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Power plug will not go inside the power socket!

Home Improvement Asked by zar on December 2, 2020

I have couple of sockets I added through my electrician sometimes back. Now when I plug microwave or coffee maker, it plug would just not go in!

I don’t want to put extraordinary force for fear of breaking it or I should just force it in?

Is it because this is new, not used? How can I make the plug go in without breaking it?

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2 Answers

Those don't look like tamper-resistant outlets to me.

New sockets are often just stiff. That's how it is.

Mind you, the "loosy goosey" sockets you are accustomed to, are actually a fire hazard. When contact is poor, a tiny gap will form, and electricity will simply jump across the gap. This action is called "arcing" and makes a LOT of heat and soot, and that tends to make the arcing worse and worse, and it's a death spiral of destruction until you have a fire in the outlet.

So stiff outlets == good. Plug it in totally square (in case it's a tamper-resistant) and push like you mean it. Power plug blades are quite durable. Honestly my biggest problem is breaking off ground pins from having pulled sideways on the cord.

Correct answer by Harper - Reinstate Monica on December 2, 2020

The picture is not in focus enough to read, but presumably they are "tamper resistant" as that has been code for a while.

Those can be fussy, and require pushing both flat prongs in straight, so they enter at the same time. The mechanism is intended to protect against (usually children, but not always) pushing a conductive object (not a plug) into one slot and getting electrocuted.

If you start a little bit off, they jam and won't go, so don't force it, back off and try a slightly different angle until the plug starts to go in.

Answered by Ecnerwal on December 2, 2020

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