Electrical Outlets and their abuse.
Are you abusing your receptacles? I have in the past, we take so much for granted. Everyone has done this without even thinking. Home Inspectors (most of them) check a random sampling of outlets throughout the home for a few things like polarity (is the hot on the correct side), a positive ground (is the outlet grounded), and lastly (but not all) tension.
Okay, everyone say tension as a question, very good. As an outlet gets older (or with a lot of use) the contacts inside the outlet wear and lose some of the ability to hold the plug in place. So, if your plugs are falling out of your receptacles then the outlet has lost its' tension. These should be called out by your HI as issues that need to be addressed by a qualified electrician. Unfortunately, the only way to put the tension back in you outlet is to replace it with a new one, in this case it is okay to pay for more tension.
Now for the big question, Why? Not because it is a pain in the neck to get up from the couch and put these plugs back in the "tensionless" outlets. It is because there is a possibility of a spark and fire as the plug slowly vibrates out of the wall. I'm sure you've seen those annoying black marks on the outlets. That is evidence that you have had a spark many times due to the condition described above.
Call an electrician and have him replace these old "tensionless" outlets. Then thank your HI for calling the issue to your attention.
Jack Gilleland
Clayton, Ohio
Other Blogs in this series
1) The Reason Things Are Done This Way
2) The Reason Things Are Done This Way II
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