NEMA Outlet Orientation Question

[Gordon87]

I just picked up my LR AWD last Wednesday. The electrician is putting in my NEMA outlet today. He put the outlet so the small round plug is on the bottom. I looked at the Tesl cord which plugs into the outlet and into the Tesla charger. With this orientation, the plug will put the Tesla charger above the outlet. On the one hand, that will reduce the strain of the Tesla charger pulling away from the cord connecting it to the outlet, but on the other hand, it will cause the Tesla charger and cord to the car to bend down rather than just hanging down from the outlet.

See the picture.

Is this an issue I should be concerned about? Am I thinking to hard about this?

 

[twistedskipper]

This seems like a problem to me. Your electrician installed the outlet upside-down, and it will be at best awkward with the Tesla Mobile Connector, and will in any case cause unnecessary strain on it. I'd get the electrician to fix it.

 

[Rocky_H]

That's why the install document from Tesla does say that the ground pin should be on top.
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default.../NEMA_14-50_installation_guide_NA_US_2017.pdf

As to whether it's something to be concerned about? That depends on how you handle it. I certainly wouldn't leave it that way and use it with gravity pulling the thing over in a bend. But some people have ended up with outlets like that and just put some kind of hook in the wall above it to support the charging box and cable so it's not being pulled down like that.

Or, you could shut off the breaker, pull the outlet, and get the outlet turned over the right way. Be careful if you're doing that, though. If you just twist it, with the wires still connected, that can potentially pull one or more of the wires loose. So it's sometimes better to unscrew them and make sure you can get them all straight with the outlet in the right orientation and re-attach them all very securely.

 

[Enginerd]

I believe that outlets have the (round) grounding conductor on top so that if the plug pulls out a little bit under load, and something fell on the exposed conductor, there wouldn't be an electrocution risk. I'd bet that it has to be installed properly per code. The electrician should be willing and/or obligated to fix it.

 

[Gordon87]

Thank you all. I asked that the outlet be flipped, so the ground pin is on top as Tesla suggests.