Any of you people that know about electrical stuff, got a question.

I had an ancient dryer in my place that just recently kicked the bucket. My mom had a dryer that she wasn't using anymore, so she gave it to me to use.

Now, here's what I'm trying to figure out...the dryer that was in my place has one of the 4-prong 220V plugs on it (double grounded I guess), and the dryer my mom gave me is a 3-blade plug.

Can I just swap the 4-wire cord onto the older dryer? What do I do with the fourth wire (the "neutral" one)?

 

some law got adopted a while back that the ground had to be explicit in the cord - used to be you grounded the dryer frame to a cold water pipe - and no one did this.

the old dryer used the 220 for the element and the motor, but needed neutral to create 110 for any lighting or on board gizmos.

can you adapt a 4 prong cord to a 3 terminal dryer? yes, just screw the 4th conductor the the frame (there is usually a place provided) - provided you have cord room.

 

To convert a dryer from a three wire to a four wire cord, do the following:

1) If there is a jumper connecting the center terminal to the case/cabinet/chassis of the dryer, remove it. This is usually either a green wire or a flat metal jumper.

2) Connect the white wire of the new pigtail to the center terminal of the dryer.

3) Connect the black and red wires to the two outside terminals. Doesn't matter which goes to which side.

4) Connect the green wire to the case/cabinet/chassis of the dryer.

Simple.

Steve

 

The question that hasn't been asked yet is, does your mother's former dryer have the terminals to have a 4-wire cord, and just has a 3-wire because of the wiring in her house?

Jason

 

I think projectsho has it- it has a green jumper wire that goes from the center terminal to the cabinet.

And apparently the one my mom gave me is an old dryer. I didn't think it was older than the one that was already here, but apparently it is

 

Wrong. There are no different terminal configurations for a four wire cable. All 240 VAC dryers are the same and have been for many years.

SEE MY EXPLANATION ABOVE.

The selection of 3- vs 4-wire pigtail is based on the household wiring. NEC has required a 4 wire receptacle since 98 for conventionally-built residences. Mobile homes were required to have this much sooner. Homes built before adoption of the 98 code requirement may have either receptacle, depending primarily on local codes and what the electrician was told to install.

Steve

 

Last time I checked, answers could be wrong, not questions. If what you say is true, then the answer would have been, "No, there are no dryers with a 4-terminal configuration."

And, my question had not been asked.

But thanks for filling us in, I did learn something. I thought maybe there were 240V dryers out there with no 120V accessories.

Jason

 

well I beg to differ....

asking "What is the best way to put meat into ice cream?" would be a question that is so so wrong....

 

You've never heard of bacon ice cream?

Candied Bacon Ice Cream Recipe - David Lebovitz

 

how did we get from dryers to bryers? lol

that sounds pretty good actually... im gonna have to send that one to the old man since hes the true bacon lover in the family... me im more into the wild game... each to his own i guess...

 

I could have lived happily another 44 years without this info...

Next you will be telling me someone made ice cream from raw trout....

 

Ha.

Well at any rate, I got the cord swapped over, hooked the dryer up and it works great.

 

not necessarily TROUT... Culture Shock-Eskimo Ice Cream (Bethel, Kotzebue: hoa, salary, home) - Alaska (AK) - City-Data Forum

Fish Flavored Ice Cream and more weird treats | Weird Asia News

Japanese Ice Creams

reading the first link i posted a bit closer, i read in the last couple of sentences that they make trout Popsicle hahah

 

Actually I did see trout ice cream once being made on Iron Chef when it was all Japan.

the announcers are dubbed and the one said 'it is unusual that he chose trout for his ice cream', to which I yelled at the tv: it is unusual that he chose ANY fish for ice cream.

Its just wrong.

 

I could go for some bacon ice cream.....mmmmm