Blocked Ground Pin hole in three slot receptacle

[Erby]

A four year old house had several of the ground pin holes blocked in the outlets by a couple of little brass pieces. I couldn't plug a three prong tester into them.

Looked like it was designed that way but for the life of me, I can't figure out why?

Anyone seen this before.

[MOB]

Do you have a picture? I have seen ground prongs broken off in the outlets before, blocking the opening. Never more than one though.

[Erby]

When I first looked at it, it looked like just like the ground pin from my test had broken off, kind of an upside down U but smooth finished metal, not a jagged surface like a broken pin.

By the time I saw the third one, I started wondering.

Several is probably 10 or 15 of them. That's a lot of broken ground pins.

My macro didn't work well and the picture overexposed. Doesn't show much of anything.

[Mr. Electric]

I have been doing this (electrician) for over 30 years and have never seen or heard of anything like that. Someone did it for some reason after the outlets were installed. There is no reason to block a ground pin hole.

[Mark P]

If the outlet is ungrounded then you should not have a 3 prong outlet. Instead of replacing the 3 prong outlets with 2 prong they filled in the hole. However, that does not make sense in a 4 year old house.

[gtblum]

I ran into these twice this week. They look like they were split, but never pressed open....?

I pushed my luck a couple of times and got the ground to go. Most of them wouldn't budge.

The one in the pic is from today. Most had two tabs, with a split in the middle.

The house is nine.

Click to Enlarge

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[Erby]

Yup, that's the one. You can see the right brass piece in your photo, but not the left.

Huh?

[Ben H]

WAG - Some form of a "locking" plug that holds "tightly"?

[Marc]

Thread shift...what does that acronym 'WAG' mean? I've learned most of them without ever being in the military or govt and pride myself on that but this is one of the few that has me stumped.

Marc

[Chris Bernhardt]

WAG - Wild Ass Guess

Chris, Oregon

[asalomark]

Did you ever find an answer to the blocked ground pin? I just purchased an 1980 house in which the top three slot receptacle is normal and the bottom three slot receptacle has blocked ground pins. This is true of all the outlets throughout the house. So basically all I can use are the top outlets. Very strange.

Thought I'd find an answer to this online, but your post to this forum is all I've found so far.

[Marc]

Did you ever find an answer to the blocked ground pin? I just purchased an 1980 house in which the top three slot receptacle is normal and the bottom three slot receptacle has blocked ground pins. This is true of all the outlets throughout the house. So basically all I can use are the top outlets. Very strange.

Thought I'd find an answer to this online, but your post to this forum is all I've found so far.

My guess is that some kid plugged up all those lower grounds to amuse himself.

Kids do strange things.

Marc

[ericwlewis]

Google it!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_211057-334-TR27 ... ct_price|0

[Nolan Kienitz]

I might have missed something along the way (not hard - BTW) in that all the TR receptacles I've seen have always had the shutters on the blades not in the ground pin. [?]

[Tom Raymond]

Did you ever find an answer to the blocked ground pin? I just purchased an 1980 house in which the top three slot receptacle is normal and the bottom three slot receptacle has blocked ground pins. This is true of all the outlets throughout the house. So basically all I can use are the top outlets. Very strange.

Thought I'd find an answer to this online, but your post to this forum is all I've found so far.

You have an opportunity to enlighten us all. Remove a receptacle, look on the back to find the manufacturer and the model info, and call them up and ask.

Let us know what you find out.

[John Kogel]

Google it!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_211057-334-TR27 ... ct_price|0

Thanks Eric. Cooper tamper-resistant receptacle. Helps prevents foreign objects from being inserted into outlet

The plug prevents people from inserting foreign objects, like a 3-prong circuit tester. They are just trying to keep us all safe. []

[Jim Katen]

Google it!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_211057-334-TR27 ... ct_price|0

Thanks Eric. Cooper tamper-resistant receptacle. Helps prevents foreign objects from being inserted into outlet

The plug prevents people from inserting foreign objects, like a 3-prong circuit tester. They are just trying to keep us all safe. []

TR receptacles have been required in all new construction here for the last few years. They don't have anything covering the ground slot.

[ericwlewis]

I have yet to see the style in question either installed or on the shelf but have seen the type that protect the slots.

[hausdok]

Google it!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_211057-334-TR27 ... ct_price|0

Thanks Eric. Cooper tamper-resistant receptacle. Helps prevents foreign objects from being inserted into outlet

The plug prevents people from inserting foreign objects, like a 3-prong circuit tester. They are just trying to keep us all safe. []

TR receptacles have been required in all new construction here for the last few years. They don't have anything covering the ground slot.

Same here. After a while one develops a knack of wiggling the tester just right to get the TR device to allow the tester to go in.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!!

Mike