We do have ground fault circuit interrupt (GFCI) outlets, which are required when a socket is within a certain distance of a water source but can be installed on all outlets if you want. They have a little breaker inside that trips automatically if it detects a problematic difference in current flow.
They’re not on/off switches but you could press the “test” button on the outlet to break the circuit.
I’ve also seen some whole outlets that are switched on/off from a light switch elsewhere in the room. Those are super annoying because there’s no required indication that they work that way so you get to find out for yourself.
In my little Eastern European shithole, GFCI relays are required for any apartment or house, installed to the incoming power main. Is that not a thing over there?
Beginning with underwater swimming pool lights (1968) successive editions of the code have expanded the areas where GFCIs are required to include: construction sites (1974), bathrooms and outdoor areas (1975), garages (1978), areas near hot tubs or spas (1981), hotel bathrooms (1984), kitchen counter sockets (1987), crawl spaces and unfinished basements (1990), near wet bar sinks (1993), near laundry sinks (2005)[26], in laundry rooms (2014)[27] and in kitchens (2023)
american electrical code has so much of weird shit that would be illegal out there, it’s dazzling. you can’t get three-phase power as a regular customer, but you can as an industrial, but only as 480V interphase. there are like 7 different mains voltages available. it would be illegal in europe to come up with something like “high-leg delta” but it’s a thing out there
Sometimes we have specific plugs that are wired to a wall switch that can be used to turn those specific outlets on and off. All the examples I know of are for standing lamps, so they can be turned on an off like ceiling lights.
I’ve only seen this a few times, including my current house.
It’s been code for a long time that every room must have a switched lighting source, and before recessed lights became more common or if the original builder didn’t put a ceiling light or wall sconce, you’d have a switched outlet for a lamp. Typically it’s only half of one outlet though, unless your house was wired by a crackhead like mine.
Only half of one outlet? That sounds super frustrating. I think it would take me a while to discover that the random light switch that doesn’t do anything is related to the power point where only one side charges my phone.
Yeah, it makes sense from a functional standpoint, being that often you’ll only want to switch on lamp, while having full constant functionality of the other plug.
You basically break that tab between the two screws, then wire the constant power to one, and the switch leg to the other.
But yeah, it’s not always consistent where that outlet is located within a room. Like I have the tools to figure it out pretty quick, but you basically just have to take a lamp and plug it into each outlet with the switch off until you find it.
Yeah, I like the idea of being able to switch floor lamps and what not from the doorway. No-one likes the big light, right?
Not sure if I like it enough to implement it in my dream home though. Possibly with some kind of different shaped plug, or a colour code that matches the switch?
Not having a switched light source makes some sense as most of the rooms in my house had ceiling fans without lights installed, which we switched to fans with lights. There was an extra switch for the light in the ceiling fan that didn’t do anything until we put it in. The switches did go to the lower plug on a couple of outlets, which was fun to figure out since we hadn’t come across it before!
We also have one switch that goes to an outlet about eight foot up on a wall that I assume was for some decoration to make it easier to turn on and off.
You, ceiling fan outlets count for that requirement, though it’s entertaining when people install a fan without a light and wonder why their switch doesn’t control a light lol. Any time I install a ceiling fan outlet, we always run a 3(+ground) wire cable, two switched power legs, for independent control of lights and fan.
I am so glad they wired it for a potential future light separate from the fan!
They sure skimped on a bunch of other stuff though, like a couple bathroom lights don’t have proper mounting boxes because they didn’t put a 2x4 in the right place and are just mounted to the drywall.
Yeah that happens sometimes, although there is a possibility that a previous owner added a switch after the fact, and had to install a larger box. Some guys will screw a nail-on box to the original mounting stud, but it’s just as easy to add an old work box (the ones with the mounting wings) and call it a day.
Americans don’t have this???
We do have ground fault circuit interrupt (GFCI) outlets, which are required when a socket is within a certain distance of a water source but can be installed on all outlets if you want. They have a little breaker inside that trips automatically if it detects a problematic difference in current flow.
They’re not on/off switches but you could press the “test” button on the outlet to break the circuit.
I’ve also seen some whole outlets that are switched on/off from a light switch elsewhere in the room. Those are super annoying because there’s no required indication that they work that way so you get to find out for yourself.
In my little Eastern European shithole, GFCI relays are required for any apartment or house, installed to the incoming power main. Is that not a thing over there?
wikipedia says that not for a long time:
american electrical code has so much of weird shit that would be illegal out there, it’s dazzling. you can’t get three-phase power as a regular customer, but you can as an industrial, but only as 480V interphase. there are like 7 different mains voltages available. it would be illegal in europe to come up with something like “high-leg delta” but it’s a thing out there
You can install GFCI breakers, but it’s not code to require them for every circuit.
Not just Americans. You won’t even commonly see them in mainland Europe
most places don’t. it’s a very british empire thing.
Not that I have ever seen.
We just don’t unplug anything ever. We usually have an room that’s on a wall switch near the lights.
Nope. We’re also on 120v so that could be part of it.
Sometimes we have specific plugs that are wired to a wall switch that can be used to turn those specific outlets on and off. All the examples I know of are for standing lamps, so they can be turned on an off like ceiling lights.
I’ve only seen this a few times, including my current house.
It’s been code for a long time that every room must have a switched lighting source, and before recessed lights became more common or if the original builder didn’t put a ceiling light or wall sconce, you’d have a switched outlet for a lamp. Typically it’s only half of one outlet though, unless your house was wired by a crackhead like mine.
Only half of one outlet? That sounds super frustrating. I think it would take me a while to discover that the random light switch that doesn’t do anything is related to the power point where only one side charges my phone.
Yeah, it makes sense from a functional standpoint, being that often you’ll only want to switch on lamp, while having full constant functionality of the other plug.
But yeah, it’s not always consistent where that outlet is located within a room. Like I have the tools to figure it out pretty quick, but you basically just have to take a lamp and plug it into each outlet with the switch off until you find it.
Yeah, I like the idea of being able to switch floor lamps and what not from the doorway. No-one likes the big light, right?
Not sure if I like it enough to implement it in my dream home though. Possibly with some kind of different shaped plug, or a colour code that matches the switch?
My plan for when we build is to run flex conduit for everything, so that if a want to add or move a switched outlet, the option is there.
Not having a switched light source makes some sense as most of the rooms in my house had ceiling fans without lights installed, which we switched to fans with lights. There was an extra switch for the light in the ceiling fan that didn’t do anything until we put it in. The switches did go to the lower plug on a couple of outlets, which was fun to figure out since we hadn’t come across it before!
We also have one switch that goes to an outlet about eight foot up on a wall that I assume was for some decoration to make it easier to turn on and off.
You, ceiling fan outlets count for that requirement, though it’s entertaining when people install a fan without a light and wonder why their switch doesn’t control a light lol. Any time I install a ceiling fan outlet, we always run a 3(+ground) wire cable, two switched power legs, for independent control of lights and fan.
I am so glad they wired it for a potential future light separate from the fan!
They sure skimped on a bunch of other stuff though, like a couple bathroom lights don’t have proper mounting boxes because they didn’t put a 2x4 in the right place and are just mounted to the drywall.
Yeah that happens sometimes, although there is a possibility that a previous owner added a switch after the fact, and had to install a larger box. Some guys will screw a nail-on box to the original mounting stud, but it’s just as easy to add an old work box (the ones with the mounting wings) and call it a day.