r/CrappyDesign • u/JakksonK • 6d ago
These switches are still confusing even after labelling them and living here for 4 years.
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u/ReubenTrinidad619 6d ago
Does the seemingly nothing one control an outlet? I like those.
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u/hobosbindle 6d ago
I have one I only recently discovered was the top half of an outlet. Bottom plug is normal. Mystery switch solved!
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u/ReubenTrinidad619 6d ago
This is something Iāve discovered too! Kind of handy.
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u/Naxster64 6d ago
Typically, if you find an outlet that is installed upside down, that one is tied to a switch. (ground/circle hole on top)
Another fun fact, the "upside down" orientation I mentioned above is actually right side up, and all the other outlets in your house are upside down. But we have a tendency to see faces in objects, and because of that the norm is to install them upside down.
In most hospitals you'll see them installed properly (ground pin up) for safety / more stringent inspection policies.
This applies to US outlets, in case that wasn't obvious.
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u/ValityS 5d ago
For all the outlets I've bought and installed the embossed text on the outlet with safety info etc is always the correct way up with the ground pins at the bottom. Im surprised this is the case given what you said.Ā
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u/Naxster64 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's so the ground pin is the first thing touched if a thin piece of metal were to accidentally slide down between the plug and outlet. But it's such a fringe scenario, I don't think it ever actually became code anywhere. But every hospital I've been to has them installed ground pin up.
Edit: Here's what Google search has to say about it:
While there's no strict rule in the National Electrical Code (NEC) dictating whether the ground pin should be up or down, ground pin up is generally preferred for safety reasons, especially in situations where something might fall onto a partially plugged-in device. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Here's a breakdown of the considerations:
Arguments for Ground Pin Up: [1, 2, 3, 6]
Safety: If a metal object falls on a partially plugged-in device, the ground pin is less likely to be a direct path for a short circuit, as it's typically the last prong to make contact. [1, 2, 3, 6]
Better Grip: Some argue that the ground pin being on top provides better support for a cord that is being pulled downward by gravity. [1, 6, 7]
Common Practice: Many electricians and manufacturers, especially in healthcare settings, prefer ground pin up. [3, 5, 6]
Arguments for Ground Pin Down: [8]
Appliance Compatibility: Some appliances, like those with "immediate-turn" plugs, may be easier to plug in with the ground pin down. [8]
Personal Preference: Ultimately, the choice of orientation is often up to the installer or the customer. [4, 5]
Important Considerations: [5]
Local Codes: While the NEC doesn't mandate a specific orientation, some local codes or specific client requirements might dictate the preferred method. [5]
Switched Outlets: Switched receptacles are often installed with the ground pin up to differentiate them from regular outlets. [5]
No NEC Requirement: The National Electrical Code does not specify receptacle orientation other than to prohibit the face up orientation in and under countertops. [4, 9]
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u/motokochan 5d ago
Technology Connections did a video about the whole outlet orientation thing: https://youtu.be/vNj75gJVxcE
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u/col3man17 5d ago
He's half right, outlets do get installed that way for certain applications. Doesn't make it mean it's not upside down.
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u/NorCalFrances 5d ago
I'm not sure I still believe the "ground on the bottom is right side up" since NO molded right angle plugs are made that way!
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u/TJonesyNinja 5d ago
Thats more practical. Ground pin down is common in residential so plugs are made to fit that way.
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u/CardinalFartz Comic Sans for life! 5d ago
You should've simply adapted to a smarter outlet design. Like the German Schuko, where even with partly engaged connectors, there are no exposed life pins. Also it has GND contacts on both, top and bottom (it is symmetrical).
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u/ZorbaTHut 5d ago
This is unfortunately one of those first-mover-disadvantage things. The US plug standard was invented in 1910 as the US rapidly electrified; the German Schuko standard was invented in 1925, fifteen years later. Naturally, there was a lot more knowledge about how to design a good plug at that point, but it was already too late for the US market.
Same reason the US got NTSC and the EU got PAL, same reason the US got CDMA and the EU got GSM (although at this point both regions have switched to LTE.)
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u/TJonesyNinja 5d ago
I totally agree. I wish it was feasible to use a better standard in my house but thatās just unrealistic even if it wouldnāt violate code.
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u/i_need_a_moment 5d ago
My house has every original outlet installed with the ground up except a few.
Also it SUCKS that there are some appliances out there that actually rely on the orientation being a specific way when they don't need to. We returned an air purifier that sat flush on the wall and it had polarized prongs that couldn't even rotate, which meant you HAD to have an outlet with ground facing only downward, not even sideways.
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u/valgatiag 5d ago
Yeah, my last place was like that. No built-in lights, so you plug a floor lamp into the connected outlet and voila, switch-controlled room lighting.
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u/SpookyYoongi 5d ago
Oh my god you have solved a months-long mystery of what happened to my bottom outlet. Thank you. I didn't even know you could rig a switch to only one half.
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u/watchforbicycles 6d ago
There's light switches that control outlets? I moved 1.5 years ago and one outlet only worked the first week here. I also have a few switches that I haven't figured out. I wonder if the two things are related...
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u/StrangeSequitur 6d ago
Yeah, they're generally used for lamps. You can plug in a lamp on the far side of the room, leave it "on" and turn it on and off using the switch as you enter and leave. Usually only one outlet of a pair will be switched so that you don't also shut off whatever else is plugged in.
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u/watchforbicycles 5d ago
Today I learned....
The "non-working" outlet is in the living room, so it's a definite possibility. Will check it out tomorrow.
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u/hunterwaynehiggins 5d ago
outlet won't provide power
switch controls nothing
Unless they're really far apart, isn't that the only logical explanation? (Until proven wrong, of course)
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u/rulanmooge 5d ago
That is how my husband wired the bedroom when we built the house. The light on "his" side of the bed can be switched on and off by a switch at his night stand area AND by one at the entry door to the master suite.
We can turn on or off the light while in bed and turn off or on the light (plugged into the bottom of the plug outlet...top is for clock with usb charger which stays on all the time) when entering or leaving the room. Turn on the light when getting up....turn off when leaving the room. That way we don't have to back track to turn off the light when leaving the room. Very very handy!
The hallways and stairway are all that way too. Turn on or off at each end of the hallway.
The bedroom switch plate (entering the room) has 4: one to control the bedside light as already explained, 3 other switches to turn on/off the hallway light, turn on/off power to the ceiling fan , and turn off on recessed lighting in the sitting area of the suite. Ceiling fan with light is also controlled with a remote.
He also put a timer on my walk in closet....because I walk away and leave the light on and he hates that. So...tick tick tick...and then off.
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u/frenchmeister 5d ago
In the US at least, it's a common thing to see in slightly older houses. It was a thing for a while to either use floor lamps or install your own swag lamps rather than have built in ceiling lights, and you'd want to turn them on as you entered the room rather than fumbling for a lamp in the dark. My mom's house and my apartment are both from the early 70s and none of the bedrooms in either have built in lights, just an outlet that's controlled by the switch. My living room doesn't have any built in lights, either.
Unfortunately, these days the plug that's most convenient for plugging in chargers, etc. tends to be the one that gets turned off all the time š
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u/BlooperHero 5d ago
There's no built-in overhead light in my living room, but the switch by the door controls one of the outlets in the corner. I have a floor lamp plugged into it.
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u/ZorbaTHut 5d ago
I had three confusing non-working switches in my hallway. Also, for a year I couldn't get the entryway lights or the porch light to work.
Eventually I was demonstrating these confusing switches for a friend and happened to figure them out. One switch controls the entryway lights; one switch controls the porch lights; but the third light controls them both. The third switch must be on for either of the first two switches to have an effect, but on its own, it does apparently nothing.
And when I was messing with them, I was just never turning the right two switches on at the same time.
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u/JakksonK 6d ago
I honestly don't know. There are two of them there side by side that flicking them does nothing. They are both in the, hopefully, off position and our outlets all work.
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u/Cultural_Dust 5d ago
Do you own or rent? If it's the former then it's on you after 4 years..if the latter then I'd complain to the landlord and ask them to make it reasonable.
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
Our landlord wouldn't even fix our oven for 6 months. I dunno man, they said they don't want to mess with the wiring a while back.
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u/NorCalFrances 5d ago
We ended up putting switch guards on all of those in our house because they controlled outlets - or half outlets depending on how they were wired - for things that ought not be turned off, like the cable modem.
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u/0kokuryu0 4d ago
I had one like this in a previous apartment. It was supposed to control a specific bottom outlet in the living room. Except it was disabled, which was apparently a common maintenance request. We didn't really need it, so we left it.
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u/Tier_One_Meatball 4d ago
I have 2 switches literally one on top the other.
They are not 3-way switches, just standard switches.
They control the outside lights, together.
Like both have to be on for the lights to have power.
I have a fucking AND switch controlling my lights
The thrid switch by it controls the top outlet below the switches. Like a normal outlet, where the bottom one is wired directly to breaker, the top is wired to the switch.
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u/HappyMonchichi 6d ago
Everything about this is hilarious and I don't want to go into details because you've already worn me out š¤£
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u/ChickensInTheAttic 6d ago
Whoever built my current house used an Old One for an electrician.
Along with banks of unlabelled switches that affect lights and outlets elsewhere, kitchen and bathroom lights that are controlled by entirely separate switch banks (one of which is hidden in an unexpected corner) and a couple of switches that apparently do nothing, the hallway lights are also controlled (as one unit) by four separate switches.
Which I guess is handy in that you can turn them on and off from both ends, the middle, and inside one of the bedrooms, but there is a distinct delay between flipping two of those switches and the lights reacting. I shudder to think of the circuit diagram involved. There might be a pentagram in there.
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u/FavoriteAuntL 6d ago
I lived this too. My parents lived in the same home for 60 years and raised several kids. There were multi-switch panels in nearly every room. 5 switches no one ever determined function. We sold the house last year and when asked during the inspection my brother just shrugged
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u/Brief_Buddy_7848 5d ago
Before you move out, get a couple more switches from home depot and slap them up there, really confuse the next people who live there
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
Make sure they are a third, different type of switch.
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u/Gamermii 5d ago
Really fuck with em, put a pair of dimmer switches in, wire one Inline with one of the other lights, the other doss nothing.
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u/NorCalFrances 5d ago
āIn my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything. Every so often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday, I got a call from a woman in Madagascar. She said,Ā 'Cut it out.'ā
āĀ Steven Wright
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u/plp855 6d ago
Question. is there a single switch near the back door that seemingly does nothing or controls the outside spot lights? Cause if so those two unknowns could control which spot lights are on if the other switch is also on.
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u/JakksonK 6d ago
The spotlight outside the front door are controlled by the light switches up stairs. And the carport light has a light switch right at the side door.
Edit: however I wouldn't put it past the house.
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u/Anonymous3415 5d ago
Did you have the electric on the house inspected? To me this doesnāt seem like itās to code and nobody wanted to pay to have it updated so they just kept adding switches.
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
Before we moved in the landlords told us they would have people inspect it and fix up the place. But since other places weren't fully fixed up by the time me moved in, I don't know.
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u/Anonymous3415 5d ago
Apartment building or standalone home? If itās a standalone home pay your own inspector to take a look at it and get their thoughts. With how many switches there are this could easily be a fire hazard.
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
we rent just the one suite.
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u/Anonymous3415 5d ago
Then thatās not gonna be allowed without landlord approval. Thatās also where my knowledge ends. Sorry. Hope you can get this figured out!! Iāve never played hide-and-seek with light switches before
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u/ebrum2010 4d ago
And the light switch to the bathroom is in the tool shed, 100 feet from the back door.
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
In case anyone is wondering, I actually do know what the question mark beside the Kitchen lights does, just blocked it out of my memory for being so incredibly stupid.
It turns on the upstairs hallway light. Not that it matters at the upstairs hallway light has IT'S OWN switch.
Also the "Light in a completely different room" or "Don't Touch" is the second of two light switches to the smallest bedroom's light. It has to be in the On position for the switch in the bedroom to be Up = On, Down = Off. Don't ask me why anyone would need to turn a bedroom light on/off while in the living room other than to annoy someone trying to sleep.
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u/CalculusManAnUnicorn 5d ago
Do you have an attic? Possibly the top set could control lights up there.- my grandparents had a set installed so they didn't have to carry a flashlight up.
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
There is an attic, but I don't think anyone has opened it for a long time. I would have to ask my upstairs neighbors about it. The previous ones were irrationally scared of raccoons possibly living up there.
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u/ebrum2010 4d ago
Whoever lived there before you must have been gaslighting their roommate. "No, you didn't turn the light off, go look."
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u/Palazzo505 5d ago
In college, some friends of mine lived in a house where a light switch in the living room controlled an outlet in the kitchen, where their toster was plugged in. As a bonus, if that switch was on and they pushed down the lever on the toaster, their back porch light would come on.
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u/LandArch_0 6d ago
I bet that was not "designed", but the house grew and they kept adding new lines.
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u/EternityAwaitz 5d ago
Why did they use a 3 switch one if they weren't going to use one of them?
I am so confused...
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u/wontonoodle 5d ago
I would buy smart switches to connect it to wifi then get a secondary wireless switch for each room.
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u/alidobitlazy 5d ago
I can envision a cartoon where one of those switches controls a light in another house and you're haunting them with each attempt to figure out what it does.
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u/lerker54651651 5d ago
the question mark ones might be three or four way switches. they're weird. up/on will allow the second switch somewhere else in the house to have power. if that switch is also up/on, it will turn on the actual circuit. my bathroom lights have a three way switch. the first switch turns on the lights over the sink, and allows the second switch to be turned on. the second switch controls the overhead light/fan. both switches have to be on to get the fan going, but only one is needed for the sink lights.
and, as i understand it, four-way switches are the same? but with an extra step? idk, man. i was a mech'nic, not an EM. i hit shit with a wrench. the only schoolin' the navy gave me about electricity was to leave it to the wire rates, and that we shouldn't try to lick it.
side note, electricity tastes like copper.
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u/ScarcityCareless6241 5d ago
The mystery switches usually control an outlet. Look around your home and see if you can find an outlet installed upside down compared to the others, and if you find one itās likely controlled by one of those switches.
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u/coolguymiles 5d ago
I can beat that. Lived here 16 years and I did the wiring. Still flip the wrong switch on the regular!!
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u/CStoEE 6d ago
Looks like someone did some botched DIY work.
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
The person who rented before us turned one of the bedrooms into a recording studio, there is still soundproofing in the room that wasn't removed.
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u/WillRikersHouseboy 5d ago
The murderer handwriting really goes with the whole vibe
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
The handwriting on the tape was me with a marker and a roll of masking tape testing out what the light's did and putting them down.
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u/WillRikersHouseboy 5d ago
I figured it was yours, and it definitely contributes to an aesthetic that saysā¦ two of this switches electrocute people. I appreciate it!
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
You might not be able to make out the writing of "Don't Touch" on the rightside one. I had a guest ask what it would do if you did touch it.
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u/WillRikersHouseboy 5d ago
haha I actually thought it said ādonāt torch.ā
edit: wait what does it do š³
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u/JakksonK 5d ago
A secondary switch for the lights in one of the three bedrooms. Why it is in the living room? idk
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u/Koolest_Kat 5d ago
Went to a friendās Florida house that had a similar wall of light switches. Nothing made sense as to what did what. They had lived there over a year and tried some sort of labeling, to turn anything on they just hit all of them on them flipped through to find what they wanted on or off. It was kinda okay except at night to find a solo light for the kitchen without illuminating the entire first floor. It was funny AND frustrating.
Since we had flown in I didnāt have any tools, the wife went out to the garage and begged me to use any tool needed, she would buy anything needed, just please do something.
30 minutes later ( plus a quick trip for drywall mud) the āLight Monsterā was tamed, out for a huge steak dinner them some touch up paint with wine made for a great night.
The Surprise bonus was her husband, who wasnāt there at the time, came home. Quite confused and surprised by the rearrangement. He mailed a $100 gift certificate that beat us home ā¦ā¦
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u/pink_is_so_underated 5d ago
My boyfriends house is like this .He has switches in the hall that go to the out side light ,one we still haven't figured out, and 2 in he's bedroom that controls the same ceiling fan just one is for the light in it and the other is solely for the fan .
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u/Trainzguy2472 5d ago
That's what the breaker box for my apartment looks like. A few breakers that seemingly do nothing, and none of them turn off the outlets in my kitchen. The stove and oven are on 2 breakers apiece.
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u/SothaSoul 5d ago
My parents have a switch in the basement by the door.Ā
It controls a light in the living room.Ā
You have to walk across the basement, up the stairs, and around the bedrooms to get to the light from the switch.
At my house, there is no light switch by the front door. It's in the kitchen in the back.
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u/FluxionFluff 5d ago
Yeah... We have a few switches that are like this in our new house. We have to hire an electrician anyway so while they're there, they can maybe figure out what some of these seemingly random switches that go to nowhere are supposed to go š¤£
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u/rawbface Artisinal Material 5d ago
I don't think design came into it at all. Just a DIY homeowner before the age of Youtube.
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u/got_ze_dreads 5d ago
Dude, in the industry if you have 4 outlets in that configuration, the top two are for your missile silo priming.Ā
Never switch them on and press Down, R, Up, Y, L, B
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u/The_pro_kid283 Reddit Orange 5d ago
Friend comes over- Hay what does this switch do? Home owner- NO NO NO DONT SWITCH THAT!!!! IT LAUNCHES A NUCLEAR BOMB š£
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u/Bastet55 5d ago
The electrician who set up these is probably the same guy who wires the breaker boxes.
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u/DecoherentDoc 3d ago
The dimmer switch in my living room is hooked up to the overhead fan. When you click it on, the fan goes in one direction and it reverses directions as you "dim". There are also switches in my daughter's room and my room that don't go to anything. Not to an overhead light, not to a socket, just hanging out on the wall.
The guy we bought the house from did his own repairs. It's why there's grout in the (wood) staircase, one toilet is hooked to a hot water line, and another I call the "rodeo toilet" because it rocks around (the floor is VERY uneven from when he tried to dona remodel).
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u/OMWTFYB760 3d ago
You or someone competent Iām not saying you donāt know anything but I wouldnāt want you or anyone to get hurt , but a toner could be used to tone out the wire through the walls and you would be able to hear where the wire is leading to, could be abandoned lights in the ceiling or half hot switches homes that didnāt have ceiling lights often had half hot switches to turn on lamps from the switch on the wall
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u/eedabaggadix 2d ago
My mom has a switch in her dining room on the main floor that turns the upstairs bathroom fan on for some reason.
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u/Manfred_89 5d ago
I would put in smart light switches with a couple of smart home speakers and then just ask to turn on or off the lights in a specific room. This seems just unusable
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u/Fructa 6d ago
At least if you're losing your religion, you'll know which switch to use?