A simple light switch took me 45 minutes to figure out yesterday

I was at my buddy's house in Phoenix trying to turn on the porch light and there were three switches side by side, not one of them labeled. Took me flipping them all in different combos for almost an hour before I noticed one had a tiny barely visible indicator dot. Has anyone else dealt with a switch plate that just makes zero sense?

2 comments

2 Comments

leebrown15d ago

Man that brings back memories of helping my grandpa rewire his basement in Tucson. He had all these old switches from the 70s with no labels and one was for the garbage disposal that looked exactly like the light switch for the hallway. You'd turn it on thinking you were getting light and suddenly hear grinding noises from the kitchen. Had to tape a little note next to it that said "not lights" in sharpie. The indicator dot thing is real though, my current house has one on a switch for the outdoor fountain that I didn't notice for two years because it blends into the off-white plate perfectly. Sometimes I wonder if electricians do this on purpose just to mess with us.

the_leo15d ago

Nah, electricians definitely aren't trying to mess with anyone, they just follow whatever code was standard at the time. Those little indicator dots were probably meant to be helpful but nobody ever updated the design to make them stand out more. Your grandpa's situation sounds more like a lack of labeling than any kind of conspiracy.