New dryer's plug doesn't match outlet

[fredtam]

OK. First it will not void your warranty. The dryers are shipped with the most common plug. Hell half of the time it isn't even attached to the dryer when you get it. It would be a little expensive to ship all different cords. You remove the plate and wire it up. Every dryer manual I have ever seen has instructions for this. To say rewire the outlet is dumb and shows very little knowledge of what goes into doing that.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. First it will not void your warranty. The dryers are shipped with the most common plug. Hell half of the time it isn't even attached to the dryer when you get it. It would be a little expensive to ship all different cords. You remove the plate and wire it up. Every dryer manual I have ever seen has instructions for this. To say rewire the outlet is dumb and shows very little knowledge of what goes into doing that.

We already know this.

The OP is afraid of doing that type of work.

I have changed outlets before and it is not hard to do. Of course I had the 3 prong setup.

The OP needs a 4 prong outlet. Got it? He has a 3 prong outlet now. Understand? It has to be changed and that is all there is to it.

Unless he wants to violate the current electrical codes.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. First it will not void your warranty. The dryers are shipped with the most common plug. Hell half of the time it isn't even attached to the dryer when you get it. It would be a little expensive to ship all different cords. You remove the plate and wire it up. Every dryer manual I have ever seen has instructions for this. To say rewire the outlet is dumb and shows very little knowledge of what goes into doing that.

Unless he has to change the wiring TO the outlet, which I doubt, I'd be willing to bet a new outlet is quite a bit cheaper than a new cord. Just a guess, but I'd say about 12 to 14 bucks for the cord, 3 or 4 bucks for a new outlet.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. First it will not void your warranty. The dryers are shipped with the most common plug. Hell half of the time it isn't even attached to the dryer when you get it. It would be a little expensive to ship all different cords. You remove the plate and wire it up. Every dryer manual I have ever seen has instructions for this. To say rewire the outlet is dumb and shows very little knowledge of what goes into doing that.

We already know this.

The OP is afraid of doing that type of work.

I have changed outlets before and it is not hard to do. Of course I had the 3 prong setup.

The OP needs a 4 prong outlet. Got it? He has a 3 prong outlet now. Understand? It has to be changed and that is all there is to it.

Unless he wants to violate the current electrical codes.

So you are suggesting he rewire the fvcking apt. complex to code. Why is it you think there are 4 prong plugs and 3 prong plugs.

<---- electrician. Got it?

 

[The Stigenator]

4 prong = 240 as ppl have said..
dont mess with it.. get facilities to fix it for you.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: fredtam

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. First it will not void your warranty. The dryers are shipped with the most common plug. Hell half of the time it isn't even attached to the dryer when you get it. It would be a little expensive to ship all different cords. You remove the plate and wire it up. Every dryer manual I have ever seen has instructions for this. To say rewire the outlet is dumb and shows very little knowledge of what goes into doing that.

We already know this.

The OP is afraid of doing that type of work.

I have changed outlets before and it is not hard to do. Of course I had the 3 prong setup.

The OP needs a 4 prong outlet. Got it? He has a 3 prong outlet now. Understand? It has to be changed and that is all there is to it.

Unless he wants to violate the current electrical codes.

So you are suggesting he rewire the fvcking apt. complex to code. Why is it you think there are 4 prong plugs and 3 prong plugs.

<---- electrician. Got it?

I assumed the 4th prong is used for grounding. Could it be used for something else?

The OP should talk to his Landlord first.

 

[DrPizza]

I think that since it's not HIS apartment, he should have the apartment manager or someone do the work (or have them get an electrician to do the work). If he's not confident enough to change the plug on the dryer, then I doubt he's qualified to change the outlet.

Also, why even worry about voiding the warranty? Suppose the dryer goes bad... just change the cord back. I doubt it would void a warranty though. Besides, its a friggin dryer... they're rather simple. We're not talking about complex components or the space shuttle or something here....

 

[fredtam]

See here. He already has a 30amp dryer circuit. The cord is what gets changed and not the outlet. Follow the instructions for the dryer or the ones with the cord you bought.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: fredtam

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. First it will not void your warranty. The dryers are shipped with the most common plug. Hell half of the time it isn't even attached to the dryer when you get it. It would be a little expensive to ship all different cords. You remove the plate and wire it up. Every dryer manual I have ever seen has instructions for this. To say rewire the outlet is dumb and shows very little knowledge of what goes into doing that.

We already know this.

The OP is afraid of doing that type of work.

I have changed outlets before and it is not hard to do. Of course I had the 3 prong setup.

The OP needs a 4 prong outlet. Got it? He has a 3 prong outlet now. Understand? It has to be changed and that is all there is to it.

Unless he wants to violate the current electrical codes.

So you are suggesting he rewire the fvcking apt. complex to code. Why is it you think there are 4 prong plugs and 3 prong plugs.

<---- electrician. Got it?

I agree that if it is common practice for the user to attach/rewire the cord, and it is acceptable with the manufacturer, that is what he should do. It is quite simple and less dangerous than re-wiring the outlet.

I just figured that removing the back and mucking with things would void his warranty. It's not that far of a stretch. Almost every piece of equipment/appliance I have ever seen says that only "trained service personnel" are supposed to muck with the insides, even if it's a plug.

But I digress. Either way he choses to do it, it's about the same. Either way, you have to unhook some wires, and then screw them back home. Not a big deal.

 

[Twista]

I actually switched ours when i was about 13 or 14 yrs old. We had the same problem as you. Don't ask why lol.

 

[fredtam]

Changing the outlet is the wrong/ illegal thing to do. You are not supposed to hook a 4wire outlet to 3wire. The next guy that moves in will assume the outlet is grounded which it is not. Yes the dryer will run without the gound but the proper thing to do is switch the cord on the dryer. The other right option is to have 4wire run to the outlet from the box which may require other things. I am almost positive that the management company is not going to rewire the place but will instead tell you to get a 3wire cord. Your dryer will run fine with the 3wire and it is accaeptable to do so. If something goes wrong with the dryer you may get a little buzz when you touch it but that is about it. As far as having an electrician wire it if you feel uncomfortable that is fine. It is simple to do though and worth learning. Simply hook up the hot wires to the outer terminals (doesn't matter which wire where) and hook the neutral wire (also acts as ground on 3wire) up to it's terminal and have nothing attached to ground.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: fredtam
Changing the outlet is the wrong/ illegal thing to do. You are not supposed to hook a 4wire outlet to 3wire. The next guy that moves in will assume the outlet is grounded which it is not. Yes the dryer will run without the gound but the proper thing to do is switch the cord on the dryer. The other right option is to have 4wire run to the outlet from the box which may require other things. I am almost positive that the management company is not going to rewire the place but will instead tell you to get a 3wire cord. Your dryer will run fine with the 3wire and it is accaeptable to do so. If something goes wrong with the dryer you may get a little buzz when you touch it but that is about it. As far as having an electrician wire it if you feel uncomfortable that is fine. It is simple to do though and worth learning. Simply hook up the hot wires to the outer terminals (doesn't matter which wire where) and hook the neutral wire (also acts as ground on 3wire) up to it's terminal and have nothing attached to ground.

Are you sure it doesen't matter which wire where???

I killed the electronics in an old dryer of ours by hooking the wires up wrong. When I tried to start it after turning it on, it made horrible noises.. and didn't exactly turn on.

When I reversed the wires, everything appeared to work - except the dial didn't turn by itself anymore.

We bought a 240V timer and used it for a long time like that.. heh.

But, I agree. Just goes to show you that the general opinion isn't always the right one. I bow to your experienced electrical knowledge.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: fredtam
Changing the outlet is the wrong/ illegal thing to do. You are not supposed to hook a 4wire outlet to 3wire. The next guy that moves in will assume the outlet is grounded which it is not. Yes the dryer will run without the gound but the proper thing to do is switch the cord on the dryer. The other right option is to have 4wire run to the outlet from the box which may require other things. I am almost positive that the management company is not going to rewire the place but will instead tell you to get a 3wire cord. Your dryer will run fine with the 3wire and it is accaeptable to do so. If something goes wrong with the dryer you may get a little buzz when you touch it but that is about it. As far as having an electrician wire it if you feel uncomfortable that is fine. It is simple to do though and worth learning. Simply hook up the hot wires to the outer terminals (doesn't matter which wire where) and hook the neutral wire (also acts as ground on 3wire) up to it's terminal and have nothing attached to ground.

Are you sure it doesen't matter which wire where???

I killed the electronics in an old dryer of ours by hooking the wires up wrong. When I tried to start it after turning it on, it made horrible noises.. and didn't exactly turn on.

When I reversed the wires, everything appeared to work - except the dial didn't turn by itself anymore.

We bought a 240V timer and used it for a long time like that.. heh.

But, I agree. Just goes to show you that the general opinion isn't always the right one. I bow to your experienced electrical knowledge.

When I say it doesn't matter which wire goes where I am talking about the two hot wires. On 3wire you have two hots each of which deliver 120v and a neutral. The two outside terminals are for the hot wires and the center terminal for neutral.

Hot/neutral/Hot or Black/white/Red or Red/white/Black

Since both hot wires (red and black) carry the same voltage it does not matter which hot terminal (the outside terminals) you hook them to. You may have accidently hooked a hot wire to neutral on yours.
He may also have to connect the ground strap to the neutral terminal since on the 4wire has an independent ground and is not connected to neutral. Since the 3 wire uses neutral as ground the ground from the chassis shoul be connected to the neutral terminal. The instructions should show this.

No need to bow it is just frustrating when you have no real way to convey the fact that you know what your talking about.

Edit: What it boils down to is if he just changes the outlet the dryer will not be grounded. If the dryer fvcks up he will probably get a full 120v to the chassis.

 

[Phoenix86]

OK, update time, sorry would have been sooner, but it's busy at work today....

I called the apartment, no go on getting them to change the outlet. My dryer, my problem, basically. So I have to rewire the dryer, it seems.

He is scared to change the outlet. You think he is going to screw around inside the dryer?

I'll do the wire, not the outlet, the inside of the dryer isn't hot since it's not plugged in. Worse case=dead dryer/fire. Worse case with changing an outlet=me dead. I'm also not an idiot and can follow direction, I'm just not electricaly inclined to feel comfortable with high voltages.

He is correct, any dryer I've ever seen was setup to pretty easily switch the cord.

But it will still void his warranty, unless it is explicitly stated that it is OK for the user to change the cord.

It looks simple to replace the cord, I have the back panel open, I see the terminals, I just don't know how to wire it. The new cord has 3 wires, the dryer has 4 terminals. Which one stays disconnected?!? It's also a used dryer (new to me ).

His new dryer uses 14-30R, and his current receptacle is 10-30R.

bingo.

Hmm. I agree, look through your manual. Look for user-instructions on changing the cord, and see if it will void your warranty if you "dont have a licensed technician do it".

It's used, so no manual, checked on whirlpool's site and entered the model number in their search and no go.

He already said he bought a new cord for it, but the wall outlet and new cord have 3 wires while the dryer connection has 4.

Yes, that's my problem 3 wires, 4 connections on the dryer

Dryer's terminal has 3 terminals and a ground. New wire has 3 cables (3 prong, has to). If I connect the new wire to the dryer I have to leave one terminal open, that doesn't sound right.

Calling Whirlpool when I get home to see what's up with a manual... Again thanks everyone.

edit: fredtam, replying to your last post seperatly now...

 

[fredtam]

OK. Last time. Hook the two hot wires two the outer terminals. Hook the neutral wire to the center terminal. Move the green wire (ground) from it's terminal to the ground block on the neutral terminal. The three wire system uses the neutral for ground and not an independent ground because you do not have a fourth (ground) wire.

 

[FreshPrince]

green = ground
black = hot
silver = neutral

that's all I know about 3-prong wiring

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: fredtam
When I say it doesn't matter which wire goes where I am talking about the two hot wires. On 3wire you have two hots each of which deliver 120v and a neutral. The two outside terminals are for the hot wires and the center terminal for neutral.

Hot/neutral/Hot or Black/white/Red or Red/white/Black

Since both hot wires (red and black) carry the same voltage it does not matter which hot terminal (the outside terminals) you hook them to. You may have accidently hooked a hot wire to neutral on yours.
He may also have to connect the ground strap to the neutral terminal since on the 4wire has an independent ground and is not connected to neutral. Since the 3 wire uses neutral as ground the ground from the chassis shoul be connected to the neutral terminal. The instructions should show this.

No need to bow it is just frustrating when you have no real way to convey the fact that you know what your talking about.

Edit: What it boils down to is if he just changes the outlet the dryer will not be grounded. If the dryer fvcks up he will probably get a full 120v to the chassis.

Yet another poor drawing.

Dryer
______________
|G| |A| |B| |C|
______________

G is clearly labeled external ground.

So B is neutral and I need to jumper G to B, right? What type of wire/rating.

That leaves 3 connections open, A, C and G. The ground from the new wire goes to the ground. The other go to the remaining two terminals, polarity doesn't matter. Correct?

 

[TitanDiddly]

Call an electrician.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. Last time. Hook the two hot wires two the outer terminals. Hook the neutral wire to the center terminal. Move the green wire (ground) from it's terminal to the ground block on the neutral terminal. The three wire system uses the neutral for ground and not an independent ground because you do not have a fourth (ground) wire.

Sorry, want to be very clear.

Got it now. If you don't hear from me again, say a little prayer.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
Call an electrician.

That's cheating and no fun!

edit: besides your taking away my excuse for more tools.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86

Originally posted by: fredtam
When I say it doesn't matter which wire goes where I am talking about the two hot wires. On 3wire you have two hots each of which deliver 120v and a neutral. The two outside terminals are for the hot wires and the center terminal for neutral.

Hot/neutral/Hot or Black/white/Red or Red/white/Black

Since both hot wires (red and black) carry the same voltage it does not matter which hot terminal (the outside terminals) you hook them to. You may have accidently hooked a hot wire to neutral on yours.
He may also have to connect the ground strap to the neutral terminal since on the 4wire has an independent ground and is not connected to neutral. Since the 3 wire uses neutral as ground the ground from the chassis shoul be connected to the neutral terminal. The instructions should show this.

No need to bow it is just frustrating when you have no real way to convey the fact that you know what your talking about.

Edit: What it boils down to is if he just changes the outlet the dryer will not be grounded. If the dryer fvcks up he will probably get a full 120v to the chassis.

Yet another poor drawing.

Dryer
______________
|G| |A| |B| |C|
______________

G is clearly labeled external ground.

So B is neutral and I need to jumper G to B, right? What type of wire/rating.

That leaves 3 connections open, A, C and G. The ground from the new wire goes to the ground. The other go to the remaining two terminals, polarity doesn't matter. Correct?

Use the wire that is currently going to G. There should be a place on the bus to attach it to the neutral terminal. This will attach the chassis to the neutral terminal. Then hook the hot wires to a and b.

Your terninals look like the second photo on this page correct.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86

Originally posted by: fredtam
OK. Last time. Hook the two hot wires two the outer terminals. Hook the neutral wire to the center terminal. Move the green wire (ground) from it's terminal to the ground block on the neutral terminal. The three wire system uses the neutral for ground and not an independent ground because you do not have a fourth (ground) wire.

Sorry, want to be very clear.

Got it now. If you don't hear from me again, say a little prayer.

I said my prayers for you last nigh when I thought you were going to change the outlet.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86

Originally posted by: fredtam
When I say it doesn't matter which wire goes where I am talking about the two hot wires. On 3wire you have two hots each of which deliver 120v and a neutral. The two outside terminals are for the hot wires and the center terminal for neutral.

Hot/neutral/Hot or Black/white/Red or Red/white/Black

Since both hot wires (red and black) carry the same voltage it does not matter which hot terminal (the outside terminals) you hook them to. You may have accidently hooked a hot wire to neutral on yours.
He may also have to connect the ground strap to the neutral terminal since on the 4wire has an independent ground and is not connected to neutral. Since the 3 wire uses neutral as ground the ground from the chassis shoul be connected to the neutral terminal. The instructions should show this.

No need to bow it is just frustrating when you have no real way to convey the fact that you know what your talking about.

Edit: What it boils down to is if he just changes the outlet the dryer will not be grounded. If the dryer fvcks up he will probably get a full 120v to the chassis.

Yet another poor drawing.

Dryer
______________
|G| |A| |B| |C|
______________

G is clearly labeled external ground.

So B is neutral and I need to jumper G to B, right? What type of wire/rating.

That leaves 3 connections open, A, C and G. The ground from the new wire goes to the ground. The other go to the remaining two terminals, polarity doesn't matter. Correct?

Whoa..hold the fvck on. There is no ground wire on the new cord. You have two hots and one neutral. A=hot
B=neutral
C=hot

You are grounding to neutral by switching the green "ground" wire from the chassis to ground terminal to chassis to neutral. Both the chassis ground and the neutral wire should be hooked to B.

DO NOT HOOK ANYTHING TO G!!!!!!!!!

 

[fredtam]

Phoenix86? Phoenix86?

Please god don't hook 120V to your chassis.

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: fredtam
Please god don't hook 120V to your chassis.

Even Snuggle won't help him then

(LOL@Thread)