reverse polarity in receptacles

[mshields]

What is the risk associated with improperly wiring a receptacle such that the hot goes to the long slot and the neutral to the shorter slot?

I thought it had to do with electronics being sensitive to the direction of current flow. But is there a fire hazard associated with this?

thanks,

Mike

 

[bkludecke]

The obvious thing that comes to mind is a portable lamp which has a screwshell lampholder where the "hot" is switched and goes to the bottom contact and the neutral goes to the screwshell; this would be opposite and hazardous if the polarity were reversed. Any appliance with a switch that switches the ungrounded conductor would present this type of hazard.

 

[LarryFine]

Some electronics use bypass capacitors that shunt high-frequency noise to ground, but if the device only has a 2-wire power cord, they will use the grounded conductor.

While the current should be low enough to not present a shock hazard, the interference reduction will likely be ineffective, or maybe even introduce additional noise.

 

[charlie b]

With the switch of any appliance in the OFF position, there will be full voltage across that switch. If that switch is properly located in the hot leg of the appliance, there will be no driving force to shock a person who touches something inside the appliance. If you reverse the wires at the receptacle, then the switch becomes effectively located in the neutral leg. That means that all circuit components internal to the appliance will be energized, and a person touching them would receive a shock.

So my answer is that there is no bad thing about reversing the polarity at the receptacle, so long as nobody opens up an appliance that is still plugged in. But people are not always the smartest members of the animal kingdom.

Think of a person knocking a lamp off the nightstand, and shattering the bulb. He knew that the lamp was on at the time. So he turns the switch off (unplugging the lamp is too inconvenient, as the plug is out of reach - behind the headboard). He then grabs the shattered remains of the bulb, and gets a rude awakening. I think this is the essential risk, the essential answer to your question.

 

[rattus]

The probability of receiving a shock is greatly reduced by the fact that our bodies are usually not grounded. For decades, appliances used non polarized plugs, and many are still around. Now if you are barefoot on a conductive floor, that is a different matter.

 

[sparky59]

In a lot of older homes (80yrs.) that i have saw. They didn't care about polarity. A lot of the light switches were switched through the grounded conductor.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

In a lot of older homes (80yrs.) that i have saw. They didn't care about polarity. A lot of the light switches were switched through the grounded conductor.

Switching the neutral was common practice years ago in NYC. It is not the same as reverse polarity but IMO it is more dangerous.