laundry wiring mess

[mizzou]

not really a mess, but I am now in a new home and i purchased a new washer/dryer for the laundry room.

it has a washer hookup that looks OK and I recently had the loose wiring corrected with rigid conduit. silly me, I didn't even check to see what kind of receptacle was in place for the dryer!

it is a 50amp 250v general appliance receptable...completely not workable for a 30amp 3 prong dryer cord.

sorta looks like this

I then checked the fusebox and it clearly states "30AMP" for the dryer connection.

Should be good to go and install a proper 30amp receptacle then I suppose? I figured if it was a 50amp fuse that would also pose a problem after replacing the receptacle.

meh

 

[Scarpozzi]

New dryers and many installations are actually requiring 4 prong these days....

If it's a 50amp plug and a 30amp fuse, you're fine.

If your dryer doesn't have the right kind of cord, you can buy one that will fit the general plug for about $10 from most home improvement stores and replace the old cord with a screwdriver.... Figure out which is cheaper/easier to replace...the cord or the recepticle.

 

[John Connor]

Yeah, we just had to get a different cord, but it must be screwed to the right contacts.

 

[coaster831]

New dryers and many installations are actually requiring 4 prong these days....

If it's a 50amp plug and a 30amp fuse, you're fine.

If your dryer doesn't have the right kind of cord, you can buy one that will fit the general plug for about $10 from most home improvement stores and replace the old cord with a screwdriver.... Figure out which is cheaper/easier to replace...the cord or the recepticle.

This, basically. I had the same problem moving into a house last month and decided it was easier to change the cord on the dryer. Having the appropriately sized 30A breaker is critical, though (also not that hard to change out if you need to).

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Fusebox... You mean electrical panel, I'm assuming they're breakers?

I would check the wiring gauge and length before doing anything. If the wiring is only rated for 30a I would swap the outlet. If the wiring is rated for 50a I would swap the cord on the dryer.

 

[imagoon]

Fusebox... You mean electrical panel, I'm assuming they're breakers?

I would check the wiring gauge and length before doing anything. If the wiring is only rated for 30a I would swap the outlet. If the wiring is rated for 50a I would swap the cord on the dryer.

This. It is a safety issue. Sure the 30amp breaker will pop before 50amps would do damage but most people later will just pop a 50amp breaker in and run it on wire that can't handle it. Also most dryers use the 4 wire cables now so you may as well "do it right" as swapping the outlet is actually pretty simple. Just make sure to have a larger screw driver that fits (properly) because tighter is better on high amp lines.