Dryer Not Working

[morganandre]

I moved into a home recently and we brought our dryer. I plugged in the dryer and checked to see if it worked. The dryer turned on. I shut off the dryer and came back the next day to put a load into the dryer. The dryer did not turn on! I checked the breakers, all good. There is also a safety switch which was okay as well. I called an electrician and he came over and checked the power and apparently it was good, so I thought it was the dryer. I bought a different dryer used and plugged it into the outlet and it started to smoke and spark. I took it out. I thought it may have been a loose wire so I bought a new receptacle and installed it today. When taking the wires out there was no sign of burned wires. The neutral broke in the old receptacle and I stripped back the wire and it looked good. I then installed the wires and the receptacle. I plugged in the same dryer that I had just bought and there was no power. Any thoughts? Thank you

 

[Greenman]

Check the wall outlet again. Be sure you have 240v between the two hots and 120v between each hot and the neutral. If you're comfortable doing it, open the main panel and be sure none of the connections are lose. Also verify that you connected the new outlet properly.
Beyond that, I got nothing. Humpy knows more about electric than I do, I'm sure he'll be along with more advice shortly. I think stormcrow is a sparky as well, perhaps he'll chime in.

 

[morganandre]

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Check the wall outlet again. Be sure you have 240v between the two hots and 120v between each hot and the neutral. If you're comfortable doing it, open the main panel and be sure none of the connections are lose. Also verify that you connected the new outlet properly.
Beyond that, I got nothing. Humpy knows more about electric than I do, I'm sure he'll be along with more advice shortly. I think stormcrow is a sparky as well, perhaps he'll chime in.

thank you, since the previous outlet smoked could it have burnt out the dryer?

 

[Greenman]

If the outlet itself smoked, it was probably a wiring problem and there is a good chance the dryer is alright. If the dryer smoked, it's almost certainly dead. Once you let the smoke out of any electrical device it's all over.
The thing is, if the outlet was smoking, the breaker should have tripped. I'd be inclined to check all of it very carefully. Outlets just don't randomly catch on fire, there is always a reason, and you need to figure what that reason is before you plug something else into it. My hunch is it was wired incorrectly, or one of the hot leads was touching the box or the ground wire. The other option is a really lose connecting that was arcing. Either way you should be able to see whats burned.
I wish Humpy or stormkrow would chime in, I have the feeling I'm missing something obvious.

 

[morganandre]

If the outlet itself smoked, it was probably a wiring problem and there is a good chance the dryer is alright. If the dryer smoked, it's almost certainly dead. Once you let the smoke out of any electrical device it's all over.
The thing is, if the outlet was smoking, the breaker should have tripped. I'd be inclined to check all of it very carefully. Outlets just don't randomly catch on fire, there is always a reason, and you need to figure what that reason is before you plug something else into it. My hunch is it was wired incorrectly, or one of the hot leads was touching the box or the ground wire. The other option is a really lose connecting that was arcing. Either way you should be able to see whats burned.
I wish Humpy or stormkrow would chime in, I have the feeling I'm missing something obvious.

the thing is the wires were not burned when I installed the new receptacle

 

[Mike64]

Is there by any wild chance another 240V socket with sufficient current anywhere near the dryer, that you can test it on? Or even not too far away - close enough to try an (appropriately rated) extension cord? (I assume 240V-socketed extension cords are probably relatively expensive, but surely cheaper than an electrician or appliance repair call, much less Yet Another dryer. And as long as you don't fry it, returning it after a very brief, single use wouldn't be the most "unethical" thing in the world, either... Home Depot doesn't usually ask a lot of questions, especially when you return things shortly you bought them.)

But that aside, you mention a neutral wire but, as far as I know (which let me say upfront, isn't very much), the neutral shouldn't be connected to a 240V socket at all, leading me to wonder exactly "what's up" with that socket and your wiring of it? The three wires you'd use would be the two hots (usually black and red), and a green ground wire. I've never personally come across a brand new electrical socket that was defective, but I guess it's possible. Did you check test the power across the two hot leads when you replaced the socket? And then test the socket itself after your wired it up and closed the box but before you plugged in the dryer?

 

[morganandre]

I guess these days they are making them with 4 wires the neutral, ground and two hot wires. I do have the stove which is actually close enough that I could push the dryer over and try it

 

[Mike64]

I guess these days they are making them with 4 wires the neutral, ground and two hot wires.

ETA: NVM There might well be a neutral wire in the box, but if it's 240V circuit, what would the neutral be for, if it's in fact wired at the panel at all? While I have no idea if this is in fact the case for all 240V breakers, I don't see what it would connect to at the breaker, but more to the point, I can't even begin to imagine what purpose connecting a neutral to a a "regular" 3-pin 240V socket would serve. Are there really 4 separate connectors, one labeled as "neutral", on the socket itself?

[Also ET delete gibbering about extension cords that was mostly pointless if the dryer has a 4-pin power plug...]

But still relevant: when you replaced the socket, did you test the circuit across the hot leads, and test the new socket itself after you wired it in? Rather than semi-randomly replacing either or both the socket, and/or the dryer (?!), it would be much more helpful to try to narrow down where the problem lies by testing whatever you can independently. And if I were you, I'd certainly test the socket before shoving anything as heavy as a dryer across a room try it out on another socket...

 

[Greenman]

I would assume the neutral is for everything but the heating element. Certainly the controls aren't 240v, I'd guess the drum motor isn't either. Every dryer and range outlet I've ever installed has a neutral wire, some have a ground as well.

 

[Mike64]

I would assume the neutral is for everything but the heating element. Certainly the controls aren't 240v, I'd guess the drum motor isn't either. Every dryer and range outlet I've ever installed has a neutral wire, some have a ground as well.

I knew (as an academic fact, so to speak) that some appliances have both 240V and 120V circuits, but I've always lived in apartments (with gas stoves) and so never gave it much thought or had to deal with them IRL. The only 240V residential appliances I've ever dealt with hands-on have been ACs and an HID ballast that have all had 3-pin plugs. I guess things like dryers and stoves must use 4-pin power plugs, then?

 

[Meghan54]

I knew (as an academic fact, so to speak) that some appliances have both 240V and 120V circuits, but I've always lived in apartments (with gas stoves) and so never gave it much thought or had to deal with them IRL. The only 240V residential appliances I've ever dealt with hands-on have been ACs and an HID ballast that have all had 3-pin plugs. I guess things like dryers and stoves must use 4-pin power plugs, then?

Dryers typically have the ability to be wired to both 3-prong cords and 4-prong cords for the appropriate socket. The 4-prong cord is newer but 3-prong dryer outlets abound in older construction.

Before the year 2000, most dryer outlets were 3-slot; since then, the Electrical Code has required 4-slot outlets. Most new dryers now come with four-prong plugs (some are sold sans cord), but they can be converted to use 3-prong cords to fit older dryer outlets.

You are allowed to continue using older 3-slot dryer outlets, but you'll need to convert the dryer to a 3-prong cord if it doesn't have one. For example, a new dryer may come with 4-prong cord, which you will need to replace with a 3-prong cord. Likewise, if you have a 4-slot dryer outlet but want to use an older 3-prong dryer, you'll have to convert the dryer to a 4-prong cord.

Had to do this with our dryer. The house we bought in 2013 had a 4-prong dryer outlet, so bought a 4-prong cord for the dryer. Sold the house a year later and "new" house we subsequently purchased (older construction) had a 3-prong outlet, so I bought a 3-prong cord and wired the dryer up with that.

 

[stormkroe]

OP, as coincidental as it sounds, you might have 2 problems. The 2nd dryer smoking out makes me think it had the pigtail wired incorrectly (or the original receptacle was wrong but it matched the old dryer's incorrectly wired pigtail).
The no-power problem sounds like a bad connection; it would show voltage but can't handle an actual load, and the electrician would have just threw on a volt meter (he also should have known to verify the pinout). Check the breaker screws at the panel for tightness.
Smoke definitely sounds like hot/neutral mix up.

 

[Mike64]

Dryers typically have the ability to be wired to both 3-prong cords and 4-prong cords for the appropriate socket. The 4-prong cord is newer but 3-prong dryer outlets abound in older construction.
Before the year 2000, most dryer outlets were 3-slot; since then, the Electrical Code has required 4-slot outlets.

Ah, OK. But even in that case, my earlier post still needed editing, since what I had in mind was a 240V plug with just two hots and a ground, while I see (thanks to Google) that pre-2000 "dryer plugs" were also dual-voltage, but without a ground pin. (Or to put the NEMA designations to one of the uses they were created for - precision in communication - I was thinking NEMA 6 plugs rather than NEMA 10s.)

I guess it makes some kind of sense that dryers would use dedicated 120V components for the controls, though on the other hand, since so much of the rest of the world uses straight-up 240V mains power, there are obviously lots of 240V components out there that could also do that job without needing a dual 120V/240V circuit. Seems a little weird to me to "demand" a dual-voltage circuit when the appliances could just as easily be manufactured to use 240V power throughout, but I guess a lot of industrial designs are "weird" for basically none other than historical reasons (aka inertia)...

 

[herm0016]

is the wire aluminum or copper?
check the connections to the breaker, i had one that was loose because aluminum sucks and had to strip it back, and use the correct anti corrosion compound and torque on the screw. this loose connection was causing the breaker to trip whenever the dryer was even turned on.

check the voltages and get back to us.

 

[Paperdoc]

Let's clear up the confusion over 120 VAC supply.

In North America virtually all electric clothes dryers use BOTH 120 VAC and 240 VAC. Thus, the wires supplying power include two Hot lines and one Neutral line. In all current wiring systems there will be also a bare Ground line in the cable supplying to the receptacle box, and the receptacle and plug will have FOUR contacts - two Hot, one Neutral, and a round Ground. Older installations may be missing the Ground. By the way, OP can NOT plug the dryer cable into the outlet for the stove, likely. A stove requires more power, so its supply wiring is heavier and the panel breaker for it is rated higher. Thus, the outlet for it (and associated cable to the stove) has a DIFFERENT blade configuration on it to prevent connecting a lower-power device like a dryer (with smaller wiring) to an outlet that will allow a current higher than the lighter wiring can handle.

Inside the dryer, the heating element will use the full 240 VAC available across the two Hot lines. The timer motor, the main drum drive motor, the interior light bulb, and any electronic circuit boards will use only 120 VAC, provided by drawing from only ONE Hot line plus Neutral. This makes the designs of those items much simpler and easier to replace. The main heating element really is the ONLY thing needing 240 VAC.

OP, I'm not clear about one part of your initial post. You say, "it started to smoke and spark". What "it"? Did the smoke and sparks happen inside the receptacle box, or inside the outlet fitting, or in the new (used) dryer? That would tell you more about where to look for the problem. I suggest you need more diagnostic work, probably using a voltmeter. You should verify that the electrical connections from the breaker panel to the outlet box, and to the specific slots in the outlet fitting, are correct - each Hot line, Neutral, and Ground. IF those are all correct and live, then you can plug the dryer into the outlet, open the dryer chassis, and verify that those same power connections are reaching the terminal block inside the dryver (where the cable connects). All this involves working with a dangerous live electrical circuit, so if you are not good at that, get help from an electrician or at least a friend to DOES know how to do this safely.