Author	[Modern View]
JayinNY 09-17-2012 17:49:31 166.137.88.162 Report to Moderator	Can anyone tell me why electric tools, lights ect have a wider slot on one side of the plug than the other? You can only plug them in one way. I take my angle grinder and grind it the same as the other side. What the he'll is the point of that, it works either way? Just a rant I guess...... Lol :) [Reply]   [No Email]
barnE 09-18-2012 17:34:31 67.172.83.183 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Don't forget the GFCI. Ten bucks may save your life or someone in your family. All other posts also are great. If you ever see someone on their back with smoke coming out of mouth and nose, you sure will remember. Dave [Reply]  [No Email]
36 coupe 09-19-2012 03:02:23 66.186.169.176 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to barnE, 09-18-2012 17:34:31   A lightning strike on the power line will destroy a GFI.I have found many that failed to test on construction sites.Almost got it from a drill in a wet cellar.Clown used cardboard for insulation around the switch.GFI didnt trip.Open up a bad one and count the parts that could fail. [Reply]  [No Email]
PJH 09-18-2012 07:48:59 50.44.249.120 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Jay - I'll bet that the receptical that you're plugging into is an ancient one that is not configured for the modern plugs. If that's the case, it would be easier to change that outdated receptical than it would be to grind off the wide prongs on all of your tools, etc. And that's not even considering the safety issue of reversed polarity. Paul [Reply]  [No Email]
Mike (WA) 09-18-2012 08:32:41 69.10.199.107 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to PJH, 09-18-2012 07:48:59   Changing out old receptacles can turn into a real nightmare- wire is old and brittle, many times will break off and be too short to hook up a new receptacle. And forget about just poking the wire into the little holes in the back of the modern receptacles- they used BIG wire back in the day. Better might be to get a plug adapter with big and little slots, and grind its plug side down if you must, so you don't have to grind off the tool's plug and tool will still be properly protected when used with modern receptacles. [Reply]  [No Email]
36 coupe 09-18-2012 14:24:52 66.186.169.176 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to Mike (WA), 09-18-2012 08:32:41   They used # 14 wire.Its still used on light switch lines. [Reply]  [No Email]
Ultradog MN 09-18-2012 06:26:43 174.20.247.199 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   You should ask forum member Nebraska Cowman this question. I'm sure he could give you an answer. [Reply]  [No Email]
David G 09-18-2012 06:01:33 205.215.206.18 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   The plug will be polarized if there is a shock hazard plugging it in backwards. That is a BAD idea grinding them off. [Reply]  [No Email]
John T PS 09-18-2012 04:55:44 216.249.82.117 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   I saw perhaps some confusion below, a switch or circuit breaker etc. is supposed to break open the HOT wire NOTTTTTTTTTTTT the Neutral (A GrounDED Conductor). The Hot wire has a potential of 120 VAC with respect to the Neutral and the Neutral is tied to good old mother earth at the transformer and again at the main panel. The Neutral is NOT supposed to be broke open by switches or breakers etc., ONLY the HOT. When switching 240 volt appliances usually BOTH hot wires (240 VAC between them) are opened by a switch even though the device doesnt work if only one were opened..... Hope this helps John T [Reply]  [No Email]
36 coupe 09-18-2012 05:06:24 66.186.169.176 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to John T PS, 09-18-2012 04:55:44   Plenty of electric stoves disconnect only one side of the oven element. [Reply]  [No Email]
John T 09-18-2012 05:19:56 216.249.82.117 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to 36 coupe, 09-18-2012 05:06:24   Yep they sure do and older stoves only used 2 hots and a ground even though they had some 120 on board THATS A NO NO TODAY HOWEVER Fun Chat John T [Reply]  [No Email]
Greenday 09-18-2012 04:51:07 204.185.166.22 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   you'll find out when you get a shock some day! lol [Reply]  [No Email]
John T 09-18-2012 04:37:21 216.249.82.117 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   As posted polarized plugs (Neutral and Hot only go to their respective slots) are a safety feature. The Neutral is a GrounDED conductor which has a tie to good old mother earth back at the main panel while the Hot has a potential above Neutral and a body shouldnt get between those two potentials !!!!!!!!!!! That can ruin your day and/or cause you to wake up dead!!!!!! Years ago they made "hot chassis" AC powered radios and the hot wire could be attached to the radios metal case depending on which direction the plug was inserted into the outlet OUCH but many modern electric tools dont have a conductive outer case to prevent shock hazards. Most construction sites also use GFCI protected outlets to further increase safety. John T [Reply]  [No Email]
36 coupe 09-18-2012 04:32:14 66.186.169.176 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Cuts your chance of getting shocked by 50% on older metal tools.You goofed grinding that prong.I have had a few tools that shocked the user.One drill was on a GFI that failed to trip.The metal gear box on your grinder could conduct electricity from a shorted armature to your hand.An altered cord on a contract job can bring a fat fine from OSHA.Now you know. [Reply]  [No Email]
oliver power 09-18-2012 04:15:44 65.37.31.179 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Just yesterday, we pulled into a job site. Employee plugged our roll former machine into the house recepticle. He touched the machine, jumped back, and yelled "I Just Got Jolted". The trailer, and everything in it was HOT. Simple plug in tester showed wires to be crossed. All this time, employee thought plug in tester was only for checking to see if we had power. Now he knows why it has 3 little lights, and symbols on it. Front porch recepticle tested OK. That's where we pulled power from. [Reply]  [No Email]
Stephen Newell 09-18-2012 03:54:14 66.53.80.164 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Back in the old days when a manufacturer took pride in their product the polarized plugs weren't so necessary. Do you really want to chance reversing the polarity of a Chinese appliance? The plug protects you when the junk malfunctions. [Reply]  [No Email]
MarkB_MI 09-18-2012 03:24:01 75.202.62.172 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Power tools are required to have either three-prong plugs or to be "double-insulated". I'm pretty sure that the insulation on a double-insulated tool works best if the power polarity is correct. It will still protect you from shock if you plug it into a receptacle with reversed polarity, it just won't protect you as well. [Reply]  [No Email]
old 09-17-2012 21:34:05 209.86.226.40 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   2 or 3 prong?? If 2 that is so in theory you have the correct side of the tool to ground or should I say neutral that way in theory you have the hot side where it should be and the neutral side where it should be if the building is wired the correct way that is [Reply]  [No Email]
PJH 09-17-2012 21:01:31 50.44.238.244 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Years ago - before I quit fooling with electric instruments, I learned the hard way about polorized recepticles. You could be standing in wet grass, playing guitar for a night party, and that darn amplifier would shock the socks off of you. Pull the plug, flip it over, and your troubles were over. [Reply]  [No Email]
Tony in Mass. 09-17-2012 19:13:20 76.127.224.161 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   I'd like to try to explain the way it was explained to me years ago, having to do with the brass and silver screws on the side of the boxes, but then, last week I was called a liar and fool for saying I started a tractor in a way that these Einstiens and Edisons say can't be done. So I will have to let you wait until an electrical genius shows up to explain it all properly ... but in a nutshell, the 'truth' about the hardware in your house has changed atleast 4 times since the 1880's, and these plugs are the way to keep you safe in the latest version of scientific truth... [Reply]  [No Email]
paul 09-17-2012 19:51:19 66.44.133.112 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to Tony in Mass., 09-17-2012 19:13:20   Missed that conversation, guess it would be poor of me to ask you to repeat an engine stating story that got you yelled at the 1st time. :) The nuetral wire is dead when the power switch is off. The hot wire is hot even with the switch off. It's a while lot better for as little of the device to be powered by the hot wire as possible, so they came up with the polarized plug to try to make it so. Now some fella comes along and grinds off the fatter spade and defeats the point of all that fancy wiring..... Might as well use the ground wire interchangably for a neutral wire too..... ;) Hey, as long as it works, it must be right..... I'm sure the 2 good electricians here agree with me??????? (All meant in lightheartedness. 1. It would be best if you don't grind off the fat blade - it is a safety feature that keeps you a tad safer by keeping less live power around your hands. 2. Of course neutral and ground wires should be kept seperate & isolated - they serve different purposes and you defeat the point of the ground wire if you bond them more than once. 3. It's real easy to make electricity work; it's real hard to make it work well and safely with backup safety built in when folks keep trying to defeat the safety stuff for some reason. Why does the fat blade bother a person?) --->Paul [Reply]  [No Email]
Walt Davies 09-17-2012 19:10:28 70.199.130.173 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   I have a collection of very old electric waffle irons you better know what you are doing with then plug one in wrong and the whole outside case is hot. I for one am glad to have polarized plugs. Walt [Reply]  [No Email]
Phlash in OK 09-17-2012 19:03:47 174.241.1.26 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   On older tools,elect skillets' toasters, etc one can get severe elec shock if the plug is reveresed. It happened to me years ago with a 1/2 in drill. It happened to my wife when she was standing in damp grass and had her hand on a travel trailer. In both of these cases the polarity was reversed and what should have been ground was hot. Yes there is a reason one side is wider. [Reply]  [No Email]
NCWayne 09-17-2012 19:02:14 69.40.232.132 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   If you have ever opened up one of those tools you'd see that the first reply to your post by JR Sutton is correct. With the three prong plugs they would only go in one way, unless you broke off the ground prong. When tools had alot of exposed, or solid metal cases, they had to have a true grounded plug to be safe. When they went to plastic cases, the chance of getting zapped by stray current in the tools metal casing was gone, but they still needed a way to insure the hot wire was broken. By polorizing the plug it assures that when a two prong plug is inserted into the outlet that it too goes in the right way. Properly inserted the switch on the tool actually breakes the positive wire to the tool, as it should, and not the neutral. If something bad were to happen, and the plug was in backwards, the tool would still be electrically 'hot'. As has been discussed on here ad infinitium over the years, you can still complete a 120 volt circuit between a positive wire and pretty much any ground, and by doing so, potentially make you the path the current choses to get there. Governmental involvment or not, some things are safe, and some aren't. While plugging one in either way might be just fine 99.9999999999% of the time, that .0000000001% of the time it's not could very well kill you. [Reply]  [No Email]
Dalet 09-17-2012 18:21:48 184.94.141.146 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: so is this just newer tools? in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Yea. I usually test my recent wiring by jamming a bread knife in the smaller plug. If I get shocked, I will have to switch the wires around on that outlet... ;) This post was edited by Dalet at 18:22:20 09/17/12. [Reply]  [No Email]
JayinNY 09-17-2012 18:00:37 166.137.88.162 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: so is this just newer tools? in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   I have older outlets and tools that aren't like that! Must be newer things I guess. [Reply]  [No Email]
Janicholson 09-17-2012 17:57:10 96.24.99.126 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Outlets are polarized in relation to neutral and Hot. The tools are probably designed with insulation that is good either way, but the manufacturers comply with UL plug regulations. Lamps and other fixtures with removable electrical components need to be manufactured (or repaired) so that the exposed (base threads) are neutral. Jim [Reply]  [No Email]
RayP(MI) 09-17-2012 17:56:24 207.241.137.116 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   They are designed that way so they will only go in one way - that way, the white/black conductors go all the way to the tool. You are aware that the white wire is supposed to be ground potential? [Reply]  [No Email]
Jon Hagen 09-17-2012 21:00:50 69.26.17.61 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to RayP(MI), 09-17-2012 17:56:24   I learned a little ditty years ago to help me wire things . White ( white nuetral wire) and the WIDE blade / slot go together to keep the wiring correct / safe. [Reply]  [No Email]
Retired Farmer 09-17-2012 17:56:21 207.200.116.74 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   Keeps the positive and negative electricity going in the right direction so you don't get electrocuted. Just more government bull. [Reply]  [No Email]
36 coupe 09-18-2012 04:58:03 66.186.169.176 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to Retired Farmer, 09-17-2012 17:56:21   Strange statement.Polarity changes 60 times per second on ac.Grounding one side of the AC line cuts the chance of shock by 50%. [Reply]  [No Email]
pete black 09-17-2012 17:56:21 166.147.120.19 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   google polarized plugs [Reply]  [No Email]
JRSutton 09-17-2012 17:56:16 75.130.109.233 Report to Moderator	Re: Ot: electric tool plugs. in reply to JayinNY, 09-17-2012 17:49:31   It's an important safety feature. One side is the HOT wire - the smaller of the two. Anything with a power switch in it needs to cut the power on the hot side - otherwise the tool would remain energized in a more dangerous way when it's off. It would still shut off - but the motor would still be "hot" or live. Of course -this assumes the plug was installed correctly. [Reply]  [No Email]