i bought new maytags for christmas.

the old dryer doesn't have a plug. the electrical cable goes from the breaker panel right into the back of the dryer. no plug.

i bought a plug and a box to plug the dryer and i'm gonna put a new cable with 4 wires to ground it.

the current breaker is 30. the guy at home depot said i should put in a 40 but i wanted to see what i had first. can i leave the 30 or should i change the breaker to a 40 as well? it's a regular washer/dryer, not one of those big front loader ones

merry christmas/happy holidays
john

 

no, leave it 30 amp.

 

http://www.codecheck.com/eleccode.htm#generalpurpose

 

Leave the breaker as a 2P-30. The spec plate on the dryer should show what it's load is. All you have to do is use the same wire that ran to your old dryer from the panel. Install a 4 11/16" box at the the end of that wire. Fasten the new box too the wall and add staples to support the wire. Home depot sells a book CEC simplified for about $16.00. It's a good investment for the home owner to do a little wiring. Go buy a dryer receptacle and cover. Red and black go to the 2 side terminals, white to the center, and the ground to the pin. Make sure you ground the box as well. If the wire is running on the surface of the wall you will have to use a piece of 1/2" emt pipe and a connector to the ceiling space or to where-ever it goes into the wall. I'm assuming the the dryer is in a basement laundry room. If you pick up that book, it explains it with pix and it's easy to follow. Or you can pay a guy like me, $90/hr to do it for you. Good luck, it not very hard.

 

i forgot all about the washer when the motor goes on, the upstairs lights dim out. all the house wiring is sitting on the same breaker. the plan is to add circuits as we renovate, and replace all that old wiring with seperate breakers for each part of the house.

if i make a new circuit for the washer, can i make one that will service an entire laundry room? or does the washer need a circuit all to itself and i have to make a different circuit for the lights?

 

The washer should be on it's own circuit. It sounds like there has been some electrical work done by someone not to familiar with the CEC. You may want to get a journeyman electrician to check out your service panel and let you know what changes you need to make. As far as renovations are concerned, it will be better to do electrical & plumbing up-grades when walls are opened up. Anyone that you get advice from should be able to produce a licence to work in that trade. If your house is quite old (over 50 years) You may need a service up-grade. I don't know what your situation is, so I can only speculate.

 

For what I read you can have the washer on the laundry circuit, no limitations on the amount of plugins but it must be in the laundry room. Our washer used to dim the lights to which after I finally got off my lazy rear quarters to check it out used 18 gauge or something smaller wire. Old **** and tube stuff. I'm surprised that the old house didn't burn down, that and the live exposed electrical wire in the attic was enough to force me to redo the house. Our house has a shared neutral which makes it harder.. I have visions of a electrical shock or two .

 

That's not right... In Canada, the Canadian Electrical code dictates the rules. The washer is to have it's own circuit. It must be minimum spec 14 AWG copper wire on a 1P-15 breaker. Anytime that wiring is tampered with, the change must meet the standards of the CEC of today, not when the house was built. Think of it like this. If you have a fire and you call in your insurance adjuster. Won't an insurance company try to find a reason not to pay for the loss. A code violation is just such a reason.

 

Okay now that I realized that he's in Canada I have no clue. But those are the US codes that I know.

 

Sorry... I thought you realized that "websthes" posed the question from Montreal. The "Canadian Electrical Code" is the same accross the country. If a Journeyman has an interprovincial, he can work in any province. Although I think Quebec is the exception. I'm from the west, so I'm not to familiar with the politics there. I know some other electricians who came from Ontario to work in Alberta, they said sometimes there's problems when you cross the Quebec border. But the code book is the same.

 

Heck even I missed that

I found this for him though.

http://www.selfhelpforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

Apparently the homeowner isn't allowed to do any wiring in his/her home.


I'm putting in the washer's own circuit when I get to that room.
I have to check on GFI plug for that as well.

My Canadian code book is downstairs.

 

It does not have to be GFI. The home owner can do some limited wiring in their own house, but nothing that requires disconnection from the supply authority. If you take out a homeowners permit you can do things like add a basement rec room. The catch is that it must meet the standard of today and you are responsible. Inspectors tend look closer at do it yourselfers more than tradesmen. There are also a lot of people who do work without a permit. Most of the time it works out fine, other times not so good. I work almost entirely in commercial and industrial, but I get a lot of calls for advice or people who need to be bailed out. I try not to do many side jobs but once in a while I cave and do it. If I get too many I would have no free time at all. I almost always insist on a permit. Last summer had a friend of a friend call. Needed his central air condenser wired. Problem is, he left it until the basement was finished and the panel was on the opposite side of the house. Couldn't go through the house anymore so we had to pipe around the exterior of his house. It added $1100 to the cost simply because it wasn't done at the right time during the renovation. Had he taken out a permit, the inspector would have probadly pick it up when the walls and ceiling were still open. My point is... make sure you have the right info. Mistakes can be costly. Dryer plug and washer plug, real simple stuff. That book from Home Depot is a good start. My code book is $120 and changes every four years. The Home Depot one is less than twenty bucks. If you have bigger issues, like too small a service panel in an old house, get a qualified electrician.

 

this is so bad

the hot/cold water pipes are going over the finished wall. there's no vent for the dryer. no proper outlets. there's also an enormous freezer in between the washer and dryer so the washer can drain into the sink, and the dryer can vent out the window on the other side of the room? it all worked until you try and unplug a dryer and realize the whole thing is an ugly, dangerous mess. i'm just gonna tear it all out. it's too ugly and confusing to look at anymore. i'll feel better when i'm breaking something.

 

Still sounds like you need an electrician to come in and give you a bid on electrical renovations. Get the job done right.

 

just wanted to post about "**** & tube" wiring which many old houses in my area still have: It was a well-designed system & was not (nor is it currently) inherently unsafe.

This stuff has gotten a bum rap simply because at the time these houses were wired,
electricity was used mainly for lighting & small appliances like fans, etc. Consequently, there are not enough circuits and/or ample wire gauge to handle the loads required in a modern home. Whenever there is a fire in such a home, it is the "**** & tube" wiring that is blamed, not the inadequate circuits.

I had an home insurance agent who would not write policies if ANY **** & tube wiring was still in use. It's silly to rip up a ceiling or floor to replace K&T that is being used only for a lighting circuit, but this agent, with nearly zero electrical knowledge, knew better than my master electrician....

lesson: never argue with a fool...in no time you can't tell who's who!