29

We have a "charging station" that has four USB ports on front and four regular outlets, two on each side, that was plugged into a bathroom outlet.

Front view of outlet

Now I am trying to remove it, but it seems to be stuck. There is enough for a gap at the back to see that it appears to be flexing both the back of the charging unit and part of the outlet, so I am afraid that if I pull harder something is going to break.

Top view of outlet

I have been trying to wiggle it up and down and from side to side in order to coax it out, but it is not working. It appears that the is a plastic "pin" (it's white anyway) that is going into one of the grounding holes and that is what is stuck.

It says GE on the front I have tried to look up what model it is hoping to find a manual or something that would give me a clue, but I have found nothing. How can I unplug this device without breaking either the device or part of the wall outlet?

Here is a third picture: it is not a GFCI output (there is no "reset" button on it) and the device is plugged into only the bottom outlet with a plastic pin plugged into the ground of the top, presumably to help stabilize it. side view

Michael
  • 987
  • 4
  • 14
  • 24
  • 5
    Turn off the breaker and keep wiggling. Maybe something that'll give a bit of leverage between the receptacle and the unit will help. Know that if you break off the plastic pin, it's no big deal -- that's just there to try to force the user to cover both halves of the receptacle. – Aloysius Defenestrate Apr 02 '23 at 20:41
  • @AloysiusDefenestrate Being plastic just wondering if it melted a bit and is struck. Something like that should be tight, but should come apart. Harper would probably have a field day with it. – crip659 Apr 02 '23 at 20:46
  • @AloysiusDefenestrate sure, but I'm more concerned that the plastic pin may be over engineered and something *else* will break first... – Michael Apr 02 '23 at 20:49
  • Fair possibility... can you get needlenose pliers on the plastic pin and encourage it out? Or maybe bite the bullet and hacksaw the pin close to the body of the charger? Just leave enough meat remaining to be able to remove the pin with pliers after everything is off... (this is the part where I reiterate, turn the breaker off). – Aloysius Defenestrate Apr 02 '23 at 20:53
  • 5
    @AloysiusDefenestrate I shut off the power and then used a large flat head screwdriver across the top of the plastic pin, then wiggled the button as if to pull it out (as pushing the screwdriver in on top force the bottom back into the outlet and it came off! – Michael Apr 02 '23 at 20:58
  • 1
    @crip659 A melted plastic pin would obviously indicate a serious fault with something, but if one that far from anything conductive was melted, I'd expect signs of melting and probably even burning nearby – Chris H Apr 03 '23 at 11:10
  • 4
    +1 for asking first before brutalizing the thing! – arne Apr 03 '23 at 11:47
  • 1
    Side note: Were you charging your phone in the *bathroom*? Or just using it for the extra outlets? I get the benefit of having some extra AC outlets (for razor, hair dryer, etc.), but the USB ports seem like an unusual choice for that location. – Darrel Hoffman Apr 03 '23 at 13:26
  • @DarrelHoffman One of the kids was doing the "bathtub challenge". (don't worry, no water involved!) – Michael Apr 03 '23 at 16:15

1 Answers1

39

Per the suggestion by @AloysiusDefenestrate in the comments, I shut off the power. Then I pushed a large flat-head screwdriver horizontally across in the gap above the plastic pin. In order for there to be enough room for the square screwdriver shaft to fit in the gap I had to push the bottom half down. Once it was in place I started wiggling the bottom to try to pull it back out and suddenly there was a pop and it came free!

Afterwards, I looked at the plastic pin. It did not appear to be burned or melted, but part of the plastic had been scraped off like it had caught on something in the outlet:

back of pin

front of pin

Michael
  • 987
  • 4
  • 14
  • 24
  • 2
    It is quite possible this product has not been tested in one of the listed labs(UL/CSA) for electrical products. Can you see any UL or like marks on it? – crip659 Apr 02 '23 at 21:07
  • 11
    The scraping on the plastic pin would be an indication that the ground port of the outlet has an edged metal contact, which would certainly scrape an ordinary ground pin, but not dig in as has happened to you with the plastic. – fred_dot_u Apr 02 '23 at 21:25
  • 2
    @crip659 The upper photo shows an approval label out of focus to the upper right. If indeed GE brand as the OP reported, that makes sense. – Armand Apr 02 '23 at 22:44
  • At this point, you can probably hit the checkmark button beside your answer to make it the “accepted” answer. – Aloysius Defenestrate Apr 03 '23 at 00:25
  • 5
    @AloysiusDefenestrate You have to wait 48 hours before accepting your own answer. See: https://diy.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer – Doryx Apr 03 '23 at 05:08
  • 1
    Its probablty okay, but may be worth checking that socket, that its earth clamp hasn't been damaged/widened. A neon-based socket tester would be ideal, just shove it in and wiggle while watching the lights. – Criggie Apr 04 '23 at 07:37
  • 1
    Those plastic mechanical support pins are designed to be on the large side so that they fit snugly. Maufacturing tolerances aren't that tight, so a pin that's slightly wider towards the end could easily be beyond what the outlet was designed to handle. A surface irregularity where the pin shaft meets the domed end could do it as well. Definitely test the ground pin but if possible, remove the outlet, open it up, and make sure you don't have bits of scraped-off plastic stuck inside the outlet. – bta Apr 04 '23 at 22:10
  • A better option might be to not use USB (charging?) in the bathroom where it can be damp. You can also replace the duplex wall plate with something modern that has USB ports build-in but that puts electrics inside a wall mount box, and it is still a damp environment. – Criggie Apr 04 '23 at 22:57
  • 1
    I've had this kind of thing happen a few times over the years. Some models of outlet are more aggressive than others with regard to holding onto plugs and occasionally some combinations of plug and socket it goes a bit overboard. A soft plastic pin together with an aggressive ground clamp would definitely be a recipe for it getting stuck. – Perkins Apr 05 '23 at 00:53