Red on right...always at home

Dream_Inn

Our Christmas light candles...every now and then the admiral will mess with me and switch to see if I notice. My Naval academy grad neighbor has put them with his front porch lights with red on left.  Really???  Where else do you notice this?  Is it just me?

Aqua_Aura

I guess it depends on the point of view you are thinking. These lights are correct if you are on the boat or in this case the captain of the fireplace which I assume you are thinking. Otherwise if it's an oncoming fireplace in this then the light are incorrect. 

Wouldn't your neighbors lights be correct for him since he is inside and the captain of the house? 

TonyG13

Not sure if other fire departments do this, but in Chicago they do have a green light and a red light on the sides of the bay door of every station. Here is the backstory from WTTW-TV:

"The convention of a green light and a red light flanking firehouse bay doors and also being mounted on all Chicago fire apparatus actually has its roots in maritime tradition. In the late 1920s, a new fire chief was appointed named Albert Goodrich."

"Goodrich’s family owned a rather famous steamship line that ran excursions on the Great Lakes, so his nautical background meant he was very familiar with maritime navigation protocols, and he adopted some of them for the fire department."

"One of Commissioner Goodrich’s first acts was to adapt this convention to fire apparatus, placing a green light on the right side of bay doors and trucks, and red lights on the left sides. This was a time of great growth and transition for the fire department, and Goodrich was instrumental in modernizing equipment and practices."

So the lights are oriented correctly as @Aqua_Aura suggested as if you are "in" the fireplace.

Liberty44140

Agree I’d do red on right. Nice insert! Ours is similar, awesome heat from wood on a cold night:

Aqua_Aura

As long as Santa can figure it out then it's all good. 

Dream_Inn

Thanks @Liberty44140 , we try to burn 3 or more cords of hardwood each winter. I like the glass on yours. I do wish I could see in mine a bit more.  Nothing more mesmerizing than watching that flame flicker around that wood!

@TonyG13 I have seen a local firehouse here in Riva, right next to the water, have red on the right.  Very insightful.

@Aqua_Aura I guess I always thought of it as channel markers and heading home with red right returning.  But, you definitely give it another way to look at it.  The neighbor was putting the lights up today, so I'll be curious if it's the same as last year.  If it's the same I'll have to ask.👍

LaRea

Our club has red/green lights at the gate into the marina, and the placement has been a source of friendly controversy for 20+ years.  

Some folks want red to be on your right as you EXIT the marina because you are (probably) returning to your dirt house.  Others prefer red on your right as you ENTER the marina ... because the marina is your vessel's home port, and you're homeward-bound when you enter the marina.  

Willhound

  if that's the biggest controversy at your Marina it's a pretty good place. Ours has had two outright fist fights this past year alone. Both because of friction with visitors due to the large rental business they started. One of the big factors in us deciding to sell. Too many landlubbers hanging around.
My vote is red on right as you are returning to a "port".

Black_Diamond

I put up driveway markers (snow) for the winter: red on right, green/yellow on left. 😆😆. Red-right-return!

Dream_Inn

Black_Diamond said:

I put up driveway markers (snow) for the winter: red on right, green/yellow on left. 😆😆. Red-right-return!

I like it and agree red should be on right when heading into your driveway.

[Deleted User]

Best Tiki/Rum Bar on the West Coast, Smuggler's Cove, has no signage except for a red lantern (left) and a green lantern (right) on the front of the building. So I guess they consider the front of the building to be the "stern." 650 Gough Street, San Francisco. https://www.smugglerscovesf.com/ 

Ian

LaRea said:

Our club has red/green lights at the gate into the marina, and the placement has been a source of friendly controversy for 20+ years.  

Some folks want red to be on your right as you EXIT the marina because you are (probably) returning to your dirt house.  Others prefer red on your right as you ENTER the marina ... because the marina is your vessel's home port, and you're homeward-bound when you enter the marina.  

At CBC looking out from the clubhouse to the river red is port or left, green starboard or right. Matches the color of the dock identification - red docks to the left, etc.

Ian

I noticed watching F1 this weekend that Renault have red hub nuts on the left side and green on the right of the car.

aero3113

icoultha said:

I noticed watching F1 his weekend that Renault have red hub nuts on the let side and green on the right of the car.

I wonder if one side is right hand thread and the other left hand thread?

Ian

That would be correct. Left side is regular right hand thread and right is left handed thread.

Dream_Inn

you guys bring up some interesting points.  Maybe having red on the right as entering my driveway would be wrong?  Or is it that just on my house it is wrong and the right front porch light should be green, treating it like a vessel?

LaRea

Just go with body-mounted.  Red on your left shoulder, green on your right and white on your ... transom.  

Ian

Dream_Inn said:

you guys bring up some interesting points.  Maybe having red on the right as entering my driveway would be wrong?  Or is it that just on my house it is wrong and the right front porch light should be green, treating it like a vessel?

I was told red returning from sea as well as red returning to head of the river, the latter more applicable to, well, river based vessels. But @Dream_Inn I’d say when going home you’d be returning from the sea so red on right would be, shall we say, right?

[Deleted User]

OK, I'm on board with this at the beach shack. Andy

benvenuttioki

I’ve always viewed the house as a vessel with the front door as the bow. Any attached light obeyed "port red wine." Outside the home are beacons obeying “red, right, returning." This serves both!

Dream_Inn

Well, for some reason on this NYE, the red went out immediately and the the green shortly after with only white on in the middle.  


And then my son commented a bit later, Dad, it's your anchor light in.  How that is so true for this whole year and tonight.  Stay home, stay safe, put that anchor light on.  Happy new year!!!