangle) . A hospital grad receptacle (green dot) and inside there is a spring to keep pressure to help keep plug inside.
Yep, IGR. It's not residential vs commercial.
I was very confused as to why a video about outlets showed up on my recommended.
I'm still confused as to why it showed up, but it was a good recommendation.
Hey Carl, thanks for watching 👍
@IanFromCalifornia 😂
I'm confused why this showed up cos I'm in Ireland
These plugs don't exist here
@@killianmmmoore good question. I think it might be since many people from Europe and Australia have clicked on the video to see the differences and ultimately to let us know how old and inferior the designs are compared to their receptacles 🤷♂️
Hello everyone that also randomly got recommended this interesting video by UA-cam’s lovely algorithm
Oh, hi, Mark.
Also these are ground isolated, wich I believe helps with noise for some electronic equipment.
Thanks man! I am doing a new service panel in my garage - and adding GFCI. Hospital grade outlets sound like a perfect compliment. To power a small air compressor or other tools. Found this at the right time.
After having its cover cut, the hospital grade receptacle asked for an aspirin for pain and was shocked when they billed him $15
In the Netherlands we only use "quickwiring"/push-in wiring for sockets and switches, and the sockets are a lot more expensive here as well. I've managed to wiggle some wires out when working with sockets, but generally it's not a problem and it makes a really low resistance connection
Notice on the back of the hospital grade that it warns that the mounting strap is not connected to the plug ground. Grounding of hospital wiring is a specialty process with many isolated grounds for patient protection. Hospitals and industrial wiring often use on ground-fault alarmsinstead of breaker trip clearing when unexpected loss of power during a critical process would be bad. If you use these in regular wiring you'd have to pay attention to the grounding and not assume the ground is transferred to metal boxes, faceplates, etc.
Appreciate the feedback JK 👍
and now I know
But why are receptacles installed with ground pin up and down?
@@YTInnovativeSolution there are several different reasons why receptacles could be installed with the ground facing up. In my area, over the years electricians have placed the ground facing up on receptacles that are wired to be switched. Also, seems like the ground facing up is gaining steam from a safety perspective so if the plug starts to come out of the receptacle and something falls on the blades it would hit the ground first as opposed to hot and/or neutral.
@@EverydayHomeRepairs if plug is falling out the device needs to be replaced.
@@YTInnovativeSolution If you're talking about the orientation on how you install a 3 prong receptacle, it's really a matter of choice but If you're using METAL receptacle plate, it's a lot safer to install the receptacle with the GROUND ON TOP. The reason is, when the mounting screw of the metal plate loosened up, the plate can fall between the two prongs of the plug in use and short the prongs. Office people sitting behind their desks are also known to create this problem by accidentally dropping metal objects ( paper clips, fasteners, etc..) right on top of partially plugged-in 3 prong plug. This is just my 2 cents experience as a retired hospital employee.
Hospital grade can be a bit of overkill for most residential situations, but they're great for where you want ruggedization for similar reasons (like in a workshop). For my money, I'll definitely take commercial over residential in almost every case. It's kind of like buying cheap garbage bags; they may not break, in fact they probably won't, but do you want to risk trash all over your kitchen floor? Now what if you're talking about electricity vs. trash? No contest! Keep up the awesome videos!
Good Analogy Marc, agree that commercial are worth the additional money. Especially if you know certain outlets are going to get more use than others.
I use a red and orange 20 amp outlets in a Home made extension cord that I use just for my power tools just so they hold up for a very long time and don't wear out. Plus I got the outlets for like $.25 each in unused condition and they look cool too. LOL
@@benkeysor7576 Great idea! Nice alternative to power strips if you can put together your own with a good long rugged extension cord.
I sampled a bunch of different receptacles before deciding on a Hubbell commercial model to replace original receptacles in my 1964 house. Most of them were loose or painted over. I liked the high quality feel of the nylon face and how they securely grabbed the plugs with a positive feeling. And they installed easier with large screws and large drywall ears.
Yah don't want the machines keeping someone alive shutting off cuz the retaining system was wore out and some viberations knocked it loose enough to loose power
backwiring on ground should be fricken mandatory!
Handy feature I don't usually get on the outlets I use outside of GFCI.
im wired ground to neutral. what now.
@@uiopuiop3472 i'm just wired! :P
It would probably be a good idea to redo the video as it has a lot of misinformation in it. It would also be helpful to explain the self grounding feature found on both of your receptacles in your video. Also point out the cautionary statement on the back strap of the isolated ground receptacle. You might want to contact a qualified electrician or a local electrical code official for correct information.
Can you please make one that is correct please? I would love to see the proper information
IG is for places where you want the ground to be free from random EMI picked up via the conduit and building structure. AKA Single point grounding. Large buildings can have Earth currents flowing in the grounded structure (I actually ran into a case of Current flowing UP from the Basement of a HIGH rise, and down from the roof equipment that was bonded together (IMHO they should have used insulated cable instead of bare)
As a newcomer, let me say what annoys me about an otherwise good video. And you're not the only one. When someone references a previous video, and points to a place where they intend to add the link, but then never bother to add the link. Even worse, it doesn't appear to be in the description. But you still took the time to add all the annoying little like and subscribe animations. And I'm sorry, I know you're trying to grow your channel, but they really are a turn-off.
So true!!
Agreed, *BUT* what's stopping you from going to his channel page (click on the name), go to the video tab, and click on the video. Easy peasy. This is inconvenient, but not a showstopper.
Isolated ground on Hospital grade.
They're always isolated except for the first "disconnecting means" service panel. What you mean is that the "outlet" has to be wired with a separate grounding conductor in respect to the electrical system. This means it has to have a dedicated ground wire and not be bonded to the electrical box, yet the electrical box must be grounded using a separate bonding means.
@@jamess1787 not "bonded" to the electrical box? A separate ground copper wire (copper, white & black) here in Canada is connected, bonded to the fuse panel, although on a separate bar. Why I don't really get though.
@@truckerdaddy-akajohninqueb4793
Hospital Electrical plugs are supposed to have an isolated ground wire that grounds the receptacle is separate to the electrical box. It probably has something to so with old hospital appliances, and also probably keeps the maintenance man in check. Technically you can use a ground as neutral, but this could potentially kill someone (working on electrics) working on a circuit downstream or connected elsewhere in the immediate vicinity. No one expects current present on metallic housings, and in some cases it would be very difficult to detect (how does one amp clamp in use conduit?). With this in mind having a separate ground protects a worker from another workers stupid mistake.
@@jamess1787 I think you might be making a slight mistake on isolated ground systems. Isolated ground does not mean you are separating neutral and ground wires as that is the point of the equipment grounding conductor. In a normal electrical system you run three wires to the receptacle which are hot, neutral, and ground. The ground should only carry fault currents and not normal load currents, this grounding conductor is also used to ground the metal conduit and junction boxes along the way. This is what an equipment grounding conductor is for. However Isolated ground makes a change to this, there is four wires ran in an isolated ground system A hot, Neutral, safety ground conductor, insulated and isolated ground conductor. The hot and neutral are hooked up the same, however the safety ground is used to connect to the conduit and metal box work as well as any other outlets not marked isolated ground, the outlet ground pin is not connected yet. The outlet ground pin is connected to the IG wire which has insulation around it and runs back to the sub panel where it has a special isolated ground bar that does not contact the subpanel electrically. Then it runs back across another insulated ground wire to the main power distribution panel where it is grounded at the main ground bar.
Isolated ground means there is only receptacle ground pins on the IG conductor, there are no metal boxes or conduit or regular sockets on the IG conductor.
@@2009dudeman that's exactly what I said :D. Thanks dudeman!
These outlets actually have the contacts to make them NEMA 6-15 as well. Its a standard that is not seen much anymore, but I have an old 4kw generator that uses NEMA 6-15 receptacles. I actually really like the 6-15 standard as it allows for 240 V plugs and receptacles that are much smaller than say a typical dryer plug/receptacle.
This is a isolated ground outlet identified by the green triangle. These have to be installed in grounded metal boxes per code or the yoke and cover screw will not be grounded. Since most houses use plastic boxes and romex wiring these could be a safety hazard in some situations.
So I can't use hospital grade outlets in my home?
In Canada, plastic boxes are not code. Better code?
@@briank8482 You can, but you need to use metal boxes and ground the box with a pigtail. No reason to use hospital or isolated ground outlets in a house, though, just use commercial.
@@tomsmith3045 Thank you, sir.
You can certainly use plastic boxes in Canada. But there's no reason to because metal boxes are cheaper up there, and far more common. In the US the plastic ones are cheaper and used almost exclusively for residential. That said, metal boxes are far superior.
The BIG difference that wasn't addressed was the isolated ground on the hospital grade.
Not sure how I ended up on this video but I find it interesting because I didn't know they were supposed to be grippier. It's funny though because even though the outlet is stronger, the mounting isn't (at the hospitals that I've worked at). Some of these outlets grip so hard that when you unplug, you can see the outlet come out the wall a few mm. Also, in LA county in southern CA, hospital emergency outlets are red. I've never seen any green dots mentioned in the comments. Is this a sticker? My role in the hospital requires me to plug my machine into outlets throughout the hospital and we have a tendency to find "broken" outlets that don't charge our machine which is annoying as hell. I wonder if that's an outlet thing or something else.
It is called a computer isolated plug used for computers to isolate the ground
These videos have been awesome man, thanks for taking the time for this. Would you be able to compare different GFCI recepticals as well? And maybe different breaker panel components?
Hey Kevin, Really appreciate the support and recommendation for future videos. I will put the GFCI and breakers on the list as I do plan to integrate these type of videos moving forward into my normal DIY videos. Cheers!
@@EverydayHomeRepairs awesome, you rock dude. Keep up the awesome work. One more sub earned :) these have kind of like a diet Project Farm feel to them, I like it!
The design of the interior contacts on the hospital grade has allowed Leviton to just change the front cover to make a 20 amp receptacle and a 15 or 20 amp 240 volt receptacle as well.
LOL. Maybe I should send him a real hospital grade receptacle. That is not one. They do make isolated ground hospital grade, he is showing a plain isolated ground. An isolated ground hospital grade would have a black triangle and green dot. What he is showing is not for emergency power. By code all emergency power receptacles are RED. He needs to delete this video as it makes him look silly. I worked in a hospital as a maintenance electrician for 42 years up untill I retired recently. Maybe I should make a video and show how tough hospital grade are. The internals are heaver, the casing is tougher, and it is required to periodically check the prong tension with a tool to make sure there is proper tension. You can't beat a Hubbell HBL8300HI and there are different grades of hospital grade between manufactures, they all make a cheaper 6 dollar version. Even Hubbell makes a cheaper version (Bryant) or you could buy an more expensive Hubbell HBL8300HI and never ever have to replace in in your home. You can tell a heavier version by the sides, they are much wider and heavier than the lower cost versions. They get away with selling lower cost versions of hospital grade as long as they meet the minimum requirements.
Opinion from an experienced electrician on receptacles ...
Install spec-grade (commercial), tamper-resistant receptacles in your home. Use GFCI versions where required, and use WR versions outside. All spec-grade receptacles will be marked with the text "spec-grade" somewhere on the yoke.
Never install residential grade receptacles. Every receptacle I have ever replaced due to failure has been one of these.
Don't waste your money on hospital-grade, industrial-grade, or heavy-duty. If you have a machine shop, or something, where you forcefully insert/remove plugs multiple times per day, every day, then maybe install heavy-duty receptacles there. But, I would not bother unless the customer asked for it; those heavy-duty receptacles are designed for factories and such, and I have yet to find a residence where I thought it was needed.
I never install isolated ground (IG) receptacles in a residence. IG requires two ground wires (one insulated) or a properly installed metal conduit infrastructure and an insulated ground. You need to connect the insulated ground to the ground screw, and connect the bare ground wire to the metal junction box. Most houses use plastic junction boxes, don't use conduit, and they are never wired with a "spare" ground. If you install a IG receptacle without the aforementioned requirements, then it is no different than a regular receptacle (maybe worse because it is hard to ground the yoke), and it is a waste of money. Also, IG receptacles, even when properly installed offer little/no value in a residence.
A word on the markings...
Those little symbols on the plug mean something. If there is a triangle there, it signifies the plug has an isolated ground. If you install a IG receptacle, but don't properly wire it, then it will fail inspection due to code violation. Why? because the receptacle says, "hey, I'm IG!", but only you know it is not. In the future, some unsuspecting person might "need" a IG receptacle for whatever, and think it's safe to use that one.
When you install a hospital grade receptacle, that green dot tells everyone that it is installed according to NEC Article 517. But, in your house, it most certainly is not. It requires an insulated ground like IG receptacles, but not an extra ground wire. Unless it's a hospital grade IG receptacle, of course. If you *need* a heavy-duty receptacle, then install a heavy-duty receptacle, and avoid hospital grade.
A little off topic... If you have an old house, you cannot just replace the old 2-prong receptacles with 3-prong receptacles. The 3-prong receptacle tells the world "hey, I have a ground wire here", but it doesn't. There are ways to install a 3-prong receptacle without rewiring the house, but that's beyond the scope of this post.
Tony dropping some knowledge bombs 💣. I think I get the most from posting these videos and having people like yourself share tons of useful information. Appreciate you taking the time and effort to share so much good info. Happy New Year!
@Tony Pombo Beautiful! Care to a word for those asking about putting 20 amp receptacles on 15 amp circuits, and what the insurance *won't* do if you burn your house down from it? Thanks!
As others have stated, this is a designated or isolated ground receptacle. I actually used these when I renovated, to create a special entertainment centre. The theory behind it being , that the separate grounding, can reduce RF noise... I have some stereo vacuum tube equipment, and this was a great feature in the setup.
Appreciate the breakdown of the outlets.
In hospitals, there are basically 4 Branches for circuits to run from.
3 of the Branches are known as Essential Services. They consist of:
1) Life Safety Branch
2) Critical Branch
3) Equipment Branch
The 4th Branch which is not part of the essential service, is the Normal branch.
In a power failure, the Normal Branch goes bye-bye and stays off after the Emergency Generators kick in.
In that same power failure, within 10 seconds maximum, the Generators must fire up and the ATS’s transfer power to the Essential Service Branches.
The code only requires a unique identifying color. The hospital project I was a part of last, all essential service receptacles and switches were colored Red.
All Normal branch receptacles and switches were White.
For the end user (hospital staff and patients) if the building is operating on generator power, any Red receptacle and Light switch will fully function. All equipment that keeps the hospital functioning is on the Essential Equipment Branch and continues to run behind the scenes.
In critical rooms like Operating rooms, there will be a light circuit that has its own battery backup power that turns on instantly when the power drops. It’s sole purpose is to provide lights for that 10 second span of no power while the generators are turning on and the ATS’s transfer over.
If you want to crap your pants, stand next to a large ATS for your first time when it switches over. The sound is intimidating.
I replace these Outlets all the time in a hospital and I will tell you there is no way a residential Outlet could hold up to the plugging and unplugging of carts the way hospital grade outlet can
A few others have mentioned the gauntlet receptacles go through in hospitals. The staff put them to the test.
I agree, the MAJOR difference in a hosp grade is the amount of tension it puts on the plug and the durability to accommodate many plug ins and unplugs.
youll have a real hard time unplugging a hospital grade plug. itll never wear out but youll pull some cords apart!
Great video I see a lot of orange outlets in cash register and server rooms applications my understanding is they have an isolated or dedicated ground running back to the panel? I also recently used some gray outlets for cosmetic affect only to realize they were $5 each.
any thing different on those except the color?
I think you might be right where red is for emergency/backup power and orange indicates isolated ground.
@@EverydayHomeRepairs actually it what the electrical engineer specs out on a job, i have installed many red receptacles indicating they are for critical power in a hospital, like in patients room. They are on UPS/generator power. I also installed orange receptacles without the isolated ground indicating back up power at a warehouse for battery charging station. I also installed white or ivory receptacles with isolated grounds (orange triangle) but not on a back up power. Mostly for computer equipment that are not critical but need the isolated ground. There different types of receptacles and color combinations too. Residential, commercial, industrial, hospital, AFCI, GFCI, TVSS.
@@ForkLiftCertified appreciate the feedback and you sharing your knowledge 👍
AFAIK, orange is always supposed to be isolated ground, backup power is usually red or green. At least, that's what it was when I was building out datacenters 20 years ago....
@@ckm-mkc Traditionally, orange is used for isolated ground and red is commonly used for emergency--but there is no standard, so any color could be used for any application.
I'm currently a student in an electrician trade course. This is more practical information that you're posting than is covered in my $200+ dollar textbook. I will be subscribing and recommending your videos to classmates. Just wanted to say thank you for the content and keep it up, as an aspiring electrician this an amazing resource from a practical perspective.
I'd hate to sound rude, but the orange outlet you're showing is an Isloated Ground Outlet, not an Hospital Grade Outlet.
I worked on medical equipment in the hospitals, I have always used the Hubbel hospital grad plugs,they never wear out also the 3 face screw a half of a turn and the screw was in also the face of the plug was keyed into the lower body. Well worth it.
Another little fact about those "hospital grade" receptacles, they have an isolated ground, the ground terminal is not connected to the yoke like a standard residential grade..
The idea is to have a separate grounding conductor that goes from the receptacle to the ground bar without anything else connected to that ground wire, it eliminates outside "noise".
We used to use them for computer and sensitive electronic equipment.
already mentioned......a million times
Thank you Michael for that clear explanation! I was wondering what they meant until I read your post!
Isolated ground and hospital grade are independent. As mentioned elsewhere, isolated ground receptacles are denoted by the orange triangle, and hospital grade receptacles are denoted by the green dot. All combinations of these features are available.
Correct y’all this is a isolated ground recept. Does share some features with the hospital grade. Certainly don’t want anything in a hospital getting accidentally unplugged :o
In the factory where I work, orange = connected to generator power, powered during utility power shutoff.
Home grade $2.00... Hospital Grade $6.00... Military grade $1,000.00 ($5.00 for the device and $3,995 for the congressman's wallet.
And 10% for the Big Guy.
That is not a hospital grade receptacle. Hospital grade is designated by a green dot. The triangle indicates isolated ground.
The JCHA, Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, publishes standards for electrical hospital safety. When I was performing those tests, earlier in my career, they included tension tests on the hot, neutral, and ground contacts on a semiannual basis. Failure on the tension test required immediate replacement of the outlet. Every outlet and it's related tests were documented.
Interesting, makes sense but I wasn't aware of the set testing schedule / maintenance after the receptacles were installed. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Not sure where you live, but in the US it's JCAHO that does accreditation. I tried to look up JCHA and all I found was "Jersey City Housing Authority."
@@StringerNews1 it was renamed in 1987
that. must .be. hard to test. the tension
@@uiopuiop3472 Techtronics made a tool that measured the tension. One end was shaped like a ground the other like a spade. It was a spring loaded tool with a pointer and a scale. This was 50 years ago so I would expect the tools to have improved significantly by now.
You showed the outlets UPSIDE DOWN. Just look at the embossed stamping by Leviton on the metal and resin parts of the outlets. The ground pin is supposed to be on top.
Hey Gary, I did a whole video on this and currently NEC does not call out receptacle orientation. Lot of different perspectives with the majority preferring ground down. Thx.
quite a curious recommendation from UA-cam but I am glad to know that there is a community dedicated to comparing differences in electrical apparatuses
The orange plug with the triangle on it is not a HOSPITAL grade receptacle it's an isolated ground 15amp receptacle thats Industrial grade, I used the 20amp version throughout my shop with metal boxes grounding them at the box with pigtail in a steel building, They come in 8 different colors. I flipped them ground side up for SAFETY, many people look at my plugs and scratch their heads all I say it's for safety. They are worth the extra money will last 30+ years of daily use. The Hospital versions now, there is 8 colors they come in Orange, Red, Blue, white, Brown, Black, Grey and Bisk the Dots are Green with green triangle, Orange triangle with green dot, Red dot with green dot, and Orange triangle. Have you seen Green receptacles?
Hey Robert, thanks for the feedback. I don't think I have seen green.
Even the outlets are expensive in hospitals
Are they? I personally believe $6 is not a lot for an outlet that's going to last you 15+ years.
Nice video but can you do one with a hospital grade and not an ISO?
The orange/triangle indicates an isolated ground. Isolated grounds are a bad idea because they can cause different potentials in the grounding-plane.
Thanks for the feedback James.
Does anyone knows the difference in plastic they use? Is it like nylon vs polycarbonate? Or just thicker plastic?
I think both are Nylon but the orange did have thicker plastic and just more structure. the cheap $0.50 outlets are usually some type of polycarbonate.
Green triangle ( plus orange color ) means the green terminal connects to the ground socket, but does not have continuity with the yoke / enclosure / conduit. ( isolated ground )
Thanks for the feedback 👍
Red is the color for an emergency powered receptacles in a hospital. also at one time GE hospital grade receptacles used spring steel around the brass contacts to reinforce them . Newer hospital grade receptacles now only last as long as industrial grade ones and do wear out with much use whereas I've seen 40 year old GE receptacles still having as much tension as a new receptacle due to the spring steel reinforcement. Part of my job for the last 40 years was to do an annual receptacle tension testing with a Daniel Woodhead tension tester on ALL of the hospitals receptacles.
Have to look for some of those. Tired of plugs coming loose on my generator. Or just make something to use the twist lock connectors.
Nice, 40 years of frequent use and still maintaining like new hold on plugs is not too bad 👍. Hard to find any components these days that even have a 10 year lifespan.
@@allalphazerobeta8643 here is a link to new old stock on E-BAY The good ones have UL stamped between the blades with a kidney bean shaped indent www.ebay.com/i/283263698799?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=283263698799&targetid=1068323857870&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9007456&poi=&campaignid=10897343893&mkgroupid=114065833424&rlsatarget=aud-412677883135:pla-1068323857870&abcId=9300403&merchantid=119091584&gclid=CjwKCAiA57D_BRAZEiwAZcfCxcXFC5PyYyz2JgNB__qcpi4uaXll9zT3VYLVN6EwjQkjr0dI2NhckBoCzQEQAvD_BwE
Huh? Hey? What? How did I get here? What is this? Where am I? Why is this so interesting?
Hahaha, welcome to the channel 👍
Hospital emergency power outlets are RED not orange. Orange outlets are isolated ground receptacles.
Agree, thanks for the correction.
I'm surprised that no one familiar with Hospital grade hasn't mentioned that they are required by UL544 to have extremely low leakage current
If you want an interesting comparison, look at RV grade outlets. They are just sketchy as hell. They are made to be used as a single unit with the faceplate as part of it. The back is open and once you wire it you just shove it into the wall into a rough cut opening. No box or anything. And for something that is clearly cheap junk, they usually cost $10 or more.
Are those for RV or mobile homes?
@@EverydayHomeRepairs Motorhomes, camper trailers, 5th wheels, park models, and FEMA trailers. Anything that is meant to always be on wheels. They fall outside normal residential wiring codes and use them.
Manufactured homes AKA "Mobile homes" that are meant to be installed and the wheels removed, they have normal residential outlets.
We always used red receptacles to indicate receptacles connected to the backup source power. Nice to see a cut away though.
Yep, that is correct I was wrong in the video and the orange would more accurately represent an isolated ground in addition to the small green triangle which also calls out the isolated ground.
I don't even bother with residential outlets and I CERTAINLY don't use those hateful push-in features. Those are so horrible to get undone reliably and I just can't imagine the contact area on that to be reliable enough. I bough a whole box of commercial power outlets for doing the workshop AND to replace a lot of them in the house, because it's worth having good plugins!
Damn that's cheap as hell. The average outlet here in Switzerland costs about 15$.
This video isn't even covering the residential grade which most people use that is only $0.50 😬
I’m sorry, how? Is there like a 10,000% tax on them or something? These things are just ceramic and metal and plastic.
Maybe there’s a Swiss regulation where they have to be made out of gold or something.
Great info! Just some of my opinion, (so take it for what ya will) I don't recommend using those little animations for liking and subing. Not something you really see on the most successful channels of this type. Again great content just try not to look thirsty for those likes haha.
I would choose a nice high quality European outlet not those weird toy once from the us
Good for you? You don’t live in the US? And?
@@dro3m yeah that's excellent for me and that's why I have proper plugs installed at my home 😂😅 not those shitty once u use in the US but hey ur all a bit strange u don't even use the metric system instead u measure with ur body lmao
"feet" 😂
@@Jonasmonasonas Who hurt you?
I thought the orange ones were to denote the receptacles that that were tied into the back up generator system. Only for use of vital life supporting machines and the like
Hey Buddy, I think Red indicates emergency power and orange is a quick reference to isolated ground. I misspoke in the video and stated that orange indicated backup / emergency power.
@@EverydayHomeRepairs Ahh, my apologies. I commented before i had finished the video. I was mistaken on what the colors meant
In some hospitals the orange one's are connected to the generator. It probably also depends on the building code in a given area or state. Here in my area near Pittsburgh, PA, the hospitals emergency power goes through the orange ones. It may be the newer hospitals use the red one's too.
My plugs won't fit either one, would opt for Schuko. 😛
What am I missing here on the ‘backstabbing’? Is this unsafe? I ask, because I’ve been using it for 30ish years and have never had a single failure. Did I just get lucky or is not a thing? I genuinely need to know if I should stop.
cheaper outlets are notorious for letting the wire back out in backstabbed applications. more or less, it's usually more often the install ala not enough wire stripped for the backstab to get a good bite on the wire, wire bent are sharp angle leads to loosening
There are 2 types of outlets that allow wire insertion from the back: one type has a plate that clamps onto the wire when you tighten your screw; just about every expensive receptacle is built this way. The other type represents the cheapest garbage you can buy: there is nothing but a sharp spring plate that bites into the wire when you "stab" it into the back of the outlet. My house was wired with these and I've literally had them disintegrate in my hand when I pulled them out of the wall. And if someone is running an electric heater at the end of a circuit of these back-stab outlets the current draw will overheat the spring plates to where they no longer grip the wires, and the circuit fails. Some cheap outlets used to give you the option of "backstabbing" or using wire-binding screws. The wire-binding screws are far better. The other thing you may notice with cheap outlets is that over time the internals get loose and sloppy, so your plugs almost fall out.
@@TNickel555 Agreed! The "rising clamp" terminals are *SO* much more secure! Often the back wire teeth are so bad, that 3-4 twists while pulling will fully remove the wire. Kinda scary!
this is an isolated ground receptacle can be used anywhere i use these in commercial where you are using large amount of computers or other devices that are sensitive usually computer related like servers data centers, ect. The little green Triangle on the receptacle identifies it as isolated ground.
Thanks for the feedback Jordan.
Yes but let's clarify for other readers that you must have a true isolated ground system for these to be of any benefit. That means a separate ground wire back top the service or some designated central ground point. And that point must be bonded to the building earth ground and service neutral. Isolated ground systems prevent noise pickup from metallic conduit coupling to the device electronic system ground. Also if you do use IG receptacles without an IG system you would need to tie the ground terminal to the box ground. Otherwise it's floating. I'm not even sure if code allows IG receptacles to be used in non-IG systems.
@@andydelle4509 Isolated ground systems are also something PEs should have left in the 1990s. Modern equipment doesn't care.
@@ironmatic1 Modern computer equipment with switch mode power supplies don't care. But there are still applications where ground loops and noise are a problem. Sensitive measuring equipment in labs. Anyplace analog audio is still used such as in recording studios. Microphones are still low level analog devices which require sensitive analog preamps before being converted to digital audio.
Get the hospital grade in the same color as the rest of the outlets in your house, but with the green dot. Put them in your shop and wherever the wife plugs the vacuum cleaner in on a regular basis...trust me, it'll save you money and aggravation about every 18 months.
Also, make sure they are correctly grounded as the yoke is not grounded.
What makes teem better? Care to explain
@@josegomez6549 Extremely rugged, meant for lots and lots of plug/unplug cycles. You can get them in white and ivory so they match what you likely have. The green dot can be covered over with touch up paint so its not such an eye sore. Hardware stores don't often have them, but any electrical supply house will.
@@tonyc.4528 i would not waste the extra money for hospital grade, commercail is just fine, being doing electrical for over 40 years my house, that i wired 30 years ago has the same commercail devices no problems.
I've enjoyed these videos. It reminds me of when I was a teenager and worked as an electricians helper. Even as a kid with no experience, I thought those "Stab-Loc" connectors were sketchy, but they saved a ton of time, so my boss made us all use them. This was in the 80's. I don't know how much has changed since then.
Thanks for the support Dan 👍
There are different types of backstab connections. Some receptacles have connections that grab the wire when it is pushed into the hole with no other tightening method. Then there is another type where the wire is pushed into the hole but a screw must be tightened down to secure the wire. I wouldn't use the first type but I think the second type is ok.
The IG receptacle internals are also used for 250V 15A and 20A receptacles. That's why the other side has |- slotting options.
Makes sense, thanks for the feedback 👍
go with the cheap one,,,hospital ones are to keep sparking at its lowest due to the oxygen and sensitive equipment use,,,,unless you have supper sensitive equipment use than go with the orange ,,otherwise no big difference from the other,,,,,,,,,
The bottom plugs on those two receptacles are scares and worried, because you ripped their friends faces off and shows their insides. Just look at those faces of sheer terror.
You guys still living in the stoneage. I use space craft grade receptacles.
I don't know how I ended up here.
I’m finding a lot of this channel’s videos contain significant errors, omissions and misinformation pertaining to key details. It doesn’t appear the host adequately researches some of these subjects before presuming to speak on them as an authority...
I feel like a lot of channels do that intentionally to drive people to comments, the more comments the more the algorithm suggests the video
You should do a video on tension testing an outlet. When I was in biomed training we had a special tool that could be plugged into each part of the outlet and pull out slowly. It had to have so much resistance to coming out.
Thanks for the suggestion. I will look around for the tension test tool.
so it looks like the hospital grade is a 20amp plug or its the same internal as a 220 volt and or 20amp. hey you just said it.. good call.
i'm sure they use the same back for 120 20 amp, 220 15 amp and 20 amp
I put a few hospital-grade outlets in my house but they're not the isolated ground they are the common ground hospital-grade with the green. They were about $6 a piece
You buy the outlet that meets your requirements and you can afford.
That's actually an isolated ground receptacle
Agree and thanks for the feedback!
Hard to take advice from someone who doesn’t know what hospital grade looks like!
What’s interesting is some 15amp(I have a 20 amp hospital grade as a reference) do have the pins for a 20 amp plugs that is not in use!
I'm not used to American socket since i'm French, why does the left hole is taller ?
The left hole is taller as it is the neutral slot with the smaller to the right being the hot wire. This helps with ensuring 2-prong plugs are connected in the correct orientation. With that said you will see phone chargers and other devices with the same size neutral and hot prong and this is because they can be plugged in either way as built in electronics can reverse the polarity if needed.
@@EverydayHomeRepairs Thank you !
Recepticals that are on emergency branch would be red in color or have a red cover plate or a combination of both. The green triangle on an orange receptical would indicate an isolated ground, more commonly seen in data centers or labs that use sensitive electronic equipment.
I may actually be the target audience here as someone who just started at an electrical contractor lol
UA-cam knows all 😂
By the way, the orange color and green triangle indicate this is an "Isolated Ground" receptacle meaning that the ground wire is supposed to go directly to the main panel without any connection to any other device.
One recommendation, between all the 15a receptacles is to do a test on what the max amperage they can handle before melting down. Ie like the residence ones may fail at 24a commercial 30a and hospital fail at 40a type of test. That may sound like a not real world test but i have seen where where “non electricians” incorectly put larger fuses or breakers on the circuit. Also seen was two breakers of same phase hook to loop allowing a 20a circuit to have 40a. One neat feature of some hospital grade products is transparent plastic. Allows for inspection without disassembly. Thanks for the great videos.
I like the idea. I used to do validation testing on construction equipment so this would be right up my alley. Thanks for the feedback!
I'll see you in 5 years when this video gets recommended to you again
It’s been 5 years
The orange is isolated ground. Green triangle. Measure your ground screw to the mounting yoke. Hospital is green dot much better contact on hospitals grade.
I may replace just my bedroom plug with hospital grade, because I cracked the face from trying to plug in the dark and the cable pulling in different directions
It is up to you but I bet a commercial grade would also work well.
The video is misleading. The main reason of this orange outlet is that the ground pin is isolated from the back plate and housing to be connected to real indeoent grounding. This for interference and its use for sensitive equipment like medical gear yes but also communication gears, computers etc. One ground for the outlet and security and a real direct ground for the round pin. Check it out on a multimeter, they are not the same on an orange outlet!
At Mom, & Pop hardware stores, I've seen receptacles selling for 39 cents each. Made in Mexico.
I'm not sure this comment is going to help your explain of Hospital vs Commercial.
I am not a licensed electrician. I did work in a hospital setting for 38 years in a IT role. To my point,
"RED" receptacles in a hospital setting (my hospital) meant it was emergency power (EP).
On the hospital floor only the RED receptacles are coming up (staying up) if utility power has dropped.
I don't know if the non-RED receptacles were "$6". They look like $2 commercial receptacles.
And yes, from an IT perspective we knew where our equipment was plugged in. Every Tuesday at 5:30AM the hospital would do a "genset test".
Yep, all EP powered receptacles were going to "bounce" when the genset was cut over. For the next 15 minutes the EP receptacles were going to be on "soft power".
The hospital grade outlet shown is an "Isolated ground" type where the ground terminals are separate from the yoke.
Metric.. I already love your channel.
😂
The big difference in all the different grades basically comes down to physical durability. I've always used the cheap sockets for semi-permanent locations like refrigerators - something that is going to be plugged in and not messed with. Most other locations are worth the upgrade.
Yeah, I agree frequency of plugging in and out is a big consideration for whether to upgrade or not.
I would not use the inexpensive residential grade receptacles for any appliance that has a high current draw such as an air conditioner or refrigerator or in any location where equipment is frequently plugged in and unplugged. The commercial grade receptacles have better quality contacts which can take abuse and still last a long time.
I wonder if a better quality receptacle helps improve appliance durability.
@@Lughnerson Not as long as the outlet is in good condition. Outlets that don't grip the plug tightly aren't going to have good electrical contact, either. That can cause voltage spikes and overheating of both the plug and the appliance.
Orange is isolated ground. Backup power outlets are red.
Thanks for the feedback and corrections 👍
UL 498 Standard for Safety Attachment Plugs and Receptacles, is the standard for the testing criteria of receptacles and how manufactures built them. Hospital grade for example must hold the plug when a 10lbs weight is dropped 24 inches (yank test) 8 times. After 20 insertions the ground pin must retain 4 oz when inverted (Ground Pin test). After 20 insertions the hot blade shall support 1.5 lbs for 1.5 minutes (Power blade retention test). There is more to it than described but you get the point that there are very specific testing criteria to be rated as hospital grade.