What exactly does "Hospital Grade" mean?

Jea48, I have heard of that device but I have never used it. I remember hearing that the device is connected to the ground pin only. It has to stay connected to a hospital grade outlet with 4 oz of pressure for a certain amount of time. I concur with your statement about removing a plug under a load from an outlet will cause an arc, regardless of the type of outlet.

All outlets get looser as stuff is plugged in and out many times. A "pull test" is a practical way for the maintenance staff to determine how far the degradation has gone, and when it is time to replace the outlet. Wearout should not be a concern for audio applications since it does not involve frequent plug/unplug cycles.

Jea48, can you please explain the benefit of "Contact Pressure"? I mean I know what it means, but are you saying that the better contact pressure of hospital grade outlets is desireable because of an enhanced electrical flow, or as some others seem to be suggesting, that the benefits are in the power chord not being pulled out too easily/accidentally???

Thanks,
Ray

Hospital grade outlets cannot overcome the tenacity of human folly. In South Africa, a hospital noted that patients in a particular bed in the ICU unit were found dead on Saturday morning on a regular basis. Suspecting a serial killer, investigators set up a surveillance camera. What it caught was a cleaning person coming in on Friday night. That person would unplug the respirator for that killer bed, plug in the vacuum cleaner, clean the room, then plug the respirator back in when he/she was done.